Well what's left of Friday the 13th will be gone by the time you read this. Hopefully you're not a paraskevidekatriaphobe. I figured since I own a black cat, really...how much worse can it get?
This article struck me for three reasons. One, this guy brutally murdered 8 little girls and later realized the consequences of his actions. To this end, he refused all appeals and tried to speed up his execution. Sure, he should have probably been made to suffer a little more, but I can't believe how many people tried to override his wishes and keep him alive. I can almost guarantee that if somehow they had succeeded he would have attempted to hang himself in his own cell. It's like some bizarre twist on the Schiavo case. Two the state of execution. And, three the man's alma mater.
Not much else going on today. Terri and I made it through one whole week of yard work. I went out Mon, Wed, and today. She went out Tues and Thurs. So far, we've weedwhacked the hillside, moved off all the loose rocks off the sidewalk, cut about 1/4 of the lawn and pulled a small section of weeds by the patio. We'll get there eventually.
Tomorrow afternoon we're off to see Katherine Paterson give a lecture at the Carnegie Library. The series is for children, but if you listen to anyone's opinion of me, I'm still a big kid.

Well in keeping with learning something new every day, today I did something that I've never done before. I ripped a CD. It took about 4 1/2 minutes. I almost fell off my chair. Two clicks. Now I'm in the market for a new computer and the hard drive space to hold all my music. Here's where I could use some help. I'm looking for computer suggestions, storage suggestions, any kind of help.
I have approximately 2,000 CD's 1,000 or so tapes, 400 Vinyl albums, and about 200 8-
Tracks. Obviously I'm not going to be able to contain all that on one computer. So, is an external drive the way to go? So the computer have any special features or should I just get a barebones from here? Is this a PC or a Mac venture? Laptop, desktop? HP, Dell, Gateway, Apple? As you can tell...I'm clueless here.
Not much else going on here. A couple of people from work stopped over this evening and they're going to take some plant life out of my yard. I can't tell you how wonderful that is. Anything removed from the yard is one less thing that I may have to potentially take care of.
This is certainly a switch. (Although I'll preface this with the fact that the list has changed since I read it this morning and may change again). However, right now English, a major near and dear to my heart, is 2nd on the list. Computer Science...nowhere to be found. Sweet justice.

Not much is going on today. I'm posting a little earlier than normal because I decided to skip the daily walk on the treadmill. I figured that finishing the weedwhacking on the hillside qualifies as quite enough exercise for today. So, a quick post and then it's off to bed.
So, I finished all of my old Entertainment Weekly magazines and I'm even caught up, having finished the most recent issue last night. Now, not including all the hype within the articles themselves (too numerous to count) there were 4 full page ads with various vendors hawking their products with some sort of Star Wars tie-in. The number of Star Wars themed commercials are beginning to rival the first week of November 2004. Now, granted I'm going to see the movie at least once in the theater and the DVD will be out in time for Christmas. I also have Darth Tater sitting on my desk at work next to my Yoda and Darth Vader Slurpee cups from 7-11, but there's even a limit to what I can take hype-wise. They are building the movie so high, it's bound to crash in some way or another. I've seen at least 3 articles postulating on what the movie is or isn't going to resolve. And, since I already have it on pretty good authority that Han Solo makes no appearance whatsoever, I'm curious as to what other disappointments lie ahead. I've not read much of the press. If the article looks like it might contain spoilers, I've avoided it. I haven't bought the soundtrack, the book, or the video game (not that I have the right system to play it on anyway). I haven't looked at Kevin Smith's review (although that might be the only one to trust). Anyway, only a week to go til opening day so it will probably be at least a week more than that before I can find space in the theater to see the movie. And now it's time to go to bed to see if I can divine as to how Leia has memories of her mother, but Anakin has no memories of Leia.

Well, I once heard that you are supposed to learn one new thing every day. Today, I simply relearned something that I already knew. I'm always right.
Take this entry for example (taken straight from The Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual p.146)
Over It generally refers to spatial relationships: The plane flew over the city. Over can, at times, be used with numerals: She is over 30. I paid over $200 for this suit. But, more than may be better: Their salaries went up more than $20 a week. Let your ear be your guide.
Style isn't always grammatically correct. Or, as I also learned today "grammatically schrammatically."

Whether it was intended to be a counterpart to my late night/early morning Saturday post, Adam's post was exactly what I needed. I guess it's not the destination, it's the journey that takes us there. And, to badly paraphrase, What a short strange trip it's been. Hopefully with good friends and family by my side, the rest of my journey will have the same sweet moments the journey has held so far. Maybe a little less of the scary ones, though.
For those that knew me in college, I tried a lot of things to extend deadlines and generally shirk classroom responsibility, but I can honestly say it never crossed my mind to set my house on fire.
And, since my son hasn't learned the value of sleeping in yet, I'm headed to bed for my eventual 6 am wake-up call...are we really sure he's my son? Surely my sleep gene should have kicked in by now.

Well it was pointed out to me that it's been over a week since I last posted. That it has. And, it made me focus on why I haven't posted. It's not like I haven't had the opportunity. I've been on the computer numerous times at home. I've certainly kept up with the blog reading. I think it has something to do with my last big lapse in posting around mid-march.
Anyway, a couple of quick notes before I completely delve into wallowing self-pity or whatever the hell it is. This holds great promise for me. It has the potential to bring about balance in the force.
Ok, here's where the casual reader can stop, in fact everyone can stop here if they'd like. The rest of this is sure to be long, rambling, full of self-loathing and inconclusive bs.
After dinner on Thursday the 28th with Susie and the Warners I went about my normal nightly routine. Terri and I (mostly Terri) put Gage to bed, Terri soon followed and I caught up on some paperwork and magazine reading. Being afflicted with insomnia, or an overactive thought process, sometimes keeps me up even when I don't want to be. Sure, it was wonderful during those all nighters in college, but nowadays with Gage getting up at 6:30 occasionally, it's not so pleasant. Anyway, I always have some noise coming from the television whether I'm actually watching or not. That night it happened to be
this. I'm pretty sure everyone I know has seen this movie. And, if you haven't, I'm sure you can buy it from Target the moment they open. There's nothing earth shattering about watching that particular movie. Hell, I've done it numerous times before. However, the last several times I've seen the movie I've been left with a little nagging feeling in me. That movie combined with the news the next day of Mr. Bell's death kind of brought that nagging to the surface. Til now I haven't really figured out what it means. Hell, I'm still not sure I have it figured out. Anyway, the movie left me with that vague feeling. Which I realized also had occurred earlier in March after watching this movie. And that feeling was intensified by seeing Terri's colleague play at the coffee house and singing the song "Lucky One" by Alison Krauss. There's a line in the song that says "Jack of all trades, master of none." That really sunk it home for me. When you think about that in conjunction with "Carpe Diem" and "Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'" I wonder exactly what the hell I've been doing with my life. I have two writing degrees. Do I write? No. Do I want to? I think so. I used to be a fairly proficient actor. Do I act? No. Do I want to? I think so. The list is endless. Things that I'm fairly good at. Nothing that I excel at. Nothing that drives me to neglect reading the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly in favor of sitting at the typewriter. Perhaps I'm afraid of rejection. Perhaps I'm afraid that after devoting a little over half my life to my chosen profession, I'll find out that I don't belong there. That my six figure school loan debt was just a chance to build two and a half kick-ass buggies and earn me perhaps the oddest wedding gift ever seen. Speaking of EW, the last couple issues have had book reviews with Jonathan Safran Foer and his wife Nicole Krauss. Both have just recently published their second novels. Not that remarkable all things considered. Except that both of them are younger than I am. (Now we hit the crux of the matter) Not only do I feel old, but I'm too old to be the whiz kid that I always thought I was. Hell, I was once even hired to be the company whiz kid. I'm also wondering if perhaps I'm too old to try and break as a novelist (especially considering my novel resembles the "naked page" project that Jonathan once ran in another magazine that I read regularly. I rarely put together pieces as coherent as Susie. I'm not as ironic as Dwight. I certainly haven't been on Jeopardy like Craig. Or, even on any game show like Joe. I'm not making disposable income or breaking out on my own like The Mutchlers or Tom. I'm not really doing much of anything. I'm on the phone and people ask what's new. I have no answer, and I haven't for a long time. Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy with my family, just my situation. I love Terri and Gage and I don't know how I'd get along without them. It's just this overwhelming frustration that keeps creeping back. This frustration all built into this post due to all the overwhelming signs that hammered at me this evening. I had problems getting a simple CSS sheet to work for my Web Development test. I was flipping through the channels and Dead Poet's Society was on (in fact when I started this post, Neil had just committed suicide). Once I saw my favorite scene (with half the class standing on their desks proclaiming O Captain, My Captain and having Robin Williams simply look up in an understated and, for him, completely uncharacteristic manner, to say, "Thank you boys. Thank you.), I flipped around the channels and sure enough there was Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. And yes, I flipped on the country station just to check and it wasn't Alison Krauss, but it was close. They were playing Lee Ann Womack's I Hope You Dance. So anyway, I have no closing...it was long, rambling, and mostly incoherent bs, but there it is anyway. Who knows, maybe someday I'll end up like Ron McLarty with the best book you can't read and then you can. Until then, I guess you'll just have to deal with my frustrations and ramblings here.

Since not one but two people have already posted this ahead of me, Happy Birthday Terri.
Also, Happy Birthday to my Uncle David and Happy Birthday a day late to my Uncle Bob.
That's all with the Birthday announcements.

For the past two or three days the left side of my head has been throbbing and pulsing with what I assume is a sinus infection. I guess I'm too stubborn or too busy to go to the doctor so I've been dosing up on Sudafed and Tylenol. I must say, it's an interesting feeling being completely clearheaded and functioning on one side and full of pain, blockage, and swelling on the other side. It's kind of like the badly done split screen image at the beginning of the Incredible Hulk tv show with Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno. Pretty much like this. Anyway, it's made work interesting for the past two days.
Craig has been keeping everyone posted on the current playoff situation. I really thought the Pens had a chance to make it back into the playoffs this year. Maybe he's just a little confused.
This doesn't surprise me at all considering the University it came from. That place is full of scholars I tell you.
Anyway, it's off to more Tylenol and Sudafed.

I guess I'm slowly coming to the realization that it just won't be possible for me to see the midnight showing of the new Star Wars movie. I've run out of scenarios that will allow me to a) find tickets and b) attend. When Lucas did his re-tooling and re-release of the original trilogy, we managed to scrounge tickets for the first showing on the first day. When Episode I was released, a small group of us waited outside overnight. Terri even got her hands in USA Today and at some point or another, we were all on television. Episode II saw me on a scaffold 25 feet in the air running a brush over Nicole Kidman to barter my way to tickets. And now, I've just run out of options. I know, woe is me. It's not like the movie only plays one day. Still, 5 out of 6 is a pretty good record. It's a shame to have it broken.
Speaking of Star Wars...
We were home visiting our respective parents this weekend (amidst the April snow) and my dad was watching The Empire Strikes Back. Now, I'm willing to cut Lucas quite a bit of slack...after Jar Jar Binks I have to. But this is truly going to have to be one kick-ass script to take that whiny adolescent wuss from Episode II and transform him into the galaxy's most powerful villian. Vader's presence in, what is now, Episode V is forceful. He takes charge, he deals with no one. Hayden has a long way to go. I mean most people thought Luke was the whiniest of the bunch til they met Hayden. At least you can see where Luke got it from.
Oh well, Happy Belated Birthday (by a week) to Mitch.

Nothing much going on today. The webcast broadcast went well so that was a bonus. I had good intentions of coming home, rebuilding the lawnmower, and hitting some of the grass tonight, but due to the rain and severe thunderstorm warnings that didn't happen. How much does lawn service cost again?
I've been branching out a tad since I've had a couple minutes here and there so you might see some new blogs pop up on the little menu on the side. I can't promise, but I'm sure I'll find something that I like.
Oddly enough, I have nothing else to say except...goodnight.

Well, after yesterday's big catch-up post I'll keep it short. I have a whole big rant on a certain store (actually not the House of Satan this time), but I'll save that for another day...with good reason of course.
Tomorrow at the office we're holding a rebroadcast of a live seminar because there were technical difficulties with the company we hired and the company sponsoring the event. Hopefully things will go smoothly tomorrow. I would invite you to check it out, but I've already seen it three times and that was five times too many so I won't bore you with it too.
The Catholic church found themselves a new Pope according to the news. He's 78. That means that we'll be going through this process again a lot sooner than we did last time.
Anyway, not much else has been going on so I'll leave it at that.

Those who are in the know realized that this was Carnival weekend at Carnegie Mellon. That means scantily clad women get into tiny penis shaped objects and have men shove them down a hill at break-neck speeds. Or buggy, as we called it.
That would explain the lack of posting recently. That and a completely jammed weekend.
Thursday night I manage to stumble home from work and I went straight to bed. My stomach was queasy, I had a whomping headache, and felt like I was going to hurl everytime I moved. Fun state to be in. Hell, that used to be Saturday night not Thursday night. Anyway, after a pretty sleepless night, I got up at 5:45 to get ready to go out to buggy. Oh, did I forget to mention for everyone that buggy begins at sun up? Oddly enough, I think that Carnegie Mellon may be the only campus in the United States that gets more alumni back for Carnival than they do for homecoming.
Anyway, Gage was going with me out to his first race day. We parked in the lot for my office which is about a 1/2 mile walk from campus. So, I packed the camera, his diaper bag, his food bag, extra clothes, a jacket, the Snugli, and his toys into the stroller and we set off. I was hoping the stroller ride would put him to sleep, but no such luck. And, to top it off as we got close to campus he decided that he was done riding. So, now I'm carrying him in one arm and pushing the stroller full of crap with the other. We finally got to campus, met up with Tom and I stashed the stroller near the buggy truck. We put Gage on my back in the Snugli and proceeded to watch the races and mingle with alumni. That morning went by without too much incident. We saw Mel, Madler, Stengel, Abby, Billy, Karen, Sheby, Virginia, and a ton of other alumni. Unfortunately, at the end of the morning, instead of three teams returning for second day SDC only had one because of some DQ's. But it was still a decent day. Everyone loved Gage. We even had some random girls stop us for a picture. After the races, during which we covered about 6 miles or so, we headed the 1/2 mile back to the car so Gage could get dropped off at Aunt Jenny's house.
Then I headed into work. After work, Susie, Tom, Terri, Jenny, and Gage met me at my office and we headed down to PNC Park for the Pirates Game. Gage's first Pirate game actually. By the time we got to the ballpark to find a place to park Gage decided his stomach had enough. He puked four times in a row covering himself, the car seat, and anything within range. Thankfully, I was a) in the front seat and b) in someone else's car. Anyway, once we got into the stadium the game wasn't bad. They actually won. The crowd was stunned. They hadn't seen a Pirate win in a decade or so. After the game we had to get out of the traffic, straigten out the cars, and get home so I didn't get to bed til after midnight.
Then it was back up at 6:00 the next morning. Terri, Gage, and I got out to buggy and the first thing they told me was that they were running exhibition heats and they wanted to know what hill I was going to push. So, at 7:30 in the morning I found myself sprinting up Hill 5 on Frew Street. Thankfully I beat the person I was racing against. And, I got to push Rage, which is the last buggy that I helped to build when I was at Carnegie Mellon. Then we watched the rest of the races, saw more alumni (some from the late 50's and early 60's) and took a big alumni picture on the hill like we used to.
After leaving the races we decided to have lunch and then walk down to Pitt where Joe, Dwight, and Craig were involved in various postions at the 8th Annual Trashionals tournament. We got there while most everyone was out to lunch, but we did finally manage to find someone who was able to tell us what room Joe was reading in. So, we settled in to wait for him to return. By a complete fluke one of the teams competing in his room in the first round after lunch was composed of only one person. Apparently there aren't many hard fast rules about picking people up along the way so Tom and I ended up competing with The Jimmy Stewart Experience for the rest of the day. I was Harvey the Rabbit in case anyone was wondering. Trash is very different from any other type of trivia competition that I've ever competed in. Tom got the hang of it much quicker than I did. And, he's much more up to date on the latest pop culture which is 75% of Trash.
After we finished competing, we headed back to campus to pick up the car. Then everyone met at our house and we ended up playing Trivial Pursuit til after midnight.
Sunday morning it was up early again (though not quite as early) for church. After church we headed straight home, changed our clothes, and then headed over to help Susie move into her new apartment. Two words...disposable furniture. I'd say something about the number of books, but I keep hearing this voice in my saying, "Hello Pot, this is Kettle." Anyway, we got everything unloaded thanks to Susie's parents, her sister Jackie, and Randy. Then most of us crashed in the living room and watched the end of the Nascar race on the free cable. I don't understand why Biffle is having such a good year. I wish it would stop. After getting cleaned up from the move, we headed over to Randy and Elizabeth's and met up with Hoss and headed out to Quaker Steak and Lube for two huge buckets of wings. Then a stop for ice cream and we were headed home.
Let's just say I woke up this morning and there wasn't a muscle that wasn't screaming, "You Bastard! What have you done to us!" Thankfully the pain subsided to a dull thud pretty quickly, but my stomach apparently didn't care for the combination of Louisianna Lickers, Golden Garlic, Parmesan and Pepper, Onion Rings, and Orange Sherbet. And it wasn't shy about reminding me all day. In fact, it's still a little touchy. I guess some of the iron must have worn out or rusted or something.
Anyway, I guess that's enough for now.

Today was pretty hectic at work, but even through it all one thing remained crystal clear. I should be logging on to post this after the Penguins dropped Game 1 of the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs to the Washington Capitals on their ice. I should have been relaxing in my recliner, with Gage sitting beside me watching Lemieux skate around Jeff Halpern like his left skate was stuck in the ice. I should have gotten that familiar knot in my stomach that the Pens give me every time they go down by a game or two in the first round. And, I should be listening to the west coast game, most likely Colorado against San Jose, in the background while I'm typing this...just to keep tabs on who the Penguins would meet in the final round. Instead, I left work and drove home. I made sure that Gage was doing better and his fever was still down. I went out to the shed, hauled out the lawnmower and tried to fire it up. It worked briefly so I spent the next half-hour dismantling most of the engine to see what would need replaced before it was ready to attach the jungle that is my yard. Then I spent another half-hour hacking out rose bushes and dead grape vines. I came inside and started doing some clean up stuff from work. And not one mention of hockey or the lack thereof. Shame on the greedy bastards that brought this about.
Now to the answers. Ten out of twenty. Not bad I guess.
1. Barry Manilow- No one got this...A Linda Song
2. Prince- Tom Darling Nikki
3. Britney Spears- Matt I should award double points to Matt for getting this one. I didn't think anyone would get it. It was a trick question. He is correct in the fact that this one doesn't belong here. I can't stand her.
4. R.E.M.- Susie Nightswimming is correct.
5. Billy Joel- Susie Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
6. Elton John- No one got this...Someone Saved My Life Tonight
7. Tori Amos- No one got this...Winter
8. Johnny Cash- No one got this...25 Minutes To Go
9. Frank Sinatra- No one got this...Winchester Cathedral
10. Alison Krauss- Susie This was damn close. I like a lot of her songs and rarely does a newer one win out, but Whiskey Lullaby is damn good.
11. U2- No one got this...Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World
12. Aerosmith- Tom Hole In My Soul Solely for the line "Tell me how it feels to be the one who turns the knife inside of me."
13. Bon Jovi- Tom Bang a Drum
14. The Beatles- No one got this...Let It Be
15. They Might Be Giants- Tom Particle Man...and he doesn't even win the fight at the end.
16. The Dead Milkmen- Tom Stuart. In the liner notes of the album where the lyrics should be it says, "Make up your own lyrics. Stuart would." And based on the article below..."I know it's the queers. They're in it with the aliens. They're building landing strips for gay martians. I swear to God."
17. The Eagles- No one got this...Seven Bridges Road
18. Martina McBride- No one got this...Phones Are Ringing All Over Town
19. Harry Connick, Jr.- No one got this...Honestly Now (Safety's Just Danger...Out of Place)
20. Bryan Adams- Tom Do I Have To Say The Words?

There you have it. For better or worse. I'm sure I'll take flak over the choices, and to tell you the truth...I could have easily picked five songs for some, if not most, of the artists.

I'm very proud of the fact that I attended Carnegie Mellon University, but part of me really wants to send this article to Central Michigan University just to see if they have anything to say about the unauthorized and incorrect use of the acronymn CMU.

Alright, one last shot before I reveal the answers. I'll post the answers tomorrow night, probably around this time.

1. Barry Manilow--no one has even been close yet
2. Prince- Tom Darling Nikki
3. Britney Spears- Matt I should award double points to Matt for getting this one. I didn't think anyone would get it. It was a trick question. He is correct in the fact that this one doesn't belong here. I can't stand her.
4. R.E.M.- Susie Nightswimming is correct.
5. Billy Joel- Susie Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
6. Elton John--not even close
7. Tori Amos--no close ones
8. Johnny Cash--although those are all good songs, not even in the ballpark
9. Frank Sinatra--you have to guess to get it right
10. Alison Krauss- Susie This was damn close. I like a lot of her songs and rarely does a newer one win out, but Whiskey Lullaby is damn good.
11. U2--not even close on this one
12. Aerosmith- Tom Hole In My Soul Solely for the line "Tell me how it feels to be the one who turns the knife inside of me."
13. Bon Jovi- Tom Bang a Drum
14. The Beatles
15. They Might Be Giants- Tom Particle Man...and he doesn't even win the fight at the end.
16. The Dead Milkmen- Tom Stuart. In the liner notes of the album where the lyrics should be it says, "Make up your own lyrics. Stuart would." And based on the article below..."I know it's the queers. They're in it with the aliens. They're building landing strips for gay martians. I swear to God."
17. The Eagles
18. Martina McBride--She was very difficult to pick just one song. Which, considering she doesn't write any of her own material, is pretty good.
19. Harry Connick, Jr.--good songs, probably in the top 5, but not #1
20. Bryan Adams- Tom Do I Have To Say The Words?

Score now stands Tom-6 Susie-3 Matt-1

Since my mother is coming over to visit the little one tonight, I figured I wouldn't have time to make it onto the computer. So, I'll post this now.

1. Barry Manilow--no one has even been close yet
2. Prince--at least one of you picked the same album
3. Britney Spears- Matt I should award double points to Matt for getting this one. I didn't think anyone would get it. It was a trick question. He is correct in the fact that this one doesn't belong here. I can't stand her.
4. R.E.M.- Susie Nightswimming is correct.
5. Billy Joel- Susie Scenes from an Italian Restaurant
6. Elton John--not even close
7. Tori Amos--no close ones
8. Johnny Cash--although those are all good songs, not even in the ballpark
9. Frank Sinatra--you have to guess to get it right
10. Alison Krauss- Susie This was damn close. I like a lot of her songs and rarely does a newer one win out, but Whiskey Lullaby is damn good.
11. U2--not even close on this one
12. Aerosmith--no, this is not the same answer as #3 (though it probably should be)
13. Bon Jovi- Tom Bang a Drum
14. The Beatles
15. They Might Be Giants- Tom Particle Man...and he doesn't even win the fight at the end.
16. The Dead Milkmen- Tom Stuart. In the liner notes of the album where the lyrics should be it says, "Make up your own lyrics. Stuart would." And based on the article below..."I know it's the queers. They're in it with the aliens. They're building landing strips for gay martians. I swear to God."
17. The Eagles
18. Martina McBride--She was very difficult to pick just one song. Which, considering she doesn't write any of her own material, is pretty good.
19. Harry Connick, Jr.--good songs, probably in the top 5, but not #1
20. Bryan Adams- Tom Do I Have To Say The Words?

Score now stands Tom-4 Susie-3 Matt-1

Well, let's see. I guess I'll report on the progress of the little music quiz and leave the rest open a little longer to see if any more guesses come across. The guesses have been decent thus far...
1. Barry Manilow
2. Prince (although I have talked frequently about "Sometimes It Snows In April", alas it's probably my 2nd possibly 3rd favorite)
3. Britney Spears- Matt I should award double points to Matt for getting this one. I didn't think anyone would get it. It was a trick question. He is correct in the fact that this one doesn't belong here. I can't stand her.
4. R.E.M.- Susie Nightswimming is correct.
5. Billy Joel
6. Elton John
7. Tori Amos
8. Johnny Cash
9. Frank Sinatra
10. Alison Krauss- Susie This was damn close. I like a lot of her songs and rarely does a newer one win out, but Whiskey Lullaby is damn good.
11. U2
12. Aerosmith
13. Bon Jovi
14. The Beatles
15. They Might Be Giants- Tom Particle Man...and he doesn't even win the fight at the end.
16. The Dead Milkmen- Tom Stuart. In the liner notes of the album where the lyrics should be it says, "Make up your own lyrics. Stuart would." And based on the article below..."I know it's the queers. They're in it with the aliens. They're building landing strips for gay martians. I swear to God."
17. The Eagles
18. Martina McBride
19. Harry Connick, Jr.
20. Bryan Adams

That's the update. The score is currently Susie-2 Tom-2 and Matt-1.
I don't even want to get into this article. I went off on a nice 4 letter tirade for close to an hour this morning and I'm still seething just thinking about it. Think about the implications.
Today, Cookie Monster decides to eat healthy...Tomorrow, Gonzo decides on rhinoplasty to "fit-in"...Next thing you know, Animal has a prescription for Ritalin. The list is endless.

Though I almost missed it...
Happy Birthday to my blog
Happy Birthday to my blog
Happy Birthday dear blog
Happy Birthday to my blog

Two years ago today I started this little venture. For better or worse, it's still around.

I'm fairly certain after reading this that I have a good case for my odd chewing of gum products. First, I put it in my mouth and then I chew it until it's a little wad. Then I continue chewing, blowing bubbles if applicable, until the gum loses it's flavor. I wonder what I'd do with a patent. I wouldn't be the first in my family to have one, but mine probably wouldn't be as helpful as my Uncle's.
The scary thing is, that's not the oddest thing I saw today. We went to pick up a couple of warmer weather outfits for Gage. We just headed over the hill to the House of Satan since it's close (don't you wonder what that's like?). While we were in the little kids clothing section, I turned a corner and there was a whole display of little white t-shirts with the slogan, "My first Wal-Mart T-shirt" The implications are astounding.
And, that's still not the scariest thing I've seen or heard today. That would have to be this. There are no words, at least none that aren't 4 letters. I'd love to find the sob over at UPN and lock him in a room with Michael Jackson, OJ, Robert Blake, a stack of Bob the Builder videos, some knives and gloves, and a cockatoo.
Finally, a music game that I can participate in. Lifted from Craig's blog, which he lifted from another blog. Here are the instructions...
The rules: I pick 20 bands/artists I like, and you try to guess my favorite song in the comments section. Correct answers get bolded and credited. Woo!
So, here's the list...in no particular order or genre.
1. Barry Manilow
2. Prince
3. Britney Spears
4. R.E.M.
5. Billy Joel
6. Elton John
7. Tori Amos
8. Johnny Cash
9. Frank Sinatra
10. Alison Krauss
11. U2
12. Aerosmith
13. Bon Jovi
14. The Beatles
15. They Might Be Giants
16. The Dead Milkmen
17. The Eagles
18. Martina McBride
19. Harry Connick, Jr.
20. Bryan Adams

There's the list, good luck. And, I'm working on installing a more reliable comments system since mine seems to have been down all day.

I meant to add this yesterday but blogger was being uncooperative.
I always scan the referring links to my page just in case I find something interesting and guess what and/or who I found?
Adam! Just hangin' out in the blog world. So, welcome to the madness Adam. His blog, located here and in a link on the side, is fairly new, but he seems to post more often than I do, which isn't hard to do these days.

Well, since returning from Philly and today not much has happened.
One thing I forgot to post was the news that I got from a small town in Massachusetts. Chase Robert Crandall joined the grown-up world on March 20th. One of the things in the e-mail mentioned that he was a Pisces just like his dad and Adam. One thing I noticed about that fact is that he's right on the edge of the Pisces influence. Which means that he'll have as much pull from Aries, the next sign over, as he does from Pisces. That should make for some interesting teenage conflicts if you believe in that sort of thing.
We did the obligatory visit to the Easter Bunny. That's a racket. Of course you can take personal photos, just buy a picture. $12.99 for a 5x7. Insane. It took the two little girls in front of us 20 minutes to finish with their pictures, and that's just while we were in line. Who knows how long they were there before we walked up. Their parents got at least 15 pictures from all different angles because the girls were cranky or didn't smile. Gage sat down on the bunny's lap, looked right up at the camera and smiled. I managed to snap 3 pictures I think. A learning experience for sure. We won't be visiting the Easter Bunny during year 2. That is, unless we can find a discount Easter Bunny. Perhaps we could head back to Camden. There weren't any people there, but maybe we could find a big mutated bunny.
We did see one of Terri's co-workers perform at a small coffee shop. She's really good. She covers a variety of genres and artists. We heard everything from self-written material to Alison Krauss and Metallica. It was one of the Alison Krauss songs that started me on my current train of thought which (compounded by the cold) is another reason why I haven't been posting too much. When I catch the "thinking disease" it's always best for me not to write. I'm sure it was something that was gnawing at me anyway, but part of one of her songs stuck in my head so hard it caused physical pain. It all came flooding back again when they had a special on CMT (new home of the Duke boys) with Alison Krauss and Union Station.
Anyway, no one's actually interested in that. Gage decided that he was ready for his bath tonight all on his own. He was sitting on the bed with Terri and four or five times he tried to propel himself off the side. So, she finally set him on the ground and he stood himself up and with Terri's help started to walk. He walked himself right into the bathroom, grabbed hold of the side of the tub and picked up one of his little froggy bath toys. So, we put his tub into the big tub and started filling it with water. He actually tried to boost himself into the tub. Maybe instead of a hockey player he wants to be a champion swimmer.

Hopefully this will be the start of regular posting again. I took stock of my supply today and found that in the 2+ weeks that I was sick, I consumed approx 65 cups of tea during work hours. That would explain why I don't drink it on a regular basis. I end up od'ing on it when I'm ill and can't stand the taste of it any other time.
Anyway, back to the rest of the trip. Sunday afternoon we once again paid the "get out of New Jersey toll" and headed back into Philly for the Baby Pens/Phantoms game. I think this might have been the first time that I was rooting for the away team. Usually I'm in my home arena (or at least my team's home arena). Once we got settled in and took a few pictures for Gage's scrapbook, we realized that the majority of the Baby Pens fans were in a section on the other side of the arena. There were a few scattered here and there, but they were concentrated down by the North end of the arena. So, not only were we in a strange arena, we were in enemy territory. That helped us learn some covert things about what the competition thinks about our team. A father and son behind us were discussing the Penguins and the Baby Penguins during warm-ups. Specifically they were discussing Marc-Andre Fleury. They were contemplating the future of the Flyers against the Pens and the outlook (according to them, I swear) is bleak. At one point the only option would be to move the Penguins out of the Flyer's division. The man complained that they spent the last 20 years dealing with Brodeur and they'll spend the next 20 dealing with Fleury. I tried to smooth things over by saying it was payback for Ron Hextall. I didn't have the heart to tell him that we always managed to beat up on Hextall.
Anyway, the Baby Pens jumped out to a quick lead and managed to hang on til the middle of the last period when the Phantoms managed to tie it up with only 30 seconds left in the third period. Everyone in the arena (including me) thought we were headed to overtime. The Baby Pens won the face-off at center ice and drove down into the Phantoms zone. With 2.4 seconds left on the clock Shane Endicott put a beautiful goal into the Phantoms net to give the Baby Pens a 4-3 win.
I know I said before we left that the outcome of the game was secondary, but that didn't stop me from screaming myself hoarse during the course of the game. Just like their NHL counterparts, the Baby Pens didn't want to give me a relaxing game either.
After the game, we managed to extricate ourselves from traffic fairly quickly and head back to Tom's place. We packed some stuff up and settled down for our last night in the dead zone. Monday morning we headed out early (and though it was no longer the weekend, we still didn't see anyone on the streets). The drive back across the state was pretty uneventful. We stopped at my old office on the way back through so that everyone could see Gage again. Then it was on to the house and a rest after the long weekend.
So, there you have it. The full travelogue and I'm only a little under a month behind.

An open letter to Gary Bettman, Bob Goodenow, Bill Daly, Ted Saskin, the NHLPA, and the owner's association.

To whom it may concern:

February 21st was a very dark day. Although the season had officially been cancelled on the 16th, there were rumors of a covert deal that could possibly be inked. Hope soared. But as Stephen King penned, "Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane."
The NHL cancelled the June 2005 entry draft today. Instead of the outrage I thought it would, no should, cause me, I simply felt an immense sadness. Not for the money lost. Not for the fans that will never be recovered. Not for a sport that may not recover. Not even for myself. The sadness I felt was for my son.
Gage was born on May 27th. The Tampa Bay Lightning and Calgary Flames played game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals that night. We watched the game in the recovery room. Game 3 was played on May 29th, the day we came home from the hospital. We watched Calgary take a 2-1 lead in the series. May 31st we watched Tampa even the series at 2-2. June 3rd we watched Calgary win a hard fought overtime game to take the lead 3-2. June 5th, back in front of the television to watch Tampa take the overtime game. That meant a Game 7. The holy grail was to be awarded on June 7th one way or the other. My wife took a picture of my 12 day old son laying in his bouncer next to me at the start of Game 7. His eyes, like mine, are focused on the television.
When October rolled around we also watched the NHL and the NHLPA start the lock-out. So, instead of celebrating my 30th birthday at the Mellon Arena watching the Penguins, we watched the news updating us on the lack of movement towards a solution.
On March 6th, we visited an old family friend near Philadelphia. He got us tickets to watch the AHL's Baby Pens take on the Phantoms. Instead of being scared at the noise and crowds, my now 9 month old son sat intently on my lap watching the players on the ice.
Last night we went to the Mellon Arena to watch the finals in the AA PIHL high school tournament. Again Gage sat intently watching the action on the ice. A woman seated behind us even commented on how he "seemed" to be watching. I almost corrected her. He doesn't just appear to watch. When we watch a game that's being replayed on TV, he is almost, if not more, intent on the game than I am. It makes me proud to instill a love of hockey in my son.
Today that pride gave way to the sadness. My son has never seen the Penguins skate live. Given the current situation combined with his age, my son may never get to see Mario Lemieux skate live. In 2000 when Mario came out of retirement he cited his own son, Austin, as one of the primary reasons. He wanted his son to see him skate and partake of the game that he loves. I wanted my son to be able to see one of the greatest players the sport has ever known.
Unfortunately, due to bad business decisions, greed, loss of focus, lack of cooperation or whatever the situation ultimately stemmed from, my son may never get that chance.
I will return as a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins and by extension the NHL, but it will always be with that memory of sadness.
My friend Robyn is pregnant with her second child. She is due on September 1st. Her son Jacob is 4 years old. My favorite picture of Jacob is the one that I took of him, his father Mark, and Mario Lemieux at a Penguins/Devils game. It is my sincere hope that their second child won't know what the word lockout means.
To all involved...swallow your pride...look objectively at the situation...and put the NHL back on ice.

Sincerely,

bill
devout husband, father, and hockey fan

One thing I forgot to mention about the Friday night excursion is this. If you notice, this title now appears. It was on sale at the Wal-Mart. Of course, I had to leave the wrapper in the parking lot, but it now sits on the shelf next to the sequel (which I still assert that I like).
Anyway, back to the story.
The cheesesteak mob lead us to this place. Since you have to get a steak with, ordering was pretty easy. We sat down and I endured looking at the Flyer's logo hanging on the roof across the street. The sandwiches are excellent, but a little pricey for food on the street basically. I guess it's protection money. The line around the place was pretty long so the drive by shooter would have to be pretty good.
After lunch we headed further into Philadelphia to check out some touristy things. After a strip search we were allowed to actually see the liberty bell. We didn't go into Independence Hall because no one could afford a second mortgage to pay for the parking fees. We'll save that for the next trip out.
After that we headed back into NJ for dinner. We went to a Moroccan restaurant where we had some authentic middle eastern food in a restaurant not much bigger than my living room, couches included. We had some grape leaves and some good la mishway, which is basically a lamb kabob for those who are unfamiliar with that type of food. Gage managed to grab a lemon wedge from the table so we decided to put the cause and effect routine into action. He saw that we weren't going to take it from him, so he decided to put it to the taste test. Needless to say, we got a pretty big laugh out of his facial expression. It was after this that we got our first scare as parents. Gage ran off with a dancer.
Yes, that statement is correct. The restaurant has their own belly dancer (who happens to work for Tom's company). She came in halfway through our meal, breezed by our table saying hi to Tom and headed into the back to change. When she came out in a blue "I Dream of Jeannie" outfit and began dancing Gage just stared. He had been sitting quietly in a high-chair amusing himself while we finished dinner. His little jaw hung open and he leaned forward just staring at her every move. I don't even think he blinked the whole time she was dancing. Once she finished her set, she went into the back to change into a cover-up. When she came back out she stopped at our table and Tom introduced everyone. She asked to hold Gage and we asked if we could take some pictures (although I wished we would have gotten some in her costume). Then some regular restaurant customers came in and she and Gage headed over to say hi. Gage didn't even look back at us. She sat across the restaurant for about 15 minutes while we finished dinner and paid the check. We then had to head over and collect our womanizing son.
That incident provided some pretty good conversation while we drove Adam home and said goodbye.
Sunday was another lazy start for us. By lunch we decided that we should head out and eat before the game. Tom wanted to try an Italian restaurant located in a little suburb. Unfortunately that place didn't open til 3 and we were hungry. So we headed over to the Mexican place across the street. The food there was pretty good as well. Gage got to try some frozen strawberry smoothie at this restaurant. After the mexican restaurant we headed to the Cherry Hill mall to kill a little time before the hockey game. And, that's where I'll leave this segment. I'll finish up the rest of the trip tomorrow hopefully and then get back on track with the almost daily postings.

Alright, I know at least some of you have been waiting for a new post to go up. Let's see, where had I left off. When I last posted, really posted, We were ready to head off on our magical trip to another state.
We got off to a late start on that Friday, but all went well with the trip out anyway. Gage slept a good portion of the way. We stopped a little after the half-way mark to get some food. We had another quick stop to switch places and one last stop to fill up with gas. We got to Tom's place and decided to just decompress for a little while. Terri and Gage were relaxing in Tom's apartment and Tom and I went up on the roof of the apartment building to check out the views. We could see the stadium for The Riversharks, the skyline of Philadelphia and Tom's office building. Yes, only Tom would end up in an apartment building across the parking lot from his office building.
Anyway, for dinner we ended up just eating at the NJ incarnation of TGI Fridays. The parking lot was packed, but there were plenty of tables inside. After dinner we stopped by the Wal-Mart to pick up some food for Gage to last through the weekend. Apparently in New Jersey if you buy something at the Wal-Mart there's some kind of rule that if you get stopped by the random security check on the way out the door, you must discard all the packaging for your items in the Wal-Mart parking lot.
In the span of three parking spaces we saw boxes for a blender, baby stroller, and baby car seat. To top it off, on the way out of the little plaza there was an abandoned car seat. I guess once they bought the new one the old one was no longer needed.
Friday night Tom and I left Gage and Terri to sleep and headed to the lounge to attempt the game that Tom gave me for Christmas. After realizing we couldn't bypass the input on the big screen tv without a remote, we decided to play just using Tom's mini-DVD player. Of course, if we had stopped to read the box for the game we would have realized that the game took 3 or more players. So Tom just ended up losing at the 90's version of Trivial Pursuit.
On Saturday we hung out in Tom's apartment watching Gage do laps around the living room and into the hallway during the morning. Then we risked life and limb driving into Philly to meet up with Adam Davis. I thought I was going to need a flak jacket driving into Camden. Turns out after the nuclear cleansing, Camden was a veritable ghost-town. The same can't be said for Philly, though. That's where I felt like I needed a flak jacket. Or at the very least the appropriate colors. Near Adam's apartment is something called the Italian Market. Apparently the Italian Market is a stepped up version of the Strip District. Except it's ok to turn several driving lanes of traffic into a parking lot. Once we finally made it to Adam the trick was finding a safe place to take cover. Turns out we headed straight to the protection of the mob. The cheese-steak mob. More to follow...

I've been on the head-cold express since returning home last weekend. However, I do promise a complete travelogue as well as anecdotes featuring, as requested, Cheesesteaks, Liberty Bells, and Dancing Girl Baby Snatchers. All wonderful stories ending with an incredible hockey game (provided you weren't a Philly fan). So, all this and more coming soon...

Well, tomorrow we're off. Hopefully Gage will do well on the car trip. I don't know if I'll make it back to posting this weekend. We'll see. I know that Tom has an internet connection, but he hasn't updated since February 23rd so I can't be sure.
The one thing I do know for sure is that I'll be seeing honest-to-God live hockey on ice in an arena the way it was meant to be seen. I'm rooting for the Baby Pens of course, but I'll be so happy just to see the hockey that who wins is secondary.
I was looking at another blog and I ended up clicking on the profile link and as I reading down through the stuff listed on the page, I began to wonder if my profile had all that stuff. Well, all of the boxes are there, I just never filled any of it out apparently. The one thing that really made me laugh was the last part. They pose a random question that you can answer. The one listed for me was, "You're trapped in a well with a goat and a slinky. Describe how you will escape." According to an article that was in our local paper a few days ago, I'd butcher the goat with the slinky, use the goat meat to trade for crack and while I'm high I'll just float out of the well. How much of that was in the article? Just the really crazy stuff. Two or three guys stole a goat, took it back to their house, butchered it, and attempted to trade it for crack. Only in small town America.
Well, that's all for now. Everyone have a good weekend.

Today was a very hectic day at the office. One of our more important clients was visiting for a recording session and I played go-between all day. So, all of the work that I should have gotten done in preparation for my extended weekend to visit Tom is now sitting in my work bag, which is on the floor to my left. Will I actually accomplish any of it this evening? Some, maybe. That's if I'm feeling generous. Although, I did get a free lunch today from the Cheesecake Factory. So, there's something to be said for that.
Tonight after work, we took Susie out to dinner to begin to make up for all the babysitting work she's been doing for us. Gage was actually pretty well-behaved at the restaurant. Although we almost had to cut dinner short. I saw a couple of snowflakes fall out of the sky and everyone started to panic.
Well, tonight and tomorrow will probably be abbreviated posts and who knows if I'll get a chance to post over the weekend.

I don't know which scares me more... this or this.
I think the thing that scares me the most is that I bought the latter.
This is the first year in a long time that I can remember such panic about snow. Schools posted two hour delays for Monday on the premise of what might happen. Waking up Monday morning and there was no predicted snow. So, all day Monday into Tuesday the news teams tried to downplay all the panic from the day before. Now, headed into Wednesday and they're at it again. So far within a fifty mile radius of Pittsburgh, the most snowfall I've seen online is 8". Unless there was already 8" or an underlying icy condition, 8" rarely bought us a two hour delay when I was in school. They just sent the buses out with chains. I was out this evening going to the mall to pick up a few things and get my hair cut. According to the news, I was driving at the most dangerous time that occurred today. The roads (including off-ramps, side-roads, and parking lots) were barely slushy and only slippery if you were wearing ice covered shoes. I guess I should go back to my normal routine of skipping the news altogether. Of course, that means getting up to get the remote to change the channel when the 10:00 program goes off.
And, although it's already over and done with, I wish a late Good luck to Craig who taped his Super Jeopardy appearance today. Hopefully all went well and we'll see him in the next round.

All the other press seemed to be about this topic, why not me?
I didn't think that anyone could be any worse as commentators from the red carpet than Melissa and Joan Rivers. I was wrong.
Everytime they said, "And now we go to Kathy in the tower." All I could think of was "JUMP! (and if possible, land on Star)"
This year I had no real pull towards any movies. I was glad to see Morgan Freeman win, although it would have been nice to see Alan Alda take some hardware home to match his emmys.
I was only looking for two things to happen. And they both did. Jamie Foxx took home the Best Actor Oscar which meant that number one happened. No, I didn't really root for Jamie, I was rooting against Leo. Clint took home the Best Director Oscar which meant that number two happened. Again, I wasn't rooting for Clint per se, more against Marty.
I'm listening to the news talk about the "snowfall". According to the news this morning's rush hour was supposed to be the first effects of the snow that started at midnight. At midnight, there was no precipitation whatsoever. In the morning, it was sort of raining sort of snowing. It flurried all day long. For the evening rush hour, Pittsburgh was supposed to have 6-8" blanketing the area. There wasn't even 6-8 flakes on the road. Now they're still talking about this major snow system and we'll end up with 3-6" total. Hell, we were supposed to get that yesterday. Looking out my window, it's not even snowing here anymore. I think that the local newspeople need LifeAlert. One of them has fallen on the panic button and they can't seem to get up.

Well it took about 3 hours and 4 aspirin, but my headache finally went away. It was getting to the point where light and sound were driving me crazy. I often wonder if perhaps their secret might be my secret. Crazy!
Anyway, I have nothing to currently rant, or for that matter, rave about. Work is busy, but right now we're in a lull so I have some time to kill. Most normal people are tidying their desks right now edging closer to the cube entrance trying to figure out just how early they can slip out without anyone noticing. Not me. I have 2 hours left at work. 120 minutes to fill with something. I have one small project that might encompass 15 or 20 minutes, but I'm hoping to put that in the middle somewhere to break the monotony.
Next weekend we're trekking out to see Tom and I'll have to actually enter New Jersey. 3 decades I've managed to stay out of that place and now I'm voluntarily going in. Who knows maybe I'll like it so much I'll end up relocating.
No, I can't go on after that, it's too funny.

I have such a blinding headache at the moment, I can't even fathom going home and sitting in front of a computer screen again. Right now, I just want to make it through the last 45 minutes of work...take my life into my hands driving home...swallow several aspirin...watch the game that time forgot...and go to bed.
Just to clarify, it's snowing here. We got about 3 inches overnight and it's been snowing all day.
As for the game that time forgot (courtesy of the wonderful folks at answers.com):

The circumstances of the U.S. vs U.S.S.R. game were so emotional and memorable that many Americans still do not realize that the match against the Soviets did not win the Gold Medal for the U.S. Once again, Coach Brooks skated a "hard" practice the day before the game, determined to disabuse his team of the idea that the game was anti-climactic, as many Americans felt after the win over USSR.

Again, the U.S. fell behind early, this time 2-1 after two periods, due to excellent play by the Finnish goalie. Coming into the dressing room, Brooks turned to his players, looked at them and said: "If you lose this game, you'll take it to your fucking grave." Paused, took a few steps, turned again and said, "Your fucking grave." And walked out.

As we all know, they didn't lose. They came back in the third period and defeated Finland 4-2 to win the gold medal on this day 25 years ago.

I'm sure you can figure out the whole headache-aspirin thing.

Last night was a long post, so I'll balance it with a short post. Tonight, in between watching Susie feed Gage and rifling through the mail, I was trying to watch tonight's episode of Jeopardy to see who would go through to the next round. And, I ended up seeing something that I don't ever recall having seen before. Two of the three players ended up with negative amounts and didn't make it to Final Jeopardy. And, even though the third player was guaranteed to make it to the next round, they still made him play Final Jeopardy. Very interesting.
Anyway, not too much else is going on. We have very important clients in the office on Thursday and Friday so I don't know how much free time I'll have, but maybe they'll relegate themselves to the conference room and I can just hang out and coast through the day. After three extremely long days, I could use a coast day.

Since I don't normally have access to a TV when I blog I rarely remember some of the television related stuff that runs through my head. Although after an 11 hour day at work, not much runs through my head. My project manager was "sick" with a headache and didn't make it in today when we had a large project to ship to the client. Yet her car was parked near her "friend's" house after work. What a miracle recovery.
Anyway, that's a nice segue. Miracles. Birth, love, life itself, a hockey game. I know, it's like playing the game from Sesame Street. One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong. Anyone who knows me and hasn't had their head buried in the sand the past week or so knows I'm talking about the Miracle on Ice. 25 years ago today in Lake Placid New York. In fact, as I type this, the tape delayed game would have just about been to the third period. Anyone outside of Lake Placid wouldn't know of the Miracle just yet. But the ripple effect is still felt in so many ways 25 years later. The movie, Miracle does have a few embellishments, but with the absolute spot-on portrayal of Herb Brooks by Kurt Russell it's more relevant than even they thought it would be. It does a good job of painting the bleak state that America found itself spiraling around in. Much like the state everyone feels the country is in today. Very little national pride, little to no faith in the presidency, fighting wars, that to most, seem pointless...sound familiar?
Where am I going with this? There's no easy answer. But on this night 25 years ago, a group of kids, who had worked their collective asses off, lifted the spirits of a nation at a time when they most needed it. Today's society is so jaded I'm not sure that something like that could happen again.
Joe's most recent post begins with his view of the ritual of mourning or lack thereof. I understand what he means. America lifts up the annointed few, but cares little for the anonymous many. At this point, anyone who was interested knows that Hunter Thompson committed suicide. He was a famous writer, immortalized by film, and many now feel that he was the last of his kind as a journalist. He was married twice and had wonderful adventures.
Jennie was 92. Approx. 25 years Hunter's senior. She died peacefully, he chose the way he wanted to leave. She had 12 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Why wasn't she on the front page of USA Today? Is it because she chose a different path? Chose to share her gift in a different way, because I don't doubt she had a gift...something to share...someone to impact. Much the same way, without meeting Brian I can say that he has an impact, a gift. Maybe it doesn't stack up, in the public's eyes, to Hunter's gift, but really...who are they to judge?
Do I know Hunter, Jennie, or Brian? No. When I post the loss of someone on my blog it's because they impacted my life. I'm not taking a veiled stab against Joe (just in case the big time law student still tunes in from time to time). This is how my life runs. If you look in the August archives for 2003 and 2004 you'll see the tributes that I posted to Herb Brooks. Was Herb my best friend? No, but just by doing what he did, he had a big impact on my life. John Raitt and Sandra Dee died the same weekend as Thompson. Neither had the impact that he did on my life, unless you count the fact that I'm a huge Bonnie Raitt fan and John had a hand (so to speak) in that so I didn't feel the need to post about them. And, just to show I don't play well-known favorites, you can scroll back to the January 2005 archives to see that a very ordinary (in the world's eyes) woman passed on. She had a greater impact on me than even I knew. Again, how does this all relate back to hockey?
Or does it even relate? 25 years ago, this is what Hunter was working on. Jennie was content with her family. Brian was the newly polished apple of mommy and daddy's eye. And 20 kids galvanized a nation by playing a game. Yeah a game. A game that had larger ramifications than even they realized. Maybe, America simply needs to get over the "me, me, me" attitude to see what those ramifications are in today's world.
Of course, after all the rambling I still didn't get to the television aspect. All I really wanted to mention was my new favorite commercial. It starts off with a woman standing in a large closet with the strains of Eric Clapton's Wonderful Tonight playing in the background. The melody picks up and the lyrics start, "It's late in the evening. She's wonderin' what clothes to wear, wonderin' what clothes to wear, wonderin' what clothes to wear." Then it pans out of the closet to a gentlemen, who is completely dressed, sitting with a laptop manipulating the video of Eric Clapton. She gives him a dirty look, yells at him and goes back into the closet. It's for Yahoo music, but it seems like something that I would do. And, if I had the resources, I probably would have done it. It's not like I haven't used music cues for things before. I believe he was the drummer for that one band.
To wrap up what's been an extremely long and scattered post, perhaps one day America will find it's way back to the unity that a bunch of cocky college kids discovered on a cold February day, maybe we'll realize that all men are created equal (and should be treated as such in both life and death), and we'll all live safe in the knowledge that The Dukes of Hazzard will always have a much higher place in the history of television than this crap.

Well, I've finally got things to display the way I wanted them, so here's the big unveiling. My List. DVDAF has a huge database full of titles. All you have to have is the patience to set everything up. It took several trips up and down the stairs (being as how the DVD's live on the first floor and the computer lives on the second), and a lot of logging on, making small changes, checking changes, making more changes, etc.
Anyway, that's the list for all to behold, scoff at, borrow from, ponder, wonder why the hell he bought that, and be in total amazement of the fact that not one Barry Manilow related title appears.
Anyway, there's not much else going on around here. Apparently, the scheduling of holidays starts in my house as early as the commercial seasons do for the advertisers. No sooner do I start seeing Cadbury Eggs appear on the shelves than I hear, "What are we doing about Easter?"
How about hibernating?

This is something that has been entirely too long in coming. I should have posted this link a long time ago. You've read the posts about dinner with the Warners. Now you can experience the Warners for yourself. They live here.
Hopefully next week, I'll have more things to say instead of these quick posts. And with the exception of the AIDS Walk and the Warner's introduction, maybe I'll even have something useful to say.

We had some nice intermittent server problems at work today so I ended up staying even later than normal.
For those of you that know him, my friend Brian is on the board of directors for the regional AIDS Alliance in his area. Actually, he's the President of the board of directors. Anyway, it's time to donate to the AIDS Walk. So, if anyone has any money for a good cause, let Brian (or me if you don't know Brian) know and we can appropriately route your check.
Anyway, not much else is going on. I have several more projects at work, but thankfully I'm home now.

Today is not a good day for hockey.

I'm cutting it close tonight. Today was so busy at work I didn't really even get to read my personal e-mail. So, after going out to pick up this, I sat down to try and catch up. Here's hoping the NHL can bridge the last 6.5 million. They only have another 13.5 hours to go. That's roughly a million every 2 hours. Come on, for the love of God. At a 28 game season (roughly 14 home games) I might even be able to afford season tickets. And Gage might be able to attend the games that he's supposed to have been going to all season.
Not too much left to say. I have to be back at work early tomorrow to entertain clients that are coming into the office. So, hopefully tomorrow's post will be a little longer and a little more thrilling (though I can't promise that).

Just a quick post today. I know that Valentine's Day doesn't fall too highly on anyone's list that I know. It's a very commercial holiday, but so is every holiday. Perhaps I'll just start celebrating Canadian holidays. At least they aren't over done in the United States.
Terri and Gage slipped a little Valentine into my lunch with a picture of Gage holding a sign that says, "I love you Daddy!" so that was a nice pick me up to a dreary rainy Monday. Reminds me of a nice Barry Manilow song. "Got your picture in my wallet. Got some pictures in my mind. Pocket full of memories I never thought I'd find. But it's raining like a Monday, and the world is so unkind. Lay me down and roll me out to sea." Ah, that's also a nice pick me up.
One day I may pick up enough toys to do a lyrics quiz.
I just finished watching the AHL game. Planet USA won the shoot-out since the game ended tied 4-4. Planet USA also won the skills competition. It was so good to watch people that actually still care about the game.
This past weekend was pretty uneventful. Dinner Friday was good and Gage and Katie kept everyone entertained. Of course, they were going in two different directions, but one day Gage will catch on.
We spent most of Saturday hanging out with my parents and then ended up having dinner with Terri's family. As though that wasn't bad enough to end the day, we ended up eating at the brand new King's in our old hometown. It had been open for a whopping 6 days. They had no idea what they were doing. It took almost 1/2 hour to get seated and then another 45 minutes to get our food. And, as we were leaving we ended up running into a bunch of people who have never actually left that town. Happy Happy Joy Joy.
Sunday during the afternoon I watched the qualifying for the Daytona 500. I can't believe it's only 6 days til the official kick-off to the Nascar Races. That's so much better news than the potential announcement Wednesday at 1:00 P.M.

We're off to dinner at the Warner's tonight. A meatless dinner since Randy and Elizabeth are Catholic (but I don't hold that against them). It will be nice to unwind and socialize after the week at work. I like the job, but it can be very stressful and work intensive.
We launched another big project this week so that's one more to scratch off the list. Of course, we're already gearing up for two projects that are twice the size and scope of this last one, but I'm trying not to think about that.
Nothing overly exciting has been going on recently so I feel like I'm blogging just for the sake of blogging. Of course, I'm rarely giving any earth shattering information, but every once in a while it's at least interesting.
So, I'm sitting in the living room last night and there's a knock at the door. We weren't expecting anyone and no one climbs those stairs unless they have to. So, I opened the door and there stands a guy in a Comcast uniform. He was trying to tell me all about the wonderful services that Comcast had to offer. For those of you that have heard even partial stories about my experiences with Comcast you'll be surprised to know I didn't slam the door in his face. I didn't invite him into the house for a ritual killing. I simply said that once upon a time I had Comcast and my services and related service calls were so bad that even if Comcast sent me a check each month for their exorbitant rates, I still wouldn't switch back to their service. He was a little surprised and looked like he wanted to bolt right there, but he gave me the standard, "Well if you change your mind..." At which point I cut him off and said, "I won't." That's when he said Good night and headed quickly down the stairs. I didn't even bother to turn the porch light on so he could see where he was going. The Comcast people are perpetually in the dark anyway.
I should have realized that what happens in life was going to carry over to the internet world. Not one person sided with me. Not one. I should shun you all. Even knowing you didn't have the full story, I must be wrong was your logical conclusion. I'm even taking flak on other sites. Well, I have news for you. I'm usually right. 99.999999999999% of the time. And Terri will admit to that fact. So nyah, nyah, nyah. Screw you guys, I'm going home.

You know you've upgraded job-wise when you're holding a conversation and you use the words; database, powerpoint, and dreamweaver and the person you are talking to actually comprehends. It's such a nice feeling. To quote Porthos, "God, I love my work."
Anyway, I took a few minutes this morning and went through Tom's lyric quiz. It was the first time that I had stumbled across one of those first. 7 out of 25 isn't too bad on the first run through. I'm sure I know a couple others, but sometimes it's difficult to get the whole tune in your head at work.
In talking with Adam at the Superbowl party, I found out that there is a device (rather inexpensive in the grand scheme of things) that will allow you to hook up any auxiliary device to your computer in order to rip multi-media into MP3's. Which means that all my 8-tracks, vinyl albums, cassingles, and cassettes could be transferred to CD's. Or an i-pod.
Of course, that will mean upgrading to a better, much nicer computer. Then I could edit video of Gage, work on the digital pictures of Gage, house my music collection (hopefully this time without losing it), and just have a better computer. Of course, that falls in line behind the whole house issue, which falls behind the bills, etc. What a nice spiral.
Anyway, I'll drop two wishes with one mention. Happy Birthday to Alison (yesterday) and Joe (tomorrow). Wow, they're getting old.

Apparently I now have to watch what I say. The women spies are everywhere. Again, I notice the men are conspicuously absent. I can post that the NHL brass actually listened to my idea and the F'IN PLAYER'S UNION F'IN REJECTED IT!?!*&$#! I guess I'll only get to see one live hockey game this season, or what this season was supposed to be.
How are the Pens supposed to bring Lord Stanley back home to Pittsburgh where he belongs if there's no contest to decide where Lord Stanley lives for the year. I'm not good with the current champions holding on to the cup even if they aren't the Devils.
I'm almost done with my new current toy. I just need to learn a few more tweaks and then I'll be ready for the grand unveiling.
Can someone explain to me why the background music for the commercial for Pooh's Heffalump Movie is Two Princes by the Spin Doctors? Do those two even exist in the same universe?
I need to start posting earlier in the day so that the posts aren't so rushed or short.

Today was pretty uneventful I guess. My brother, his wife, and my niece got to the airport okay. I guess they got home okay too. My brother really didn't want to go back to the base. I know he regrets his 6 year decision, but hopefully he doesn't do anything stupid.
For those of you that know me, there's a damn good chance you know my wife too. She spent about twenty minutes this evening yelling at me for my recent Saturday post. Apparently, because I didn't express those exact words to her, I'm hiding my feelings. I was told that I should tell her these things. The odd thing is, I didn't really realize that's how I felt til I sat down to type. And, I certainly didn't verbalize those thoughts to anyone. They just sort of tumbled out. I guess I'll have to remember what I wrote and discuss it with her as some sort of preview.
Hopefully everything around the house will get back on track in the next couple of weeks. We were sort of thrown off with all the recent happenings and you can see everything growing and piling up and threatening to overwhelm us again. If anyone has a good handle on that, let us know what to do.
I guess that's about all for today. I want to try and get some sleep. It's been a long couple of weeks.

The Superbowl party seemed to go well. I guess you'd have to ask the guests to make certain. I had a good time. It was a nice end. Hopefully the other party will go as well.
I found out through Dwight that Craig will be participating in the Jeopardy super tournament. Of course he also told me that my alma mater didn't make nationals this year. Such is life.
The commercials were not as good this year. I guess everyone was a little gun-shy from last year. The write-up on the half-time show had some very funny lines. "It was strange seeing the former Beatle, a bold and shocking performer for another generation, now presented as the sedate option." and "And if he wore any nipple jewelry, he mercifully kept it to himself."
Hell the episode of the Simpsons was more controversial than anything the Superbowl had to offer. It won't be much longer now before all the guys who drive around going left overtake football as the nation's most watched, most followed sport. It's already number 2 and it's not going to just knock on the door, it's going to drive right through it.
Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, does anyone remember seeing the Brad Pitt commercial? How about a coke commercial? And isn't it sweet irony that yet another tiny dot com blows a year's worth (or more) of their budget on one ad, but fail to plan for the hyper amount of traffic that's going to be driven to their site. Yes, it crashed and crashed hard. I hope someone loses their job over that. Of course, it will be the guy that suggested beefing up the system in the beginning and continued to suggest it until he got to say, I told you so. The site is up for the moment. I just checked. Bland site too.
Oh well, time to go to bed. I'm sure I will think of a bunch more things for the recap of the party/commercials/game, but until then I'll just say congratulations to Mitch and Liz. September 2006 is going to come much quicker than you think.

Since my brother and his wife are flying back on Tuesday, everyone got together for dinner tonight. It was the first time everyone had been in the same place since the funeral and the atmosphere was kept light, mostly on purpose. It was very hard to get a handle on how others were feeling since everyone grieves in their own way. However, one tradition that has never been altered at family gatherings is the saying of grace before the meal. It was almost always Grandma's job. Occasionally she would give someone else the opportunity, but it was her standard job. Tonight my mom said grace and afterwards it was very easy to see how everyone felt. The pain was just underneath the surface and hearing my mom echo the sentiments that my Grandma always touched on brought things back just a little too soon for everyone I think. It's times like those that I'm really glad our family now includes Gage and Kadin. They've been able to lift everyone's spirits just by being themselves.
At the viewings and funeral (and even afterwards) everyone gives you their heartfelt sentiments at these times and everyone means well. You've heard them all at some point and repeated them yourself. It's very awkward and no one really knows how to handle that particular situation. Most of the sentiments deal with some view of religion. "She's not suffering anymore." "She's in a better place." These are things that you expect to hear and repeat without actually stopping to consider the words themselves. My Grandmother was a person who, just by being herself, would feel bad that she caused us any amount of pain by dying. So, perhaps she is still suffering a little. Not painful suffering, but a suffrage of love.
And, since I recently read Albom's book on his view of heaven, I began to think about Grandma in that perspective. Is she standing in someone's line? Mine perhaps? Who was standing in hers? My Grandfather? My Uncle?
My uncle unearthed a picture of my Grandmother's family at my Great Grandmother and Grandfather's 50th wedding anniversary. All 7 of their children were there. My Great Aunts and Great Uncles including those that passed on before I was born. My Great Uncle Frank was my Grandmother's brother. His wife Opal and her brother Tracy both came to the viewings to pay their respects. After seeing the picture, Tracy told a story about the first time he ever had spaghetti. (Did I mention Grandma was very Italian?) The men came in from the fields and were served huge platters of spaghetti and meatballs by the women. He said he would blink and they would have a fork full of spaghetti neatly wound and ready to eat. It was an amusing story and I was able to relate in an odd sort of way. I was 15 or 16 before I realized that not every family has spaghetti and meatballs at every holiday dinner. We had all the "normal" holiday foods + spaghetti and meatballs. Thanksgiving was turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, corn, spaghetti and meatballs. Christmas and Easter were ham, mashed potatoes, corn, spaghetti and meatballs. It never occurred to me that this wasn't something every family abided by.
Where am I going with all this family rambling? To my view of heaven. For the past week or so, Grandma has been sitting at a huge table with Great Grandpa Tony, Great Grandma Jenny, Great Aunt Lucy, Great Aunt Louisa, Great Aunt Betty, Great Uncle Frank, Great Uncle Joe, Great Uncle Fred, her husband Frank, and her son Frank. And they've been eating a never ending platter of home made spaghetti and meatballs, twisting the pasta with perfect precision while the conversation revolves around family and love. One day I want to pull my chair up to that table, too.

Not much going on today. One of the office clients wanted to show their appreciation for all our hard work so they had lunch delivered in for the whole company. That's two very filling lunches two days in a row. And, I'm supposed to meet friends for lunch tomorrow. All of that combined with the almost certain over-eating I'll end up doing at the Superbowl party and it's beginning to feel like the holiday season all over again. I need to find some time to get back on the bike or the treadmill. I was doing semi-okay. I have a lot of catching up to do to stay in line with my "new year" goals. Oh well, there's always next week, right?
Now, Susiezy will just have to forgive me for this next paragraph. Because I had a small involvement in the buggy program at Carnegie Mellon, I was asked to give my opinion for an article that's being constructed for one of the University's publications. I was happy to help. They sent me the questions today. One made me laugh so hard my project manager asked me what was wrong. Now for those of you that don't know anything about buggy, This would be a good reference to start with. Right at the top of the page is a link for those that are new to buggy. It kind of gives you the high overview of the program. The question in question, as it were, reads as follows. "What are the best materials to use when building a buggy?" Though it's a poor comparison the only parallel I can draw is to simply state my name, rank, and serial number for the enemy that has captured me. Buggy is strange in a way that few things are. For me to honestly answer that question with anything but the word "stuff" would be against all that is holy in the world of buggy. So, one question answered. Only 10 more to go. Thankfully there are quite a few of the questions that I can answer with no problem at all.

Today was the 2nd annual Groundhog Day chili cook-off. Now, granted I wasn't there for the first annual cook-off, but this one was pretty impressive. There were 12 crock-pots full of chili. It took close to 45 minutes just to try them all to judge. One thing that really shocked me is not only the amount of food, but the fact that all the food arrived between 9:00 and 9:30, but nothing was eaten til almost 1:00. Nobody cut a corner off my cake. Nobody opened a bag of tortilla chips. Nobody dipped into a spoonful of chili. Based on my last office this phenomenon was absolutely mind boggling. On or near Valentine's day 2004 when I was still at the University, they wanted me to make a cake. And, it had to be a red velvet cake with white icing and red decorations. (I know, they weren't asking much). Anyway, I made the cake and I arrived at the office at about 8:25. By 8:45 there was a corner of the cake missing. By noon when we were supposed to eat the food that was brought in, there wasn't enough left of the sheet cake to fit onto a regular paper plate. So you can see why I was a little puzzled by the new office's behavior. I really didn't know how to react. And, there were leftovers. Crazy.
Anyway, not much else was going on today. I was hoping to have a nice lazy afternoon and just let the chili digest, but of course several clients just had to have things fixed right away. Just once I'd like to have a client start off we, "Boy we really screwed the pooch on this one, but we're all praying that you guys can fix it so we don't look so stupid." That would make my day.
Susiezy was over this evening to babysit Gage til I got home from work. Gage was pretty well behaved so she didn't have any complaints when I got home. That means we might even be able to talk her into coming back one day. Only another 3 full days til the Superbowl. Terrell Owens announced that he was going to play. I can't tell you how happy I was. I think my life will actually be complete now. I was so moved I almost wept. I mean, a star athlete making more money than I'll ever see, actually doing his job. Wow, what heart.

February already. Time to watch the groundhog tell me that I'm in for more winter and what should be time for hockey and heading down the stretch. Stupid lockout. Although there are new rumors that possibly, just maybe, the season might end up salvaged. The owners apparently have a little proposal with a minimum payroll and a maximum payroll for a team. I've also heard rumors about a 24 game season where everyone makes the playoffs and we start off with best of 3 and best of 5 games til it's down to the normal number of 16 teams. I think that might be interesting.
I saw something that just made me laugh out loud on my way into work this morning. A car in the other lane on the way into the tunnel had the license plate 007 BOND. I really wanted to get up beside it to see who it was. I mean it could only be one of 3 people. It had to be Sean Connery, Roger Moore, or Pierce Brosnan. Seriously, even Lazenby and Dalton don't even attempt it. You have to be ready for one hell of a life of teasing and torture to have a license plate like that. Or be mentally deficient, at which point you shouldn't have a license to operate a car with a license plate. At least it wasn't a totally crappy car. It looked fairly new, it was shiny and black and although it wasn't of Bond caliber it was a higher end car. Still, I'm pretty sure that even when he was alive Ian Fleming didn't even want a plate like that. Oh well, some people just don't stop and think about the type of attention that they'll draw to themselves.

The first day back at work after time off is not easy, at least not for me. It never has been. Be it one week, one day, or one hour the slacking instinct takes over and I'm usually ruined for a day or so til I get myself motivated again.
Anyway, not much else is going on around here. I'm just trying to finish up a bunch of little projects that keep cropping up around here. And, of course, at home I'm trying to get everything ship-shape for the Superbowl party.
I just found out today that they have a chili cook-off here at the office. That should be interesting. I like chili, but I don't have an especially good recipe so maybe I'll work on that for next year. I might just bake a cake, although I'm not sure that I want it to get around this office that I make cakes. Otherwise, I might be nominated as resident cake bitch again.

The Dash by Linda Ellis

I read of a reverend who stood to speak
at the funeral of his friend.
He referred to the date
on her tombstone
from the beginning... to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the date with tears
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth, and
now only those who loved her know
what that little line is worth.

For it matters not how much we own;
the cars, the house, the cash.
What matters is how we lived and loved
and how we spend our dash.

So think about this long and hard,
Are there things you'd like to change?
For you never know how much time is left
You could be at "dash mid-range"

If we could just slow down enough
to consider what's true and real,
and always try to understand
the way other people feel, and
be less quick to anger,
show appreciation more
and love the people in our life like
we've never loved before.

If we treat each other with respect,
more often wear a smile
remembering that this special dash
might only last a little while.

So when your eulogy is being read
with your life's actions to rehash...
would you be pleased with the things they say
about how you spent your dash?

Sometimes it Snows in April by Prince

Tracy died soon after a long fought civil war,
just after I'd wiped away his last tear
I guess he's better off than he was before,
A whole lot better off than the fools he left here
I used 2 cry 4 Tracy because he was my only friend
Those kind of cars don't pass u every day
I used 2 cry 4 Tracy because I wanted to see him again,
But sometimes sometimes life ain't always the way...

Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad
Sometimes I wish life was never ending,
and all good things, they say, never last

Springtime was always my favorite time of year,
A time 4 lovers holding hands in the rain
Now springtime only reminds me of Tracy's tears
Always cry 4 love, never cry 4 pain
He used 2 say so strong unafraid to die
Unafraid of the death that left me hypnotized
No, staring at his picture I realized
No one could cry the way my Tracy cried

Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad
Sometimes, sometimes I wish that life was never ending,
And all good things, they say, never last

I often dream of heaven and I know that Tracy's there
I know that he has found another friend
Maybe he's found the answer 2 all the April snow
Maybe one day I'll see my Tracy again

Sometimes it snows in April
Sometimes I feel so bad, so bad
Sometimes I wish that life was never ending,
But all good things, they say, never last

All good things that say, never last
And love, it isn't love until it's past

In memory of Dessie Rigo
(December 18th, 1920 - January 25th, 2004)
Devoted Christian, Wife, Mother, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother and Friend.
Loved and missed by all who knew her.

Well, as it turns out there was no need to rush. There's a pretty good chance that I'll be out of touch til early next week. Those that did not get a letter from my attorney dated December 17th, 2003 can feel free to contact me through the usual methods. Everyone else, play in your own sandbox for a while.

Wow, almost missed it. Through a weird bizarre set of circumstances today, I didn't really have enough time to get anything non-work related accomplished. However, I didn't really want to break the streak, so here it is.
It's not much, but I did want to say that I was saddened by the loss of Mr. Carson. The entertainment community is better for having known him, but the loss will be felt for a long time to come.

Today has been an interesting day at work. I've managed to get absolutely nothing accomplished. I've been kind of drifting through the day just skimming from item to item, but never really finishing any one thing. It's nice to have an off-day like this every once in a while. At my old job, days like this used to stack up one on top of the other. After a couple in a row, you run out of things to slack with. Today, I've puttered around all my usual haunts and even caught up with a guy I knew in college. Turns out one of the girls I work with has known him since 4th grade. So, that killed a little time going back and forth on an e-mail string talking about people in common.
And, in a manner of speaking, I caught up with someone that I haven't talked to or thought of since high school. So, it's been an interesting day to say the least.
The AP wire had a story about a mother who was arrested for giving her 4 year old son crack. Yes, that sentence said exactly what you thought it said. Crack to a 4 year old. To calm him down no less. How does giving a drug that's listed as a stimulant calm a kid down? And with that bit of logic thrust aside, how whacked out on crack do you have to be before you decide to give it to your 4 year old kid? It's stories like that that make me sit down and start writing the inner dialogues that I'll one day have to impart to Gage as "parental wisdom". Now I have one labeled, "Don't give your own kids crack, son...it's bad mmmmkay."
Anyway, tomorrow I plan on attending a lecture at the local museum given by a favorite author of mine. Katherine Paterson will be speaking. She's a young adult book author. She wrote one of my favorite books from that period of my life. Bridge to Teribithia. Excellent book. Short, easy read, but well worth it. In fact, that could be the "B" book for Bill's Blog Book Bonanza. The "A" book, for those that missed the comment, was The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo. Another very good book. Now I guess we're up to "C". Nothing immediately jumps to mind so once again I'm open to suggestions. Maybe by the end of 2005, I'll have covered the alphabet and discovered some wonderful new books along the way. I could even re-cap the alphabet for the occasional reader, if there are actually people outside of my own little group reading this blog. And, if there are, introduce yourself. I'd love the chance to visit your pages and discover new things.

Here's a link to the Darth Tater that will be a little more stable than an AP link. I think I need an i-pod so I can take part in all the great lyrics games that are going on. I'm always finding the current round just a little too late. I still manage to get one usually, but it's getting harder.
Anyway, one of the other things that I wanted to mention yesterday, but didn't get a chance was about Drea de Matteo. She turned 32 yesterday. I know that she's supposed to be all made up like that for Joey, but even at live events, I would have bet money that she was on the downslope to 40. Hell, Matt LeBlanc's 37 and I would have bet money she was older than he was. Oh well, can't wait to see her at 50. She can play the oldest living confederate widow.
I also vaguely remember some incoherent thoughts about independent films, but those are gone. I've replaced them with some espresso brownies that a woman in our office made. I'm typing pretty quickly today.
To clear up some things from yesterday, the funeral viewing wasn't for anyone in our family. One of the women that Terri's mom goes to church with lost her mother. So we went down to put in an appearance. We also stopped off to see my parents since my father had hernia surgery yesterday. When were they going to tell me about it? They weren't. Nice, huh?
Oh, and the reason I was comparing Punch Drunk Love to Napoleon Dynamite had something to do with the independent film thread that I can't remember. I will say that I heard good things about both movies and I like one, but hated the other. Hated the other so much it might as well have starred Ben Stiller.