In defense of under-recognized holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and New Year's, I sent the following letter to a local radio station.

I just wanted to drop you a note to let you know that I've dropped your radio station from my preset list. On my way home this evening I heard a Christmas song being played on your station. Thinking it might be a commercial, I gave you the benefit of the doubt. When it turned out to be a complete song, I immediately reprogrammed the preset button. Christmas is 5 weeks away. Nothing outside of the realm of marketing juggernauts like Star Wars or Harry Potter needs a 5 week buildup. The day after Thanksgiving gives merchants and radio station more than enough time to hammer home the "goodwill" in the general public. Perhaps next year you'll consider this in your programming and gain back a listener.
Sincerely,

bill

We went up to visit The Warner Clan and bring some dinner along with Susie. Andrew is doing well and Katie and Gage had fun playing together. Though the camera and photographer couldn't quite get the hug timed out. Tomorrow concludes a very long week at work and in the personal swing of things (though personally, I probably won't get a good break til around December). It will be nice to have time to answer an IM here or there and perhaps catch up on the NHL standings.
Oh and Matt, we're 1 and 1 on the year with 6 to go.

Wow, it's been a while since I got a chance to post. I'll try and pick up from where I left off and end up today.
So last Friday, shortly after I posted Gage's picture, I got a phone call from none other than Adam. He was in town to take an exam for law school and wanted to know what we had planned. So, we headed out to dinner with Adam and caught up on all the new and exciting things happening towards the end of law school.
Since Adam had taken the late night bus in from Philly, he ended up crashing at our place and then we headed out to Pamela's for breakfast. We ended up at the Shadyside Pamela's and then for nostalgia and curiousity, walked around the shops. There was a ton of new stuff, chief among them the Apple store. That's a toy store I could drop a lot of money in.
After the Shadyside tour, we headed down to the bus station and bid adieu to Adam with the notion that we needed to get back out to that area for a visit soon.
Sunday we got together with my uncles and my parents in order to celebrate my parent's birthdays (which although about a month apart had both been forgotten by my uncle...not that I can fault him for that. He forgets Terri's birthday which is the exact same day as his). So, anyway, we had a good afternoon over there and then the week started all over again.
The Penguins bookended a phenomenal game culminating in a shootout win against the top team in the Eastern Conference with two puzzling losses to teams that they should have dominated from start to finish.
Not much really went on through the week til Friday again. As I'm on the phone with Terri discussing the 5th or 6th incarnation of dinner with some of her extended family that was in for the Steeler's game (each version becoming more outrageous and expensive than the last), Susie popped up on IM and says that Elizabeth thought her water broke and baby Warner might show up a little sooner than anyone had expected. Turns out, baby Warner did show up before anyone expected. So, Saturday morning after an update call from Randy we headed into the hospital to see the newest addition to the Warner family. See pictures here.
So, we skipped dinner with Terri's family since the original intention was for everyone to hang out with Gage, but they then made several decisions that showed they had no idea how to plan dinner for a 1 1/2 year old. We watched the Pens lose and then attempted to get Gage into bed.
This morning we headed to church and then (due to poor planning again) rushed to Station Square to have lunch with some of Terri's family. They invited us to dinner before the Steeler's game at another fancy downtown restaurant. Of course we turned it down. You just can't take Gage somewhere like that in his current state of mind. His tolerance is about 25 minutes.
Apparently they have another dinner planned for Monday night. We have yet to agree or disagree, since it will change several times during the day tomorrow, I'm sure.
Also today is the 13th so I'll say...
Happy Birthday to Jim and...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUSIE
And another congrats to the Warner family for their new little addition.

Contemplate this problem I must.

So, even though this has been going on for quite a while, I've finally gotten around to mentioning it. I've noticed that one of the local banks has begun an ad campaign. Not odd, the local banks around here run ad campaigns all the time. However, this campaign is in Spanish. Yes, Spanish. Now, I have nothing against the bank (at least not anymore...granted I won't do business with them, but that's because they had their chance to keep me as a customer and they couldn't do it), anyway, I have known quite a few people that have worked for this bank. Tellers, programmers, business people. Not one of them could speak more than a sentence or two in Spanish. How can you market to an entire culture when your staff is unprepared to handle them in their own language when they come into your establishment. I certainly wouldn't market my business toward an entire community that I couldn't accomodate. It wouldn't be good for word of mouth (in any language) and it certainly wouldn't help me establish a good rapport with that ethnic community. ¡muy estúpido!
I fear that this article might mean that Victoria's Secret stock is about to go into the toilet. (For those of you who don't get it after the first read, carefully read the first sentence, trust me it's worth the extra minute).
That is just another one of those instances that shows me an English major should be more easily employed and paid equal salaries.
Halloween was quite fun. Gage got the hang of it easily and was soon breaking away from mom and dad to walk up the driveways to complete strangers to get candy to put in his little pumpkin. Mark and I were talking about how odd it is that you spend 364 days teaching your children not to accept candy from strangers and then this one night you not only allow it, but encourage it.
And trust me, there's still a big post about the other subjects that I had mentioned (music, lyrics, the nobel prize, and "wasted knowledge") previously.
I'm also curious as to how I can go 7 or 8 months not giving a damn what's in the box office (since most of it has degenerated into Hollywood crap anyway) and then out of nowhere, two movies that I'm really interested in premiere on the same weekend.
Also here's hoping that the Pens can make it two in a row against the Islanders tomorrow.

It's Over.

I have a rather large post formulating in my head about things like local banks, music, what some people consider "wasted knowledge", and the nobel prize in science...but it's late and I saw a complete contradiction in terms on my way home from work this evening.
Anyone that has been to the house knows that from the highway there's 3 lights to the house. During evening rush hour, I usually only get stuck at one. For some reason, both lanes were completely backed up and it took three cycles just to make it through the first one. As I found out later, an SUV had broken down right near the second light so everyone was pushed over to one lane. So for about 5 minutes while waiting to get through the light, I was sitting behind a red ford focus that had three bumper stickers. The one on the left said, "Men of quality are not threatened by a woman seeking equality." Ok, I'll buy that. The one in the center was a quote by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, who is a Harvard College Professor that won the Pulitzer Prize in the early 90's, "Well behaved women rarely make history." I'll buy that one as well. The one on the right simply said, "Eve was framed." Ok, I'm not sure I've ever seen feminism and religion cross paths quite like that, but alright. Then I noticed the license plate holder. "Caution, Princess driving." How in the hell do you expect me to take your feminism seriously when you buy that product? It's like you've set yourself up with all the right credentials, the right tools for the project, have everything down pat, and then show up drunk. It's a jarring error in judgement. Carry the sentiment all the way, get a holder that says, "Caution Bitch driving." or "Caution, feminist driving" Hell "Men suck." would have been better. Sometimes I just don't get it. It's like a goth person getting a tan and hanging out on the beach listening to Celine Dion sing Diane Warren songs.

7 straight games. And the few bright spots such as Sidney Crosby's point streak is over too. Which means that soon I'm sure that everyone's going to be watching Ovechkin closer claiming he's better than Crosby. I give up. They torch Brodeur for 2 goals in 29 seconds. Why can't they play 60 minutes like that?
It's been a busy month so far. Even though I probably have 15 or so clients in my rotation at work, October has seen me working with just one client. They are launching a major initiative very soon and I've been testing, re-testing, testing the re-testing, working, waiting, sending more e-mails in one hour than I did in one week last month, having closer contact with IT than I probably should, understanding more about IT than I ever should, and just all around misery. Tonight is also the 3rd straight night I've brought work home. It'll get better soon. It has to. I don't think it can get any worse. So, that's why I've been busy/distracted/unresponsive, etc.
I haven't even managed to read any local headlines or anything in the past couple days.

Well, let's see.
I know, it's been nothing but hockey but after a year and a half, what did you expect. I actually moved up one standing from dead last to second to last in the fantasy pool. That's pretty amazing considering my Penguin laden team.
Last night St. Louis beat Chicago.
Last night Toronto beat Philadelphia.
That means that 29 teams in the NHL have at least 1 win in this season.
Guess which one doesn't. I'll give you four guesses and the first three can be football teams if you want.
That's right, Mario, Sid, Ziggy, the Wrecking Ball, Flurry, and Edzo don't have a win. They are 1 point under .500 due to tie points, but they haven't cracked the win column. The way they are going, they can most likely qualify for the playoffs with 75 or so points. Scary.
Gage is still sleeping poorly. Terri had the little space heater on in his room during the couple really cold nights we had. So, we left his door cracked a little so it didn't get too hot. About 4 in the morning, he gets out of bed, walks into our room and tries to wake up Terri. Apparently that didn't work too well so he walks around the other side of the bed and somehow gets me awake. As soon as I wake up, that's when he starts crying. So, guess who ended up sleeping in our bed again.
I got hit with two interesting things at work today. One, I'm being trained on audio capture and recording...ok, not so much trained as just having a walk-thru since I already know what I'm doing in that area. I'm getting this as back up for out of town conferences. Which means potential travel. Cool. The conferences are always somewhere nice. San Diego. Orlando. San Francisco. To steal a phrase from Joe So...good times.
The second thing is probably not a good thing to announce over the internet, so I guess I shouldn't have mentioned it. If you're truly interested grab me on IM or email or something. Or, hell come visit. I'm sure we haven't seen you in a while and we'd like to.
Anyway, I'd like to put a stop to all the speculation about Rookie of the Year. That award, along with Lord Stanley's Cup is coming to Pittsburgh. You other teams can fight over the Vezina or Norris trophy since we don't have goaltending or defense worth a crap.
Oh and Happy Anniversary to me. I know the 29th had a big mushy post, but this was our church wedding and reception anniversary...some people think that's important too.

I don't understand it. We cannot, I repeat cannot, be turning into the next New York Rangers where we're so talent laden we can't put together two wins to save our lives. I just don't get it. If you look at the first five guys on the roster of the Pens they have 1,500+ goals between them. Buffalo couldn't put together 1,500 goals from the past 5 seasons if they added everyone together.
I just don't understand it.
Granted we're not dead last in the league, yet.
I just don't understand it.
Til tomorrow, I'm in denial.

Well, at least we got a point out of this one. I can see some of the firepower on our team missing every once in a while. But how in the hell do Lemieux, Palffy, and Crosby all miss at the same time?
I just don't get it.

No, I have not broken down into tears.
Even though my Penguin heavy fantasy hockey team is in last place right now, I've been a fan of the Penguins much too long to base opinions on just one game.
I did gorge myself on hockey last night. They are apparently having a free preview of the Center Ice channels so I watched the Pens game, the end of the Ottawa/Toronto game (which ended in a lovely Ottawa winning shootout, take that Lindros, you goal missing prick), and some of the Colorado/Edmonton game.
And tonight I watched most of the Rangers/Montreal game and some of the Detroit/Blues game.
Can't wait til the Carolina game tomorrow.
I'm going to do the 100 banned book list that Victoria did recently, I just haven't had time to get it listed yet.

1 hour and 15 minutes til face-off
Oh and here's a list.
Happy Birthday to...
my mom
Mario Lemieux
John Prellwitz
Patrick Roy
and
Penny Baker

It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh
Today is a great day for hockey.
I am so geeked. At the moment there's 7 hours left til the puck drops.
Hockey is returning. 15 games, a league high, all in the same night.
Names like Lemieux, Hasek, Recchi, and Sakic are hitting the ice.
New guys like Crosby, Ovechkin, and Carter will be lacing up the skates for the first time in the NHL.
Even the refs are back.
Lord Stanley is comin' home.
I fully expect to be witnessing another scene like this come next June or July.
And yes, I was there to see that happen. So was Tom.
Hockey is back with a vengenance.
Now, I'm not expecting the Pens to go 82-0, hell, considering they hold the active streak for most losses on opening night, I'm not even sure about tonight's outcome, but dammit...hockey is back.
When I'm seated comfortably in the recliner, Woodchuck Amber in hand and I can hear Mike Lange say, "It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh.", I may break down and cry.

Man, I can't wait til tomorrow.
Every team in the league in action in the same night.
People with NHL Center Ice are going to have their heads explode.
Sidney Crosby's debut.
I'm ready.
Monday night I watched Miracle again.
Tonight I watched the two specials on the Pens 91 and 92 Stanley Cup victories.
Only 20 hours til the puck drops.

13 years.
13 years since we started dating.
13 years we've been together.
13 years of memories.
13 years of photos.
13 years of happiness, sadness, sorrow, joy, madness, and euphoria.
13 years feels like forever and an eye-blink all at the same time.
13 years and I love you now more than yesterday.
13 years to reflect on.
13 years to have everyone ask, "How in the hell did you stay with him that long?"
13 years of amazement.
13 years with an engagement, a wedding, and a son thrown into the mix.
13 years is simply a drop in the bucket.
I love you Terri.
Between now and then til I see you again, I'll be loving you. Love, me.

Well, I did end up taking the day off of work on Monday. I felt like crap. Even though my parents came up and did a wonderful job of babysitting Gage on Sunday for like 6 hours I was still feeling insanely ill. So, I took the big f'in Q and slept from about 10:00 PM til about 3:00 PM on Monday afternoon. Then I woke up for a couple of hours, took a tax test, took more of the Q and headed back to bed. I feel slightly better today. I had somewhat of an appetite and I actually made it to work.
One thing I did neglect in my last post is to point out the new blog on the right side. De Stijl is a friend of a friend and being a new Pittsburgher hopefully, we'll close that gap in the near future. In the meantime, she and her husband have a beautiful little girl, she's extremely funny and the sarcasm flies thick and heavy. So, if you get a few minutes, check it out. It's well worth it.
I did manage to make it to the Memory Walk and I was impressed with the number of people that came out. Thanks to all who donated. Your support was greatly appreciated.
Now, I don't normally ask for advice, but I'd love to hear any suggestions you have out there at getting a little one to bed on a regular basis. Gage hates sleep like I hate Comcast.

So many topics, so little medicine. Yes, I still feel like crap and I'm going to get up at the ass-crack of dawn to walk an unknown amount to help eradicate Alzheimer's. At least I won't be hung over like I was for one of the MS Walks I did after buggy.
I thought about passing along the horror stories from my Comcast struggles that are now manifesting themselves in someone else's experiences.
I thought about going off on a rant about the crazies on the internet but perhaps that little drama will just fade away.
I thought about relating stories about the first week in my new office but I didn't want to put anyone to sleep, myself included.
I will say I'm extremely pissed off that I turn on a show that I really liked from last season and I find out that one of the reasons that I liked the show is no longer around.
Funny, the first show to go down this season was Head Cases from Fox. I wavered with that one for the tv dead pool, but figured Chris O'Donnell would be able to carry the show a little further.
Not much else is going on and I think I'm just going to pump myself full of drugs and head to bed. Enjoy your weekend everyone.

Well Tom found the Friends episode. It was on a French fansite that had full scripts. Scary thing is, the one episode I watched last night was only like 2 away from this one, so I was damn close. And from memory I had a pretty damn good recollection of the episode.
Not much more tonight since I'm feeling like crap.

Just a reminder that Saturday is the Memory Walk. Thanks to those that have donated and if you'd still like to donate, here are the links again.

My link

Terri's link

Ok, this is driving me nuts.
A co-worker mentioned that she spent about two hours today sorting through her pictures and she was buying nice frames for the bigger ones. Well, that got me thinking about a lot of things. We now have two discs of pictures that we may never recover. One we had thankfully printed out, but the other one we hadn't. So, I was thinking about potential fixes for those. Then I was thinking about the discussion that we had while going through my Gramma's stuff. She had boxes and boxes of photos, some from before 1900. With the exception of the ones with family, we had very little idea of who, where, or even when most photos were taken. So, I had made tentative plans to go through all of our pictures and at the very least get names on them and a potential date range. Then I was thinking about the 4 boxes of pictures that we had in the guest room that I wanted to go through and separate and put into albums. Where is all this leading? Well, in my rambling train of thought I wandered to an episode of Friends where one of the minor sub-plots is Monica going through and categorizing the pictures. She has them all laid out on the coffee table and Rachel comes in. She shows Rachel picture #153 which is of her dog Lapoo. She tells her that it is classified under pets, and dogs and dead. Then she asks Rachel to hand her the box with the rest of the pictures. The bottom of the box falls out and scatters onto the coffee table mixing all the pictures. Monica freaks out and Rachel tries to calm her by saying that she can just pull out the ones that she's already marked. Monica says, "I can't picture #153 was a prototype."
So, I thought it would be interesting to watch that episode since I was pretty sure that it occurred in one of the first 9 seasons (since the last season isn't out yet). So, I scanned the episode guide and found out that it wasn't listed. So, then I came home and found out that the listings in the DVD boxes are even more vague. So, I found a Special Collector's Issue of Entertainment Weekly. No dice. I called Tom since he had borrowed and watched the first 7 seasons. No dice. He suggested fan sites. I've been through 3 1/2, no dice.
Anyone have any clue? If not, I guess I'll just have to start watching them from episode 1 all the way to the end, since I'm sure that season 10 will be out before I'm done.
I will find it dammit.

Well we survived the weekend and the office move. Friday afternoon at around 1:30ish, they said if we had nothing pressing we should go to the new office and pitch in. So, I took off figuring it would be easier to get out early from the new building. Boy was that wrong, we were cleaning and moving and arranging.
I got out of the new building around 5:15 when my manager finally realized I was still there and took pity on me.
Just a note on the new office...with the exception of the fact that the office is located at the Waterfront, it's a phenomenal space. I encourage visitors (if for nothing else, just to take a tour of this space). We have a full recording studio now instead of just a sound studio. It has a sound booth, a control room, and a television area. Very cool toys to play with.
Now, my space isn't ideal, but it's very good otherwise. The only new "rule" is that we aren't allowed to eat at our desks. That's rough for me since I don't just sit and eat lunch if I manage to find time to eat at all. I usually snack at several points now throughout the day. So, now I have to hit the kitchen area (complete with ice-maker, dishwasher, garbage disposal, trash compactor, etc.) several times a day for a few minutes here and there.
Anyway, back to the majority of the weekend.
Friday night we made it to the hotel at around 10:15. Fortunately the swimming pool didn't close til 11 and I was able to get in some swim time. Saturday morning we took Gage for a while to the pool and he seemed to enjoy it again so hopefully that trend will continue.
We got ready and headed down to the church. We got there and said hi to Father Ted (the Priest that married Terri and I in Bradford) and then mingled with family. The wedding was really nice. Pam (my new cousin-in-law) was very beautiful and she has a little nephew who's maybe 3 or 4 months older than Gage. He was the ring bearer and he made the wedding highly unpredictable. At one point he was walking off the altar and he stepped on the crush and face planted. He didn't cry and Father Ted looked down, pointed and said, "Now that's the picture that you want to get." Then he continued with the ceremony like nothing happened.
The reception was good. Although (and anyone who knows me knew this was coming anyway) the DJ sucked! He sucked hard. He screwed up everything he read when he announced the couples entering. It got to the point where he was so gun shy and so confused as to who had actually gotten married for the rest of the evening he referred to them as the bride and groom only. Which was kind of funny since there was a big banner across the back wall with their names on it.
Now granted, having DJ'd for a long long time I understand the difficulties, but yet I cut very little slack. For a business who depends on service and word of mouth in order to be remotely successful, you have to be on your game each and every time. I planned more receptions for my clients than I'd care to remember. I guess that's why Terri and I were so controlling with our wedding.
Although I must say, between our friends, family, DJ'ing, and singing, I've probably been to anywhere from 200-250 weddings. And I saw two things for the first time at my cousin's reception. Instead of a money dance or dollar dance or honeymoon dance or whatever your ethnic group calls it, they held a 50-50 raffle with the groomsmen and bridesmaids selling tickets. Very odd, but they made $200 from it and I think the winner might possibly have given the money to them as well.
The second first (some English teacher's head just exploded)...beer pong. Now I've seen beer pong in a lot of places, but never a wedding reception. That being said, I think I ingested more beer on Saturday than I have in the past 5 years, easily. My cousins dusted the floor with opponents for quite a while. My cousin-in-law Greg and I held our own with a couple of wins.
Oh and another couple of complaints about the DJ. He broke several cardinal rules...don't ever ever cut a song off in the middle. And for God's sake, no one likes medley's at a wedding. I don't care who you are, you'd rather hear the six songs from the medley played in their entirety. This guy just sucked beyond words. I almost asked if I could take over.
Anyway, after dipping my elbow quite a bit on Saturday night we headed back to the hotel (Gage had left with my parent's hours before). So we headed back to the hotel room, changed clothes, freshened up and walked over to pick up Gage. We were simply going to leave him with my parents since he was already sleeping, but then he woke up and that was that.
Sunday we got moving, packed, and visited with family for most of the afternoon. Then we headed back home and here we are.

Well the ring people called back and Lorraine said that the gemologist spent about 45 minutes going over the ring and said that it was synthetic. He also said that the amethysts that they use in the rings for Carnegie Mellon are apparently the most difficult to tell the difference between genuine and synthetic so they think that's why the mixup happened. So, they are in the process of fixing the ring and I should have it back soon.
In other news, I read Susie's most recent post and while I was out and about today, I picked up a copy of All The King's Men by Robert Penn Warren. I'll have to see where I slot it into the hundreds of books that are on my "waiting to read" list.
We're taking off on Friday for my cousin Josh's wedding. Josh is one of the four "J" brothers. My Aunt and Uncle thought it would be fun to keep the same letter so I have James, Joshua, Jeremiah, and John to try and keep straight at the family reunions. They are all younger than I am. The oldest just turned 25 in January, but in my mind they'll probably forever be 8 and running around Gramma's big yard making lots of noise. The hotel is supposed to have high speed wireless access so I'll pack the laptop and see what develops.
Not much else is going on. I read two ap stories today that made me laugh. Apparently out in Colorado somewhere an armored truck carrying a load of Kansas quarters (about 800 grand worth) caught fire. The firefighter that they interviewed said that it was the first time he had driven up to a call to find it guarded with an armed regiment. I guess once the fire was out they had to get a bobcat in to scoop up the quarters. I wonder if that will make the Kansas Denver Mint Quarters harder to get.
The other story was about a robber who apparently held up a fast food place with a samurai sword. He slashed two tables, spewing condiments and then left with approximately $32. Made me wonder if John Belushi's ghost was out prowling.

Again in the "I swear these things only happen to me" department. When Terri and I were in college we saved up and bought college rings. There were a fairly pricey item but a memento we both wanted. Now when I ordered the rings, I thought they only came with one choice of stone, a synthetic amethyst in a dark purple color to match the Scottish Thistle, thus completing the connection to Andrew Carnegie and his wonderful college. Now college class rings, if ordered from the right vendor, are guaranteed for life against most defects, etc. We did order them from the right vendor. The school only has one vendor for that matter. So, when the stone in Terri's ring cracked, I carefully checked out the policy and mailed it from work hoping that it would only take a couple of weeks and I could just not display my right hand as prominently so that she wouldn't notice her ring was missing. So, I sent it priority with insurance and delivery confirmation. That was August 11th. A bunch of things happened in the middle of August and kind of got me sidetracked, but right before I left for Bristol I decided to check the tracking number on the post office reciept to see whether or not the ring had made it to Texas to the facilities that were going to fix it for me. The tracking number simply said that it was accepted in Pittsburgh on August 11th. Duh! I knew that. Then we left for Bristol and I got sidetracked again. When I came back I needed to send a package to my soon to be cousin-in-law (4 days and counting). I also put the insurance and delivery confirmation on it, the whole nine yards. While I was mailing that package, I casually inquired about the process for the other package since at that point I was considering it lost. They told me that after 30 days if I still saw no activity they would begin to manually trace the package. So, this week I grabbed the receipt and checked the web again. It still said that it was only accepted in Pittsburgh on August 11th. So, I prepared to make the trek down to the post-office. In fact, I was headed down there tomorrow.
However, I was deterred by a phone call that Terri received from the ring company informing her of the pricing options that they had in order to fix her ring. The ring she didn't know for sure wasn't at the house. So she called me and gave me the woman's phone number. I was slowly building up my controlled rage and barely contained sarcasm that I reserve for the people on the other end of customer service lines. So, I called Lorraine. I asked her how a ring that was under warranty could have a price for fixing it. She explained that genuine stones weren't covered and that if I wanted the genuine stone that was in the ring currently replaced with another genuine stone it was going to cost me $230 plus tax and shipping. If I wanted a synthetic stone it was going to cost me $45 plus tax and shipping. So, I asked how it could be a genuine stone if their website said that only synthetic stones were available. I was told that Terri had decided on a genuine stone when she purchased the ring.
"That's impossible." I said. The woman asked me how I knew that. I told her it was because I ordered the ring and ordered a synthetic stone. Then I explained to her that if it was indeed a genuine stone, then it was a mistake that was made on their end. I also wanted to know that why, at the end of July, their representative said nothing about genuine versus synthetic stones and there was no mention of a cost at all for stone replacement. So, she took my number and proceeded to figure out the answers to my questions. I was all ready for her to call back with some story about it being a genuine stone and it was either pay the $230 or get back a damaged ring.
Then she called me back and said it was entirely possible that when the ring had been in for repairs once before it had been a computer error that listed the stone as genuine and as soon as the gemologists came in in the morning, she would have them verify that it was synthetic, it would be fixed free of any charge and all I would have to pay was shipping (which I knew going into it).
So, that turned out ok, but then I had this whole head of steam built up to release on the customer service person, but that never materialized.
Anyway, I have a mini link dump to do now.
This is a slight surprise but not entirely unexpected. However, does this mean the spin people are now going to start taking blame for everything? How long before the White House lays claim to the blame for this little incident?
This falls into the too little too late category. It also warrants an "Amen!" and an "I tried to tell you that 5 years ago." Unfortunately it may not stem the new ones from happening and it's certainly not going to get the old ones yanked. No one actually listens to the public.
I'm not sure what, if anything, is going to happen to these parents, but I know exactly where I would stick them for 12 hours every day. I can't possibly even begin to imagine what sort of mental deficiency would even tell you that this might be a good idea.
If you read their blog you find that they spent the better part of a trail hike trying to corral their young son so that he didn't get injured in any way, but still had the full enjoyment of the outdoors. I look at Gage and can't even remotely think of any situation where I would want to do anything other than my level best to protect him and make him the happiest little boy possible. I mean, I have no other words to even begin to describe that article.

I wanted to put this into a separate post. There are two parts, one a reminder and one a musing.
First the reminder. Two Saturdays from now (September 24th) Terri and I will be walking in the Memory Walk to benefit Alzheimer's research. We're walking, not only because it's a good cause, but also because my current project manager's step-father is afflicted with Alzheimers. A few weeks ago he got into his car and basically disappeared for an entire weekend scaring the family half to death. It's certainly a good cause and Terri and I are glad to be able to help. So, if you want to help us out (I know the Katrina effort has sliced into most available funds and I have no problem with that) here is My link.
And, here is Terri's link.
And we're available in all the normal ways if you don't want to donate online. And of course, thanks in advance.

Now the musing. The red cross, not normally heard from on a regular basis, has been running a series of commercials to spread the word about the relief effort for Hurricane Katrina. They are easy to spot and hear actually. There are a series of exaggerations of admiration for singers, actors, and writers that all involve the phone book (which was apparently deemed the most boring material available). They all go like this. X (being the singer, actor, or writer) could sing/read/write the phone book and I'd listen/watch/read it every time. Well, for me, Johnny Cash is one of those singers. Over the course of his career his deep baritone voice went from confident and strong to knowing and full of tremolo and never lost it's powerful effect. Anyway, it's his voice singing on the commercial. I didn't think anything of it the first time until after the commerical was off. Then it was one of those...did I hear what I thought I heard? So, the next time it was on, I paid particular attention and it was what I heard. The commercial is underscored by Johnny Cash singing a cover version of Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water." I can't decide how I feel about this. I don't know if they are just going for the small clip of lyrics about helping people or if they mean the full effect of the song. In which case, is that the song you want played? I think it's in poor taste some of the time, but awfully fitting at other times. Ah who knows what they were going for.

And, Alan, wherever you are, you are still missed...even four years later.

I swear, certain things only happen to me.
Today I had to get up early (well, early for me) so that I could be at work by 8:00. That way I could leave at 5:00 to pick up Gage since Terri had to work late. So, I manage to stumble out of bed, through the shower, and fight rush hour traffic. It's amazing how quickly one forgets all about rush hour when you don't have to deal with it on a daily basis. So, I get to work, down the required amount of coffee and try to finish out my day. Around noon Terri calls me to let me know what time she's going to work and what time she's going to be home. Then she asks if I had planned on stopping at home before I went to pick up Gage. I told her that I didn't since I was going to be pushing the time to get him anyway. So then she reminds me that I forgot to take the car seat for my car. Since we had gone to Bristol we had pulled the seat out of my car to put into her parent's car for Gage. We haven't taken my car anywhere with the whole family so I haven't put the seat back yet. So, I know that I have no choice but to make it home.
So, at 5:00 I bolt out the door at work. Thankfully I hit a lull in traffic and I was at the door of the house by 20 after. I race down the steps, put the key into the lock, unlock the door, and slam into it. The door didn't give. Now we've had problems with the antique lock on the door before. We've had to break a window to get in, and once Tom was locked inside. So my temper redlined and I just went back to the car. I figured I'd call Terri, swing by her office, grab her carseat and that would be it. Then I couldn't reach her on the phone.
I figured it was still a good plan so I went to her office, grabbed the seat and headed to the daycare. Now with my hours and his schedule in the one year old room, I don't drop him off or pick him up too often. So, I get there and apparently they consolidate the kids into one room after 5:30 since most of them have already been picked up. I punched in the code and headed right to the one year old room. It was empty with the lights off. So, I headed towards the voices and I was stopped by a woman that I didn't know. Which isn't unusual, I only know Gage's teachers. However, since she didn't know me, she escorted me to the room where Gage was. Gage immediately ran over to me, but the other woman (who used to be Gage's teacher) didn't recognize me either. So, I got carded when I went to pick up my son. As if my luck wasn't bad enough already.
I finally got Gage home and I thought that I wasn't going to be able to get into the house. Since I had finally calmed down a little I began to realize that there was an automatic lock on the door that we keep disabled so that we don't lock ourselves out inadvertently. I realized that Terri must have hit the button and so once I got home, I was able to get back into the house with no further trouble.
The little one and I played all night and then I put him to bed.
Of course, since I had left work early I had missed the late, late, late announcement that we were having clients into the office. Thankfully Mark remembered as he was getting stuff ready for the next day and called me at 11 tonight. "Now friends, it's timing like that that sunk the Titanic."

I'm really pissed off at movies that claim "Based on actual events" yet they have endings and sometimes entire storylines that no one could possibly know.
A few years ago we were visiting Terri's aunt out in Ohio. We were flipping through the channels and became interested in the second half of the movie The Perfect Storm, or rather her aunt did. I watched with a vague interest and waited to see which crew member was going to survive to have told the tale to everyone else. No one survived. Not one. Not even the boat.
Now I'm still in the midst of going through the movies that I borrowed from Tom and I finally watched this. 81 minutes long. I'd say there's maybe 20 minutes of extraneous stuff (getting to the island, some nudity, the ending) so it's an hour or so of them bobbing around in the ocean. It's not scary. It's not a psychological thriller. It does not achieve a primal terror. And they both end up fuckin' dead. So how do they even know what happened? This couple that was miscounted and left behind could have gotten the woman's weight belt stuck on the reef and they both died of lack of oxygen trying to free her. The man could have gotten his tank attached to the bottom of the boat and still be there. They have no idea that the two of them surfaced and were stuck out there. In fact, for that matter, the two may have just stashed their stuff on this boat, grabbed two tanks and they are living on some remote corner of the island and they make their money braiding tourists hair for quarters. Maybe the wife was having an affair with the boatman and they killed the husband and the boatman is hiding her out til the heat is off. In fact, who's to say that the boatman is the boatman, maybe the guy killed the boatman and took his place. Maybe the guy was fucking the boatman and they killed the wife. Each and every one of these theories is as plausible as the crap they decided to show. Stupid movies.
In fact, yesterday I was watching this and it turns out it was a better movie. It didn't premiere at Sundance and at best won a razzie or two, but it was by far the better movie between the two.

One thing I forgot to mention about Sunday was the conversation that my Uncle Bob and I had about the rising gas prices. He was recalling the time when he was a kid and they had sugar in abundance for very cheap prices. Then a sugar shortage. Prices skyrocketed, then leveled off, then came down just enough to stop people from bitching. A few years later coffee shortage. Skyrocketing prices, level, then a slight drop. Now gas (which is actually on it's second cycle). This is basically going to have people happy to pay 2.75 for a gallon of gas after what we've been exposed to. Whereas before all this people would have been outraged to pay that much. Seems like another conspiracy doesn't it?
Anyway, Monday Terri wasn't feeling well so she only went into work for a half day. When she got back, we all went to the Kiltie band alumni picnic at Carnegie Mellon. Which may seem slightly odd since Terri's never played in any band and I attended two rehearsals my freshman year for the Christmas concert and then quit. However,
The Warners, Susie, and The Mutchlers were all members of the Kiltie Band. And since the Warners and Susie usually end up running things between them every year, we get invited to hang out. Which is always a good opportunity for Gage and Katie to play together. Last year neither was exactly mobile, at least not for very long. Now they were running all over the grass field getting into trouble and interacting with the big kids. Before you know it, they'll be the ones playing volleyball and wondering what formation they'll be in that Saturday.
Tuesday was back to work work. No, that's not a typo. My project manager decided to extend her long weekend by one day and then she was having minor surgery on Wednesday so I was going to be pulling double duty for two days. It's not too difficult at the moment, we're in a slight lull. I mean we're busy, but we're not crazy. So, I can do my job and most of hers without too much inconvenience. That is until the very first e-mail Tuesday morning asking why data wasn't being captured for a certain program. So, everyone had to go back into the files and back into the records to find out where the mistake was made, if one was even made. So, Tuesday was an interesting day to say the least.
Wednesday was more of the same, just not as explosive. Although they came around in the afternoon to explain exactly how to pack up our desks for the big office move. Yes, in case I hadn't mentioned it, our entire office is picking up stakes and headed to another location. Hopefully it will be a better situation than the location leads me to believe.
Anyway, during the week or so that I hadn't blogged I found several interesting articles which of course I'm going to share whether you like it or not.
This was one of the best. A lot of prominent authors. I wanted to bid towards the beginning of the Stephen King auction just to say that I bid. However, the auction started about 3 hours ago at $9.99 and now it's up to $7,600.00 Somehow I don't think I'll be able to sneak in and win.
My reaction to this... Go. Go now. Go now, don't look back. Go now, don't look back, and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.
I had felt a great disturbance in the force.
The only other thing that struck me as funny was watching the Dukes of Hazzard on CMT this evening. It was the episode where they're filming a movie in Hazzard and the Dukes save the star in his runaway car. So they decide to put them into the movie and take them to Hollywood for a couple weeks. Boss and Roscoe force themselves along as parole officers for Bo and Luke. They spend all their time in Hollywood trying to sell the JD Hogg life story. They end up telling one producer that Boss should be played by Robert Redford and Roscoe should be played by Burt Reynolds. They were close. Reynolds ends up playing Boss Hogg in the Hazzard movie. Interesting how things work out twenty some years later.

Let's see...where did I leave off?
Ah yes, we're up to last Friday and the start of a nice long weekend. We spent Friday night watching the Pirates do what they do best...lose. Randy, Elizabeth, Katie, and baby and Susie were there since the Warner's invited all of us. It was a fireworks night. Since I work til 6:30 and the game starts at 7:05 it was a little tight making it there on time. However, we got downtown with no problem, parked with no problem and started to head towards the bridge across the river to the stadium. However, there was a large crowd at the end of the bridge. Turns out the Pirates had decided to have a big gun salute for the armed forces. So in their infinite wisdom and excessive planning, they shut down the most highly traveled pedestrian walkway into the stadium from about 15 minutes til gametime til after the game had started. The majority of the crowd just got pissed off and walked down to the next bridge and went across. No wonder the Pirates haven't had a winning season in 13 years. If their event staff can't even coordinate start of game activities, it's no wonder management can't put together a group of guys that can hit and catch the ball. I'm sure the Mac is glad he no longer has to deal with that group of misfits.
Anyway, the game, or rather the company at the game, was good. Of course the Notre Dame fans in the rows in front of us had us all shaking all heads trying to figure out if we were like that when we were younger. Susie said that we were young once, but even though I had to admit that, I had to clarify with the fact that I was never stupid.
The fireworks were really good though.
Saturday we headed to a hospital near our house because I made the mistake of picking up the phone to answer a call from what I thought was the Central Blood Bank. It turns out that I was targeted for a conspiracy to steal my book. We got to the "blood drive" and I went through all the check-in crap, the finger stick, the interview. Then they set me up in the chair and began taking my blood. That went smoothly. Once they saw that I was reading a novel while my blood was being siphoned, that's when the conspiracy began. They finished with the blood and they put that little cotton ball over the area where the needle was and told me to put my finger on it and hold my arm straight up. Well, the little cotton ball had just enough ether on it to do the trick. I got out of the chair and walked over to the table where the nice volunteer asked what I wanted to drink. I looked her straight in the eye, said, "Orange Juice" and then the ether took effect. I spun and fell onto the ground. The next thing I knew there was a crowd around me and one of the "nurses" was placing a damp cloth on my head. They kept asking if I felt fine. I told them that I didn't feel any different than the last time I asked. No nausea, no dizziness. Turns out this was just a diversion to get my book out of the room. While they had me propped in a chair drinking gatorade someone walked off with it. By the time I noticed it was missing, it was too late. Now of course Terri, being calmed by the notion of non-conspiracy america, will simply blame me passing out on lack of sleep and the fact that I didn't eat anything before I gave blood. But I'm telling you, they wanted my college discussion copy of this. I couldn't believe it. I was about 2/3 of the way through when they grabbed it.
We then met up with Tom to do some shopping for his niece and father. So, I swung by Half Price Books and picked up another copy, but it wasn't a discussion copy and it didn't have my bookmark. I've had that bookmark since about 1998. It was sad that a book about a futuristic society that has broken down to the point where females are not permitted to read is the very book that they targeted to steal.
After lunch and shopping with Tom, we headed back to the house to hang out. We ended up watching the first half of the Pitt/Notre Dame game. Boy, even Tom was sorry we did. The new era of Pitt didn't really open with a bang like everyone thought it would. Hopefully Craig's alma mater will fare better than Pitt did. (And let's not get confused, I am not now, nor was I ever an alumnus of Pitt)
Sunday we headed to church and found out that Katrina's devastation touched more lives than we had suspected. At last count, there were several extended family members missing. Hopefully God has a plan that will be easily accepted regardless of the outcome. After church we headed over to my uncles' house for a little Labor day get together with my parents. Gage had fun running around exploring the house again and playing on their grand piano that my uncle bob had fully restored. His current project is a double keyboard harpsichord. I have no doubt he'll be able to produce a finished product that even collectors will have to look at twice just to make sure of it's authenticity.
And, I think I'll end there for tonight. I have more for Monday-Wednesday including some random links and articles, but again it's getting late. I started this post almost 3 hours ago. (You get interrupted a lot in my house) And, I still have a 1/2 hour of exercise left tonight.

Wow, a ton of stuff has happened since I last posted. I'll try to briefly go through most of the highlights.
Ok, so Wednesday we got everything packed and Thursday morning we dropped Gage off at daycare and headed to my parents. We got all of their stuff packed into the car and headed to Virginia. We got checked into the hotel and then headed to Tennessee to the Family Fun Fair. Terri and my mom went nuts over the free stuff. My dad walked around checking out all the cars and trucks they had on display. Then we headed back to the hotel. At around 9:30 Mark called my cell phone to let me know that he and Robyn were still awaiting Norah's arrival. Turns out she didn't show up til 12:15 Friday morning.
Friday my dad decided that he didn't want to go to the Busch race which I was a little disappointed with at first, but it actually turned out to be a good decision. There were two rain delays that kept the race going until almost 1 in the morning. So, instead we headed down to the track just to look around. My parents were surprised at how far away we had to park. At least it sort of prepared them for the walk the next day.
Saturday we headed down to the track early and had lunch at the church where we park. Then we rode down to the track on the shuttle and left my parents to their own devices for souvenir hunting. Once we headed into the track for the race and got to our seats my mother was ready for a nap. Everyone enjoyed the race though. They thought it was interesting listening to the driver chatter on the scanners. My mom was a little upset that her driver (Dale Jarrett) didn't race as well as she wanted him to. I was a little jacked too. I finished 60th out of 63rd for the week. I think at this point, Jarrett is about to be benched in favor of another driver. I was also a little ticked off at the woman next to me who chain smoked 11 cigarettes during the race. Most of the smoke went right up my nostrils. I'm not usually one to complain about that, my dad has smoked the majority of my life and I have been known to indulge in the occasional cigar, but I was wearing very thin on patience. If the race had been 10 laps longer she might have ended up eating the last cigarette.
Sunday Terri decided that she wanted to drive home so that we could see Gage sooner. Robyn would have been proud at how I packed everything into the car. That's usually her job, but I think I performed admirably in her absence. We stopped once for lunch and once for the bathroom and she made it from the door of our hotel in Virginia to my parent's front door in 5 hours and 5 minutes. I don't think my dad will ever ride with her again, at least not in the front seat.
Monday I headed back to work while Terri took an extra day to hang out with Gage who did pretty well with her parents while we were gone. At least they finally got a taste of what it's like for us around bedtime. Apparently it took them over 2 hours to get him to sleep the first night. Sweet justice. Halfway through the day Monday I hear Jacob running towards my desk. Mark, Robyn, Jacob, and Norah came to visit after Norah's doctor's appointment. She's so tiny. She was only 6lbs 15oz. when she was born. So, even though we weren't supposed to head to their house til Tuesday night I got a little preview of Norah. I also got to hear all about Jacob's first day of kindergarten. It's amazing. I can't believe that he's starting school already. That made me feel old more than anything else.
Tuesday night we made our way to Cranberry, picked up some dinner and hung out with Mark, Robyn, Jacob, and Norah. Well, ok, Norah slept the majority of the time, but Gage and Jacob had fun playing together. Jacob also showed me his new game boy that his baby sister bought him with the Star Wars lego game. That was pretty sweet. We also found out that on Jacob's second day of school he ended up riding around on the bus for an extra hour and a half since the bus driver didn't fully understand the new route and breezed right by Jacob's stop. Oh the trials and tribulations of school.
Wednesday and Thursday were pretty much routine and I think I'll end the post there and catch up on the next half a week in the next post. There's a lot of stuff for the next post and it's getting late and I still have 1/2 to go on the bike.

Tomorrow is my last day at work for the week. Then I'll have one evening to get everything sorted out, organized, and packed for a race weekend. That means scanners, headphones, binoculars, seat cushions, computer, DVD's, etc.
I also found out today that Mark and Robyn's new little addition is going to be coaxed into the world beginning at 5 am on Thursday. That means that unless she gets settled, has the drug administered, goes through labor and delivery, and calls us within about one hour, we won't get to see baby Norah til we get back. Of course, that's still a better record than we had with Jacob. We didn't see him til he was 6 months old since they lived in Boston at the time.
Anyway, enough about the race. It's just that it's been the all consuming thing around the house recently.
Of course, we've also been trying to get things organized and cleaned which could easily become all consuming and based on the progress, never ending.
Anyway, just a short post tonight and potentially the last one for a while. So, if I don't talk to you, think good thoughts for Mark and Robyn and enjoy your weekend. Oh and the race starts at around 7:00 on TNT. We'll be sitting in Turn 4.

Two more work days til we leave for Bristol. Then once we're back, one month til Hockey. At this point, I've found that FSN is channel 628 and OLN is channel 608 and I'm ready to go.
In continuing with my dismissal of all things ESPN, I think they should remove their NHL page and commentary. If they don't give a rat's ass about televising the game, then why should the hockey loving community give a rat's ass about what they have to say.
I heard a joke on the radio yesterday that made me laugh so hard. Jim and Bob are sitting at the bar and Bob says to Jim, "The beer's on me tonight."
"Yeah, why are you being so generous?"
"You know that 72 Dodge Dart that I had in the yard with the busted tranny and missing back door?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"It was stolen two days ago."
"Now who in their right mind would steal that car?"
"I don't know, but we got the insurance check for 30,000 today."
Choking on his beer, Jim turns to Bob and asks, "30,000? How in the hell was that car worth that much?"
"Well, it did have a full tank of gas in it when it was stolen."
What a wonderful commentary on today's society.

I'm not sure why (though I'm guessing many of you will have theories), but for some reason Gage has taken to laughing for no apparent reason. And it's not like a he he giggle laugh. It reminds me of the diabolical laughter that you hear from the bad guys poised to take over the world. Hopefully he'll cut me in for a share.
This has been a busy weekend leading up to an even busier week capped off by the trip to Bristol for the Nascar race. From the way it looks, things aren't going to slow down til early October. Of course, the NHL will be back in full swing by then.
Oh, and speaking of the NHL...FUCK YOU ESPN!!!!
I can't wait to do the "I told you so" dance. In fact, the only one I'm going to miss in any way is Darren Pang. So goodbye chicken parm, or whatever the hell your name actually was, goodbye two suit, bad mullet Melrose. Adios Thorne and Clement who couldn't call a two snail race even if they had cheat sheets and people whispering commentary in their earpieces. May your entire crew rot in the purgatory of Midget Rodeo and one-armed thumb wrestling. Perhaps with your new insight you can come up with another clever idea for an "original" series. Oh wait, you're a FUCKIN' Sports network. Bastards.
OLN is about to get a huge shot in the arm. The NHL is going to surprise a lot of people with the new rules, and the player shakeups. And in the meantime, while I'm watching the Penguins on the road to Lord Stanley, I'll be keeping my dancing shoes in the corner for the "I told you so" dance.
Fuck you ESPN!

Well first off I wanted to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, cards, and flowers. Gramma was my last remaining grandparent. My maternal grandfather died in 1977. My paternal grandfather died in 1984. My maternal grandmother died in January and my paternal grandmother just died last Saturday. Within the span of 30 years, I'm grandparentless. I know all of them are in a better place and I know that they are all happy to be reunited with their families. I can't help that part of me is selfish. Part of me wants to be able to visit with them like I used to. Part of me wants them to see Gage grow up. Thankfully there's a rational part of me that realizes that this is the better way for everyone.
It came as quite a shock to arrive at my grandmother's house and find my aunts and uncles going through her possessions and making sure that everyone got what they bought for Gramma. There was no fighting, no bickering (at least not for that reason). We found things that no one even realized were still around. School pictures for my aunts and uncles, report cards, my grandmother's high school diploma. Gramma also had a dish that she used when she was a baby. They (her kids) decided that they wanted that dish to stay with the bloodline and name of the family. None of them wanted it. And with 11 great grandkids, oddly enough Gage is the only one that will carry on the family name for sure. There are girls with the family name, but it is more than likely that it will become a maiden name for them in 20-25 years. So, now a dish that may or may not be worth a nice chunk of money resides in my safe. Once we finally acquire a house, the will will not only have to be amended for the house and Gage, but now for the dish as well. Brian will love us I'm sure.
Tonight we headed to my parent's house to help them unload the truck of all the things that they brought home from Gramma's house. Once this was accomplished we made the switch of everything from my car, which we were leaving to be inspected, with my dad's truck, which we were borrowing to help Terri's sister move. Sounds like a wonderfully fun weekend, huh? Anyway, with the truck, Gage's carseat is right in between Terri and I. I had a Barry Manilow CD to listen to on the way back. We thought Gage might sleep since it was dark out, but he was way too interested in the fact that he could reach out and touch both of us and see out the front window. He was babbling right along and then the song New York City Rhythm came on. Gage started rockin' out to the music. Terri was just groaning. She couldn't believe that some of the music that Gage dances to is Johnny Cash and Barry Manilow. He is my son.

As most of you have been asked to be posted on the current situation, this past weekend my Grandmother passed away. Though not unexpected, it's still not a phone call that you want to answer. Have you ever noticed that when the phone rings early in the morning, it's never good news. No one calls you at 6 am to tell you that you won the lottery. Someone has always been hurt or has just passed away. And it's not like you can mumble your way through the call like you did when your roommate calls you at noon to find out where you were for your 10:30 class. No, as soon as you hear the news your brain snaps you awake. Then you have to lay there thinking about the event til you can shut your mind down or the numbness takes over.
Anyway, this means that I will be in the great land of nowhere til sometime Wednesday. If you need to get a hold of me, cell phone is your best bet.

Having possessed the ability to read the written word since I was 3, I've been victim several times to writers who lead you through 3/5 of the book and then hit "the stride" of the novel. I usually hit "the stride" late late at night and then deal with the consequences the next day. I think that was one of the things that persuaded me to become a writer. The fact that I could manipulate someone's thoughts, deeds, and sleep schedule is a very interesting prospect. Words are the most powerful thing on the planet. Forget WMD's, say the word "Fuck" in front of my mother and nuclear fallout will be the least of your worries. In fact, you'd be begging to be airlifted to Chernobyl.
Tonight was one of the nights that I hit "the stride" just a little too late for my own good. I just wanted to read a chapter, maybe two in the latest Rowling book. Having read the foreshadowing fairly well, I decided to press on a little further and the next thing I knew, I was closing the back cover pissed off beyond belief. See, I only saw about half of what was coming. I was blindsided by the second half of the reveal and the last 4 or 5 pages. And I know that getting this worked up about the book puts me in league with Susie, but I'll deal with that later.
What worries me more is the real life events that prompted the end of that book. I won't discuss them at length here because I know that Terri hasn't read the book yet and I wouldn't want to spoil it for her.
There was also a passage which confirmed my side of the argument for the glaring loophole in books 3, 4, and 5. I'll be happy to give you the page number if you'd like.
Anyway, it's a quarter to 4 now and I do have to work. I just thought I'd rant a tad, seeing as how I was still up and all. Thankfully I have nothing pressing at work that will require more than minimal brain power.

Not much going on today. Mark delivered the tickets for Bristol so at the end of the month, Terri and I along with Mom and Dad will be Tennessee bound. Can't wait to see the blender that is Bristol.
Of course that means that Terri and I will be parted from the little one for almost 4 whole days. I did it last year and it wasn't easy and it's going to be even harder on Terri. In the long run it will be a good thing.
This article just puzzles me. I mean if you're going to have an article about cars, especially expensive foreign cars, don't you need pictures? The link I followed to get to the article even described it as 8 cars to turn heads. I don't usually turn my head unless I have something appealing to look at. Something like this.
This just boggles my mind. I would have started him on a one game contract, not a one year contract.

Not much going on today. Just thought I'd try to keep up the appearances of a normal blogging schedule.
The Penguins signed a goaltender that used to play for the Blackhawks today. He's 30. I wonder how that figures into the plan for Fleury who's 20?
I wonder what I'm going to do about the hockey season. I'd love to plunk down money for season tickets. There are just two problems... a) I don't have the money and b) I'm supposed to be working towards a house. Somehow season tickets don't fit into that scenario. Damn.

Two things happened today, one expected and one completely out of the blue. One I understand, one I'll never understand.
First for the easy one, the expected one. Anyone have a guess? I'll give you a hint. It's time to play the music. It's time to light the lights. It's time to get things started on The Muppet Show tonight. That's right, the Muppet Show Season 1 came out today and it's sitting at my house tonight.
Also before I move on to the second one...Happy 31st Birthday Tom!!!!
Now, on to the other event of today. Terri had to pull some extra duty as program coordinator and work til 9:30 tonight. I work til 6:30. The problem arises when you discover your son's daycare closes at 6:00 and you are charged for every 5 minutes after that. So we arranged for my mom to pick up Gage and take care of him til I got home. She had a class for some teaching certification, but that ended at noon. So, around 1:00 she picked up Gage. Now, I thought she was going to our house, but she took him back to her house. So, at around 3:30 I decided to call and check to see how he was. There was no answer at our house, I couldn't reach Terri on her cell phone, and she wasn't answering her work phone. So, I decided to call my parent's house. Of course my mom answered. So after making sure that Gage was ok, I decided to chance asking whether or not they had heard anything about my grandmother. This is where event number 2 occurs. My uncle Donny had called and said that my grandmother was sitting up, talking, and responding. Now, I don't know if this is an all the time thing, or if it was a couple of isolated incidents, but I certainly sat up and took notice. For someone who was only given days to live, she's certainly during her damnest to piss off all her doctors before she decides to go on her terms. At this point I don't even know what to think or feel. 7 days ago, I was watching her laying motionless in a hospital bed with, what I thought at the time, was a 0 chance for survival or even recovery. Perhaps she just wanted to see everyoned one last time. I'll keep everyone posted as updates come in, but I'm sure they'll be all over the board.

Well, I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. At this point, we're just waiting for the phone call.
To recap the weekend events, after returning home, we managed to spend a little more time with the Mutchler's by taking in the zoo. We took Terri's younger cousins since they were out visiting for the week. It rained in the morning, but by afternoon it had cooled off and made for a really nice relaxing day at the zoo. Although outside of the aquarium, Terri's youngest cousin Lexie saw the Scuba tank that they had set up. Turns out, you could try scuba diving for free. She wanted to go in the worst way, but had to have an accompanying adult. After checking for any loopholes, I reluctantly gave in and went with her. After changing into the wetsuit, we headed into the pool area, which was thankfully only 4 feet, as I'm not the world's greatest swimmer. In fact, I think I've seen rocks and logs do better in the water than I do. Anyway, all turned out well and it was even a little fun.
Saturday we had breakfast and hung out with Susie til it was time for the Mutchler's to head back across the state. A rousing game of scrabble was played whilst Alison and I watched the little ones. For future reference "Fores" - not a word "Re" - a word.
Saturday evening we headed over to Alicia and Jody's house for their party. It was an interesting party. They had a guy who was providing musical entertainment. Gage was fascinated by him for some reason. Not really the best entertainment I've ever heard, but ok.
Sunday Gage was feeling very clingy and since Terri was working from 7 in the morning til early afternoon, he was all mine to deal with. He managed to cling enough so that neither of us could really get ready for church. So we spent most of Sunday dozing until Terri got home. Then we all got cleaned up and headed down to my old boss' house for a small "Lycos" reunion. We hung out and had lunch at her house and then headed over to the Wild Things game. It was fun. The promotions staff tried to recruit Gage for one of the promotions, but he just wasn't feeling up to it. Although he would have beaten the other kids entered with no problem.
And, it was back to work today. And still waiting for a phone call that I don't want to answer.

First off Happy 31st Birthday Tom!!!
Well after an enjoyable weekend of visiting with old friends and new ones and then last night watching children run all over the Warner's backyard you'd think I'd be pretty content. Well, I am, but apparently it has been decided that I shouldn't be. At some point last night, my other Grandmother had a stroke. No one knows what's going on yet, but it certainly threw the rest of my week into turmoil. My mother, relaying information from my aunt, who was relaying information from the doctors said that it doesn't look good. So I will most likely be making the trek back up to the Bradford area a lot sooner than I thought. 2005 is apparently not a good year for Grandmothers.
Several friends that I went to high school with have lost their grandmothers this year. Most recently a set of twins that I graduated with will be attending their grandmother's viewing this evening according to my hometown paper.
I know, I know...way to drag everyone down. Well, if you check out the right hand column, "For we are always what our situations hand us, it's either sadness or euphoria."

So, there were two things that I forgot to mention yesterday.
One of the guys on our multimedia team is a young guy. He recently graduated from the Art Institute and this is his first professional job. He's a nice guy, but rather dim in the ways of the world on occasion. The other morning he ran out of gas on his way to work, and that's not even the best part. In order to remedy his situation he called 911. Yes, 911. Don't worry, he's still being teased about it. In the middle of the day, he was paged over the intercom to extension 911. No one in our group could look at him without bursting into laughter. We all want to know why he called 911, but no one can keep a straight face long enough to ask.
The second comes from Columbia House. They've decided to screw me over one last time. I say one last time, not because I'm cancelling my multiple memberships, but because they are going out of business and shuffling all their customers over to BMG (with whom I already have other multiple memberships). How does this screw me over, you ask? Well even if you didn't ask I'm still going to tell you. Over the years through various complaints and problems that I've had with Columbia House I've amassed a dozen or so free cd vouchers. Now I have to sit down with a catalog and my cd lists and come up with a ton of cds that I'd like to get for free. Well, almost free. By the time they get done ripping me off for processing and shipping it'll be like buying them used.
Speaking of buying used things, thanks to a little memory prodding from Susiezy I managed to make it over to a small alumni run non-profit bookstore for Bryn Mawr and Vassar. They close in August for vacations and inventory so the last couple weeks of July they have increasingly better sales. 11 books less than $5.00. I managed to pick off another six or seven from my book lists. Good day.

There's a house that Terri and I pass on our way to certain stores that we always joke about buying if it ever comes on the market. Well, the last time I drove past it, there was a big honkin' For Sale sign in the front yard. So, when I got home, I looked it up, just to see. Anyone got a spare million or two? Terri estimated 600,000. I said closer to 800,000. Turns out together we were still over half a million off. Such is life. I guess we'll just have to look for something a little more in our price range.
I saw this article in my daily skimming and it almost made me snort dr. pepper out my nose. The first sentence really did me in. "...loud music coming from a buggy..." Through a bizarre set of circumstances and in-jokes, all I could hear was Peaches come from a can. They were put there by a man, in a factory, downtown.
Anyway, moving right down the list of strange stuff I found this morning this guy is accused of neglecting his mother's health in the role of primary care giver. He was providing care in exchange for her social security checks and her pension, which he used to pay his lease. Now, obviously this guy isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. I mean, if your mother struck that deal with you and you were actually benefiting from the money, wouldn't you take extra special care of her? Even if you were a jackass and you were only in it for the money. Wouldn't you want to make sure that the money didn't run out, which is the outcome neglect and death would bring about? Moron.
The Pens released their season schedule today. I can't tell you what I'm doing after work, but I can damn sure tell you where I'm going to be at 7:30 on Saturday October 8th, 2005. And, depending on cash flow issues, as many dates thereafter that I can swing. Lord Stanley is comin' home to Pittsburgh!
Matt sent me this article in response to this, this, and this. Perhaps if Congress had a bit more to take up their time they wouldn't have to bother with video games. Perhaps they should concentrate a little more on the Supreme Court nomination and handling that in a fair, unbiased manner. Perhaps they should tend to the war in Iraq and the growing concerns with terrorist attacks in London and elsewhere. Perhaps they should all stop trying to present themselves as a party candidate for the Presidential race in 2008.
This just falls under the heading, "Bizarre."
Craig had mentioned things in society/pop culture that you personally rail against but the vast majority seem to like. I started thinking about it and the list is way too long to spell it all out, but I'll give it a try.
Some television shows
The Sopranos, Sex in the City, Seinfeld, Ally McBeal, Desperate Housewives...I've seen episodes of all these shows and not one has been able to spark my attention for more than a snippet of dialogue.
Some movies
Oceans 12, Charlie's Angels, Harry Potter 3...how can you take good base material to work from and churn out shit like this?
I'm sure I'll get to more later, but that's enough for now.

Very little going on today. This weekend wasn't too bad. My mother-in-law was recouping from knee replacement surgery so there were the obligatory visits there. We saw Further Down the Road play at a local Starbucks. Gage decided he liked ice cream, but he did not like oreo ice cream. We managed to get the yard mowed and some more work done inside the house.
I also finally managed to finish 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Verne is a good writer and he was a good scientist. I just wish he'd kept the two separate. Much like Moby Dick, if you had removed the classification of every species of fish, it would have been a good adventure story.
After reading back to back Verne novels, it was time to go back and do a little enjoyment reading. And, since I had picked up the 6th Potter novel, that series seemed as good a place as any to start. So, I not only started the first novel, but managed to finish it as well. So, tonight, hopefully I get to start the second novel. Who knows, I may make better time with them than I thought.
On to hockey news...
Crosby will make an excellent addition to the Penguins when they finally draft him on Saturday. In the meantime, I think they could stop selling his jersey. I feel like a jinx is in place or something.
I heard one of the funniest things on Pittsburgh radio this morning and it hasn't nothing to do with my loathing of baseball, it was one of those things that was funny because it's true.
"With hockey back on track, the Pens winning the lottery for Crosby, Patrick having the money to pull in any available players, and Steeler's training camp starting in a week, the Pittsburgh Pirates are going to have to take turns writing letters to the editor in order to get press."
So very true.

Holy Crap!!!! Why can't it be October already?

Yes, I've been noticeably absent. It's due to the fact that once again I managed to finish a semester's worth of work for a class in one week. Of course, the rest of my life got put on hold, but the class is finished. I even managed to pass.
A ton of stuff has happened since the last post, but I'll probably just bore everyone to death relating it. I will say that Gage had a great time in the hotel pool and no we obviously weren't the family reunion that got hit by lightning.
One thing I read in my self-imposed hiatus was this from the imdb headlines...

"Jessica Simpson fears her new movie The Dukes Of Hazzard will flop because people see her as a singer and not a movie star. The pop sensation is one of a growing number of young stars following in the footsteps of icons like Madonna and Jennifer Lopez who want to conquer all aspects of the entertainment industry. Simpson plays sexy heroine Daisy Duke in the big screen adaptation of the cult series and desperately hopes there will be no critical backlash concerning her acting skills. She says, "I don't want people walking out of a movie thinking I was trying to act or be some movie star. I want them to think, 'That might make me like Jessica a little bit more.'"

Oh, Jessica, Jessica, Jessica. This movie is gonna flop for so many other reasons than the fact that people might look at you acting like a dumbass on the big screen and say, "Gee, isn't she just a singer?"

One other thing that I'll point out is the fact that I saw the Fantastic Four as my annual, "Let's get the hell away from my crazy family movie pick". I wasn't impressed. But for completely different reasons than the ones that Tom mentioned. I thought they moved the plot right along and they found their powers in due time. However, even the wonderfully bright casting of Michael couldn't sustain the mistake they made with her. Sorry, when the casting people ignore the characterization and underlying motivation of a character in order to find someone who's going to look incredible in the latest Victoria's Secret. I don't believe for a second that Sue Richards from the comic books and mind of Stan Lee is anything even remotely close to what was portrayed on screen. The special effects were also kind of a let down. And the "climactic" fight scene was anything but. I'm also a little curious as to how the chamber to change them back doesn't have enough power to accomplish the task without Doom, but Ben is able to remutate himself with the diminished power? And he's instantly remutated instead of the three or four days from the first time? That plothole is big enough to accomodate the driving of the truck that he smashes in the movie.
The inevitable sequel might be able to fix some of the problems but it will be a DVD rental at best. Most likely I'll just wait til Tom buys it and then borrow it off of him.

So, how sad is this?
I now have in my possession not one, but two copies of the new Harry Potter book.
A little backstory maestro...
My family reunion is the 3rd Saturday of July. The publisher also picked this date as the release date which prevented me from pre-ordering from anyone since I wouldn't be around to get it. I figured I'd just wait a week and then pick up a copy. However, my uncle was looking for a picnic table. No one around the Bradford area seemed to have one so I told him that I'd stop at the Wal-Mart in Olean where we were staying. While in the building, we hear the announcement that although the story normally closes at 12:00, they were extending the hours til 1:00 A.M. in order to sell copies of the new Harry Potter book. So, I ask the cashier while we're checking out if you needed to pre-order the book. She said, "No, we're starting to sell them at 12:01 and we'll close at 1:00.
So, I decided to see what the mob would be like. I'm still trying to figure out what the mob would be like. There was none. There were maybe 75 people there. They pulled a pallet of the books out of the back, people lined up, they were handed as many copies as they desired, they went to one of 5 registers open, checked out (at a hugely reduced price I might add. I got two for the MSRP of one), drove back to the hotel (which those in the wedding party will remember is right down the street from the Wal-Mart), booted up the computer, and typed this out by 12:18 according to the time signature below. If I had gone to the Barnes and Nobles in Robinson close to Pittsburgh, in 17 minutes I might have been able to see the parking lot where the store next to the Barnes and Nobles was located.
And now to ruin everyone's day...SPOILER ALERT...
Harry Potter is in this book.
You might say that I had to leave the state to buy the book.
Now it's time to go to bed. I've done enough stupid things for one night apparently.
Oh, and the second copy was for my cousin in case anyone was wondering.

So, we stuck close to home this past weekend. My dad fixed our lawnmower and dropped it off on Saturday. So, while they were playing with Gage, Terri and I took the opportunity to get some housework done. I finally got tired of tripping over the stacks of books that needed to be assimilated into the collection so I bit the bullet and started work in the library. I spent about 6 hours working in there on Saturday, another 3 hours on Sunday, 2 hours Monday, and I finally finished up Tuesday night. My rough count pins about 190-225 new books. Assimilation required some furniture moving and some creative housekeeping. It also required some major diversion in the entertainment department. Which gave me just the excuse I needed to make a dent in all the movies that I borrowed from Tom. So, I managed to clear 6 1/2 movies during my time in the library. Now, keep in mind whose collection these came from when looking at the caliber of cinematic delight.
I'll list these in order watched since enjoyment might be difficult to measure.
1. Dancing at the Blue Iguana I really didn't think that any movie could possibly make the naked female form more unappealing than this movie, but I was wrong. At least Showgirls had Gina to keep me entertained. The only potential redemption for Iguana was Sandra Oh and even she couldn't pull it off unfortunately.
2. Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star This was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. The cameos of actual child stars put this directly into watchability.
3. Dorm Daze Oddly enough this movie was a lot more enjoyable than I expected. This movie had the plot basis of the older intelligent comedy of hollywood where everything ends up interconnected with a ton of little twists, turns, and of course, misunderstandings. Plus Danielle as a gossip-monger and drug addict.
4. Black Knight This movie was highly disappointing. The premise is quite overdone and even the black angle was done before.
5. Repli-Kate Typical. The premise is old and no new twists really. Although the sidekick, played by him was pretty good.
6. 100 Girls This wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be, but it did have it's moments.
While I was looking for some of the links I came across this. Why God Why?!?
Burning Question #2 Why does a radio station that claims to play hits from a catalog of two and a half decades have 3 different DJ's that play the same song (a remake from long ago) when the song itself is almost a year off the charts?
One little spot of corporate idiocy that I noticed (almost used the camera phone on this one). Subaru is touting this in all their new advertising. At the little hotel near our house, there was a trailer for the SUV. The hilarious part was that the trailer was being pulled by a Ford F250 pick-up.

I know I've been absent recently and that's due to lack of sleep. For some reason that's beyond anything that Terri, I, my parents, her parents, co-workers, etc. Gage has developed an abject fear of his crib and more importantly being (or sleeping) in it. It's made for quite a few sleepless nights since he invariably ends up between us on the bed. The poor boy is in for a lifetime of my sleep habits. They'll serve him well in college but are pretty useless otherwise. I finally had enough after 45 minutes of screaming so I grabbed my tool-box (coincidentally a father's day gift from Gage) and headed upstairs. I took the crib apart and turned it into the toddler bed. He thought that was cool for about 5 minutes then he cried and ended up in bed with us. At the moment he's sleeping there, but we'll see if it makes it all night. Then if we've actually solved the problem we're going to end up screwing it all up again this weekend when we travel to the family reunion.
In other news, I actually managed to win the Rare Entries competition that Craig runs during the summer. So, I have to come up with 8 pop culture questions for my entry. I've managed to get one so far. Plus I have to manage to answer this week's questions. For anyone interested in playing, let me know and I'll send you the info and questions for this week's contest. There's no money, it's all about the bragging rights.

Star Wars Horoscope for Scorpio

You are a powerful character. You tend to be possessive and lusty - which explains your greedy nature. You feel threatened when people try to order you around or control you. You are prone to suspicion and jealousy - but your resilience and passion get you what you want. Star wars character you are most like: Han Solo

What is Your Star Wars Horoscope?

Ok, so I took the weekend off, shoot me. So after posting that we were taking Gage to Idlewild on Friday with my parents, Susiezy IM's me and says, "I know Gage is too little to do this, but Idlewild is where my nephew got lost." I didn't think much about it. Although Gage was walking it was always for a purpose. He was either walking to us, or to a particular place or toy. He hadn't really ever just walked off anywhere. Either there's some sort of force-field around the park or Susiezy was trying to curse me. We were sitting at an outdoor table near the water park and as I turned my head I see Gage talking off across the sidewalk. Thankfully his little legs are too short for him to get any kind of distance yet. But now he just walks when and where he wants. Nobody said that was part of the package. He's just supposed to walk where I want him to walk. None of this running off on his own jazz. Anyway, Gage loved the park. I think he rode the Merry-Go-Round 6 times. He also rode other assorted rides and went into the little baby pool with me. So, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, and Gage had fun. Dad even managed to dust off his dart skills for a prize. Damn do I miss having an in-house dart-board though.
We went to my Uncle's house on Sunday for a little 4th of July get-together. The people a couple doors up from them were having a yard sale. They had one of these. Not quite that one, but similar. Apparently their grandchildren had grown out of it and they didn't have any use for it anymore. Terri made some remark about how nice it would be to have one of those for Gage and the next thing we knew my Uncle Bob was thrusting money into the guy's hand. So, on Sunday afternoon they delivered Gage's playhouse and he spent a couple hours going into the house, coming out of the house, opening the door, closing the door. So, Gage had a great weekend.
The 4th was pretty laid-back. Terri had to work so Gage and I hung out at home and tried to get some housework done. Then once it got dark we simply walked outside and watched some fireworks. Next year we might actually take Gage somewhere. Although he did better this year than last year. Last year he slept through everything.
This story has been picked up by every major news organization. I've seen it on ESPN, CNN, Sports Illustrated, MSN, the local papers, local sites, and half a dozen other places. I'd like to think this would vault Pittsburgh to the top of the heap when it comes to loyal sports fans, but I'm fairly certain there had to be crack involved somewhere along the way.
This might require some sort of intervention for Susiezy.
If this makes it into an actual court, I'm gonna start making my list of ridiculous lawsuits. And I think I might want this guy on my team of lawyers. Any idiot who thinks they can use that as a plausible defense is insane enough for me.
Thanks to those who have already donated to the Alzheimer's walk. Still plenty of time and I'll have more details as it gets closer to the actual date of the walk. As always, e-mail me if you're interested in donating.

With the temperature being so oppressively hot, it's hard to work upstairs in the library where the majority of my work needs to be done. So, I've been relegated to carrying things downstairs in pieces. So, I've had the TV on in the background, but again tonight I found something on that I had meant to see, but never managed to find the time for. I think most things happen for a purpose and when things like this happen it only confirms it more.
For those of you that haven't seen the movie I won't spoil the plot but one of the main themes is memory loss.
My Project Manager at work sent an e-mail inviting me to join her team to walk in support of research for Alzheimer's. Her step-father is in the very early stages and having read quite a bit about this disease, I know she's in for quite a few painful times in her life. So, Terri and I are signed up to walk with her and her family and help raise money. So, although more details will be forthcoming, if you'd like to donate send me an e-mail. The address is to the right if you just want to click on it.
"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes."-Walt Whitman