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."