Tonight we had dinner at the Warners. Gage and Katie had a great time playing. Even though Gage has a lot of the same toys, he looks at everything as though it's brand new. Puzzles me. I'm glad they get along though.
On the way home I stopped by half price books. I got a couple of interesting books, but the one that I'm extremely happy about is "The History of Early Rome" by Titus Livy. It may not sound like a prestigious book, but it represents the 100th book from the Easton Press list "The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written" So, I now own all 100 of these books.
Don't get excited. I said own not read. I haven't taken an accurate count of the one's I've read yet. Perhaps I'll update you on that at another time.
I did read Songbook by Nick Hornby. He's the author of High Fidelity, About A Boy, etc. It was an interesting take on pop music from all walks of the genre. There were a few songs that I'm going to have to track down. I was a little disappointed in the editor of the book. When you put together a book of critiques, essays, short stories, or any short form writing you have to make sure that the writing tricks aren't showing. A writer will find a phrase that they like, or a certain comparison and they use it whenever the mood strikes them. And, although Hornby isn't a hack who uses the same trick over and over, he did use one comparison twice within the context of the book and I'm surprised that the editors didn't catch it. In two different essays he mentions the lyrics of the song covering a lot of ground and says "You'd be hard pressed to find that much material covered in most first novels by beginning authors." Just kind of threw me.
Back to dinner, which was very good, in case you were wondering. I got to peruse Randy's legos and drool over that which I cannot acquire just yet. Man, why do I have to be a responsible adult. If I was an alcoholic I wouldn't think twice about spending an entire paycheck on Stoli. Perhaps I can get diagnosed with legoitisism. It's a rare genetic disorder that predisposes the victim to have to purchase legos at least twice a week. I'm just sayin'.

You are Riff-Raff. You have some freaky astro-boy
hair later on in this movie!


Which Rocky Horror character are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Monday at lunch I walked out in a polo shirt. Today at lunch I was hunched over in a winter coat and gloves. What's wrong with the weather? If it's going to succumb to global warming, dammit shouldn't it be warm?
Gage's daycare sent home a note that one of the children has mono. How do children 5 and under get mono? Although having a lethargic child who sleeps a lot might be a refreshing change. I'm just sayin'.

There's a gentlemen at our church who is blind. He has a seeing eye dog and is really a nice guy. His girlfriend is also blind. She lives out of town and only comes in every once in a while. She was in this Sunday and halfway through the service, one of the gentlemen in the choir led her to the front of the church where they had a music stand set up near a microphone. She proceeded to sing a solo while reading the music (in braille) off the music stand. I know how difficult it is to read music for a sighted person. I can't imagine being nervous in front of a bunch of people that you don't know very well, can't even see, and then singing what turned out to be an incredible solo. It was impressive.
This was a sad piece of news that I just came across. Tomarken was from Olean New York. For those of you that know myself and my wife, you'll recognize Olean as the small town where we had our wedding reception. It was a bizarre little coincedence that I just happened to be watching old reruns of Press Your Luck one day when Tomarken announced where he was from. I think people need to stop flying their own planes and pay the exorbitant prices of the airlines.

First chasing Martin Brodeur out of the net yesterday and then blanking the Flyers 2-0 this evening is oh, such a nice weekend treat after the crappy week at work. The wonderful refs tried to hand Philly the game by giving them a 7 minute power play with around 10 minutes left in the third period. The Penguins killed off all 7 minutes. Not bad considering they are 30th in the league on the penalty kill. Add in the fact that they held Philly to 1 shot in those 7 minutes and you can see why the entire crowd at the Mellon arena was on their feet giving the Boys of Winter a well deserved standing ovation. It's a shame that the "officials" in charge of the Penguins future can't see through their blinders to moments like that. Moments that unite 15,000+ people, moments that will no longer be possible in any fashion if the Penguins leave town. Even my mother, who has never attended a Steelers, Pirates, or Penguins game has been to an event at the Mellon Arena. Hell, my grandmother who probably could not have even told you the names of the three major sports teams had been to several events at the Mellon Arena. A multi-function building...for free...it kind of boggles the mind that there's even a discussion about this.
Oh well, the whole point of the post...Pittsburgh 2 (are you paying attention Matt?) Philly 0.

Today was a nice mellow day at home. In fact we barely left the house all day. Actually, I didn't leave the house all day. I got to sleep in a little, read a book that someone at work gave me, play around with Gage, watch the Pens beat up on the Devils and chase Brodeur out of the net, and watch the movie Rent. After the week I had, this was just what anyone ordered, doctor or not. Hopefully the Pens will have enough left in the tank for the Flyers tomorrow night when I'm actually in attendance at the game.

And the perfect capper for the week. Thank God it's Friday. I hope the weekend crawls by so slowly it feels like a year's worth of Saturdays and Sundays. In fact, I wouldn't mind having a nice Groundhog's Day moment on Saturday. I might actually get stuff done.
Hopefully everyone else will have a nice weekend as well.

Three for three in the realm of crappy days. At least tomorrow is Friday. It's funny, one of the guys that I work with developed a little countdown workday timer. It has 9 bars on it at the beginning the of the day. The top 3 are red, the middle 3 are yellow and the bottom 3 are green. It's how we keep track of the day now. "Alright, we're in the yellow." "Ok, we're in the green now." At 1:30, we hear a quote from Caddyshack to announce lunchtime and at 5:59 we hear Judy Garland repeat, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like home."
It kind of breaks up the day a little and gives everyone a little relief from the work day.

I'm trying to figure out how a client that is not mine and a portal that does not belong to me has enough power to ruin not just one, but two work days. It's been insane. Hopefully tomorrow will lighten up a little.
A lot of talk has gone on recently about the peer to peer trading networks. I've seen networks for games, DVD's, and Tom sent me an article this morning about a cd network. I'm just not sure that it's going to catch on, however I've been wrong on this stuff before. I swore back in 2000/2001 that Netflix was never going to catch on. Of course, they are going through some interesting problems that I am fairly certain weren't listed in the original business plan.
Here's something that will give those of you that know me a slight chuckle. I can't register for English Composition (ENG101) because I don't have the pre-reqs on my current transcript.
Not much else is going on in that respect, I just ignored it and registered for Microeconomics. I'm pretty sure if you can read well enough to navigate their piss poor online system you should be allowed to bypass ENG101.

I completely forgot about watching the Oscars. Of the 24 awards given during the telecast, I predicted 14 correctly which isn't too bad for me considering I had only seen 1 nominated movie, I think. I was surprised on 4 more since I always pick who will win, who should win, and then note who did win. So, technically I called 18 correctly, I just didn't trust my judgement to align with the academy's.
Jon Stewart was ok, not great, but not horrible. The audience seemed very bored throughout the whole thing. I think they were trying to figure out how to get out of paying the taxes on the $100,000+ gift bags.
I did read an article on ESPN this article actually. I love the part about Jack.

Part of me still thinks Jack Nicholson saw "Brokeback Mountain" on the winner card, took a deep breath, said to himself "Screw it, I hated that movie," called an audible and said, "And the Oscar goes to ... Crash!"

I know that there are safeguards against that, but seriously, who's going to tangle with Jack?
In Dek's vein of bizarre hometown news stories... this one certainly ranks up there. The top speed reached in the car chase...45 mph.
I was saddened and a little shocked to see that Dana Reeve passed away yesterday. Saddened because after all her ceaseless efforts on behalf of her husband and for the foundation, she probably did not react to her illness the way she should have. I was shocked because when she performed live in January at Madison Square Garden on Mark Messier night, she looked and seemed perfectly healthy. Less than 2 months later she's gone. In addition to her legacy, she also leaves behind a teenage son. I hope he finds the strength to move past all of the misery that he has heaped upon him right now.
And to not end on a down note, this article was causing spirited debate. I think someone needs to clarify the rules. Does the day carry over like a vacation day if you can't use it during the year? Is notification required in advance? So many questions.

On Saturday, Gage and I headed down to my parent's house so that I could help my brother juggle around a bunch of his furniture in his storage unit so that things were more accessible and he could get hold of a few things while he was staying at my parent's house.
So, for most of Saturday I was lifting, moving, pushing, and pulling various pieces of furniture and boxes. Saturday night as Gage and I were driving home, we listened to the Penguin's Pregame show and then started into the game. As we neared closer to home, I had to stop and pick up a few things. We went into the store with 10 minutes left in the first period. The Pens were playing Carolina hard and it looked promising. So, when we got back into the car, they were about half-way through the 2nd period and as they went to commercial Paul Steigerwald says, From the Penguins radio network it's the Canes 5 and the Pens 1." 6 goals in about 20 minutes? What kind of black hole did the Pens fall into. We have to stop spotting the other teams 4 and 5 goal leads. They certainly battled back, but just couldn't pull it out at the end.
Sunday was just a lazy day watching Gage since Terri was on call this weekend. Today was fairly easy-going. Hopefully tomorrow is the same way at work and I can ramp up into the evening and be extremely productive.

So, today I went into the office and when they asked what happened on the drive with the truck, I spun the following yarn.
Ok, so we get to McKnight road with no problem, but then Zak can't find his insurance card. So, we're in his apartment and he and his girlfriend Robin are tearing the place apart looking for the insurance card. Their cat is rubbing up against my pant legs wanting attention. So, I lean down and pet the cat for about 15 minutes and they finally come up with the insurance card. Once that's found, we head outside where it's not snowing/raining/sleeting. We clean off Zak's truck and Robin's car. Robin decides she wants to go down the hill of the apartment complex first. So, she crawls down the hill. I make it most of the way down the hill and realize that one of the problems with the truck and the fact that it needed inspected were the brakes. So, I'm pumping the brakes and sliding a little and I realize that I'm going to hit his girlfriend's car. So, I turn the wheel to the right and manage to stop about an inch before hitting her car with the truck. The bumper of the truck was actually higher than the bumper of the car, but it had those two steel bands and one of those put a ding in her bumper. In the meantime, moving the truck to the right caused the tire to hit the curb and pop the bead on the tire causing it to go flat. So, the Robin is freaking out and Zak is trying to calm her down, so to keep things moving, I'm changing the flat tire. By the time the tire is changed, we're all completely soaked. So, everyone is a little frazzled and we're on the road again. However, in the midst of all the tension, no one really notices that the truck is almost out of gas. At the end of McKnight road in Pittsburgh, there's a hill that goes down into the valley where there's a Sunoco station on the left side of the road, and then goes back up into another hill that turns into the exit for the parkway. Just as I'm about to crest the first hill, I can feel the engine sputter. I look down and the gas gauge needle is basically pointing at my shoe. So, I goose the engine and crest the hill and coast to the bottom and around the little curved turning lane in an effort to make it across to the Sunoco. But, of course, the light is against me, and now the truck is completely out of gas at the stop light across the street from the gas station. So, Zak heads over to the Sunoco to borrow a gas can and get us over to fill up. I can see him inside talking to the employee, pointing out the window at the truck. Turns out, they won't lend him a gas can, but they'll sell him one. So, he has to buy a gas can, fill it up, walk back across the road, put it in the truck so we can go through the light and fill the truck up. The rest of the drive out to Robinson was fairly uneventful til we were about halfway down the stretch of the parkway leading up to Robinson. A tractor trailer, who was ignoring the road conditions ended up jack-knifing across all three lanes. So, while waiting for a tow truck big enough to move the tractor trailer, there were policemen on the scene going from car to car explaining how to get off the exit to the right, head up the road, and basically loop around the accident. Now, keep in mind that the truck doesn't have an inspection sticker (the point of the journey) and as the cop approaches where does he shine his flashlight? Right where the sticker should be of course. His genial posture immediately stiffens and he makes the motion for me to roll down my window. "Missing an inspection sticker, aren't you?" So, I tell him that's why we're in the truck to take it to get inspected. Then he asks for the truck's registration. So, I turn to Zak to ask where it is. That's when the officer asks whose truck it is. I tell him that it's Zak's truck. So, then he asks why Zak isn't driving. Zak pipes right up and says, "Because I can't drive a stick." After the officer finished laughing, he decides that the extra two miles to Robinson aren't going to hurt anyone and lets us go with a warning. We finally get the truck parked and drop off the keys. That's when Robin decides that she's hungry. She asks if I have any recommendations. Being nice, I tell her that anywhere she wants to go is fine with me. Of course, she's craving McDonald's (which I hate). So, now I'm suffering through a crappy dinner that makes me mostly ill. Finally we get back to my car and I get home and stumble in my own door at around 11:30 (after leaving work at 6:00). My cat comes running down the stairs to greet me and ends up sinking his teeth and claws into my leg because he smells Zak and Robin's cat. So that's what my night was like. How was yours?
With the dumbfounded looks on their faces I ask, "Have any of you ever seen the movie Clue?" They say, "Yes" so I reply, "Well that's how it could have happened, but in reality we had no problems getting the truck there and getting back home."
Boy were they pissed. Zak finally had a nice laugh at their expense since they've been harping on him for several months. Now, they'll think twice before believing me again, but it was nice to think on my feet and come up with something so believable and fitting to the situation. My project manager actually made me a tag that said, "Don't talk to me, I'm a liar." I tried to explain that it was all college's fault. I mean, that was what I was supposed to do, make up stories. Just because I had a fictionalized account with real elements doesn't mean I was lying, I mean look at James Frey...ok, maybe that's a bad example.
For the rest of the day I got to give my little jabs too. When things got a little too quiet, I'd throw out things like
...so after we rescued the cat from the tree and were able to get back on the road...
...so after the firemen put out the engine fire and were able to get back on the road...
...so after we realized that the homeless guy grubbing quarters was MC Hammer and were able to get back on the road...
...so after the baby was delivered and we got everyone to the hospital safely and were able to get back on the road...
...so after we went quail hunting with the vice president and were able to get back on the road, well one of us anyway...
...after having FEMA declare the truck a disaster area and were able to get back on the road...
etc.
A nice day.

So I did a nice good samaritan thing tonight. I drove a truck from McKnight Road to Robinson Town Centre. Doesn't sound like much, but if you go back to the entry from Feb. 22nd, you'll see some of the bigger picture. I did get dinner out of the deal, but it took almost 4 hours to complete this task. I've pretty much lost the ability to dawdle like that. I could have finished everything I did this evening in less than 2 hours (and that's with the potential for a stop at one or more half-price bookstores).
Further evidence that I'm being watched and bugged. It's funny. Last night as we were walking into the theatre to see Wicked, they had advertisements for the coming shows in the next season. One of them was Spamalot. Now, considering what a problem most people had getting tickets for Wicked, I remarked that we were going to have to become subscribers in order to be guaranteed tickets. In today's mail is a subscription form for the very same set of shows that Spamalot is in.

Well, I've seen Wicked. Interesting take. One might call it revisionist history. I'll have to pull out the original movie to check, but there was just one little hole. How did 1/3 of the new regime in the Emerald City disappear without raising suspicions so soon after taking office?
I was given the hardest work assignment I've ever had today. I sit in a group of 4 cubes that the company calls a "pod." It's similar to the talent pools I've seen used (and in some cases implemented) in other companies that I've worked for. It doesn't quite have the polish, but it's close. Anyway, that's neither here nor there. One of the guys in our pod has decided that it would be a nice team building experience to create a CD with each of the 4 members contributing their 3 favorite songs. 3. I can't even narrow some albums down to 3. Not many people I know think I can do it. I'm not sure I can do it. My 3 favorite songs, insane. I started just skimming the top of my mind to see what was there. I stopped at 75 because I was so depressed. It's rough. If there were parameters, it would be easy. My 3 favorite patriotic songs. My 3 favorite country songs. My 3 favorite rock songs, etc. It would still be a difficult, potentially monumental undertaking, but at least it would narrow the scope. Perhaps, I'll share if I manage to get them picked. Although then again, maybe I'll just let everyone else share theirs. How about it?
What are you 3 favorite songs? I won't even ask why.

Ah yes, good deals. I went into Best Buy just to browse (what, don't laugh, it's happened) and I managed to get Seasons 2 and 3 of Monk for $20 each. Ah, good deal.
And for the first time in about, well forever, I actually might have to pay attention to some basketball scores. That's right, my alma mater being a large sports power house made it to the Division III tournament this year for the first time since the 70's. So, after almost 3 minutes of careful studying and deliberation I filled out my little bracket. I'm guessing Tom and I are the only ones in the whole pool who have picked Carnegie Mellon to win it all. I think some of the games start Thursday, but most are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I guess by Friday night my entire bracket could be completely shot.
What's the antidote for Ritalin? Ritalout, of course. That way the children won't all want to go see the Phil Collin's show. Livin' a lie, Timmy!
Sorry, television interruption. Not much else going on. We have tickets to Wicked tomorrow night with Susie. I'm tempted to take the soundtrack with me so that I can be "that guy" in the parking lot.

I'm beginning to think that I can no longer judge a movie. So many movies that have been recommended or highly touted in the media come across as crap to me. Double case in point this weekend from two different ends of the spectrum. Tom was out for the weekend and he brought Wedding Crashers. Mildly funny, but certainly not the uproarious comedy I was led to believe. Another movie that I saw this weekend was Lost in Translation. Again, led to expect great things. It certainly had the Oscar hype it was nominated for four and actually won one. Not impressed. Not only did I not find any connection or reason to care about any of the characters, the general implausibility left me wondering what the casting director was sniffing throughout the picture. At what point could a couple as completely different as Giovanni Ribisi and Scarlett Johansson end up being married? He spends part of the movie rubbing in the fact that she has an ivy league education and yet she sits in a hotel room all day instead of exploring the culture. Most people would kill for the chance to be left alone in a new culture. Sure, I guess I can believe that if they were married she'd want to spend some time with him, but there's sightseeing out the wazoo for someone who's not been to that particular place. I'm also wholly unimpressed with Sofia Coppola's writing. The lack of coherent narrative thread might have been the point of the movie, but it was so distracting, I almost didn't care to finish.
So, maybe I have lost my ability to judge a good movie. Or, maybe there are no more good movies? Who knows?

There's a guy at work who is having truck problems. He wrecked his truck and decided that rather than fix it, he was going to get a new truck. Then he realized that maybe he should get a used truck. So, he went to PNC Bank for a loan. Since they are PNC, they jerked him around for about 2 weeks while they told him he may or may not qualify for a loan. When he tells us this story, my project manager loans him $20 and drives him to her credit union. He opens an account and 20 minutes later is approved for the loan for his truck. He's amazed and we try to explain the concept of corporate banks vs. hometown credit unions. We attempt to expand that out into broader things so he can learn, but it falls flat. So, instead of hitting a few used car lots, he talks to his dad (in Michigan) and his dad says, "Well so and so up the road is selling his truck, we'll haul it down if you want it." [Anyone see the problems inherent with this scenario, 'cause he didn't] So, after waiting about 2 months just to get his truck brought to Pennsylvania (while he's paying on the loan for a truck he doesn't have), it finally arrives. While he's trying to get it registered he finds out he needs a PA license. So, he goes to get a PA license. But he doesn't have his original birth certificate. So, he sends to Michigan for that. More time lost. Finally he gets his PA license and is just about to complete the registration on the vehicle when his girlfriend calls in a panic. Your truck is gone. So he leaves work early and finds out that his apartment complex has impounded his vehicle because they claim it's abandoned. So, I contact a friendly lawyer and find out that he might have a case, but it all depends on the lease. We get the lease and he has no case. In order to get it unimpounded it has to have an inspection sticker (which it does not) and he will have to have it towed out of there. Thankfully he's a AAA member and has 100 free miles of towing. Does he take our advice and have it towed to a garage to get it inspected. No, back to the housing complex that towed it in the first place, after dropping 200+ to get it out of the impound. Then he tells us he took it to a dealership to get it inspected. We attempt to tell him that's a bad idea. So this morning he gets a call from the dealership. Your truck is going to need the following to pass inspection...would you like an estimate? So, he tells them to get an estimate and he gets off the phone and tells us that there's a ton of stuff that needs to be done before it will pass inspection. Now, let's keep in mind that he only paid $3000 for the truck to begin with and with all the hassle he's already climbing into an extra $500. They call back with the estimate. Between $800 and $1000 to fix everything. We then find out that he took a chevy truck to a kia dealership. At that point, we've given up on helping. At the very least you take it to the dealer that matches your model car. So, we find a guy at work whose brother works at a garage and get him the number. Then he tells us that after paying for the impound and the failed inspection, he won't have enough money til he gets paid at the end of the month. So we tell him to make an appointment. But he thinks he may not have enough money when he gets paid since his girlfriend gets paid later and he might have to front her share of the rent. So at this point he thinks he's looking at 3 weeks before he can get it inspected. Want to hear the kicker (as though it could get any better)? The truck is a stick and he doesn't know how to drive a stick. Oh to be young and stupid.

So I finally took the space quiz. Pleasant results.

You scored as Serenity (Firefly). You like to live your own way and donâ??t enjoy when anyone but a friend tries to tell you should do different. Now if only the Reavers would quit trying to skin you. Serenity (Firefly) 81% Babylon 5 (Babylon 5) 75% Moya (Farscape) 75% Deep Space Nine (Star Trek) 75% Bebop (Cowboy Bebop) 69% SG-1 (Stargate) 69% Enterprise D (Star Trek) 69% Andromeda Ascendant (Andromeda) 63% Millennium Falcon (Star Wars) 63% Nebuchadnezzar (The Matrix) 56% FBI's X-Files Division (The X-Files) 56% Galactica (Battlestar: Galactica) 56% Your Ultimate Sci-Fi Profile II: which sci-fi crew would you best fit in? (pics) created with QuizFarm.com

So my friend's brother goes to a bar over the weekend. Not that odd. And while he was there he got involved in a rock, paper, scissors game. Again not that odd. I've seen many the group decide who buys that way. Here comes the odd part. The rock, paper, scissors game was a contest. And, he came in second. Now he has to go back in three weeks to compete against other regional winners. Odder still...the winner of that competition gets an all expense paid trip to Las Vegas for the national competition. And there's a $50,000 purse and some television coverage on either the Discovery Channel or A&E.
This is rock, paper, scissors. All you need to play is your hand and the ability to count to 3. 50 grand. 50 grand. Do you hire someone to watch the other contestants and coach you? Okay, this one, see him, he's shifty. He leads with 3 rocks, but after a loss he always comes back with paper. Okay, so if you manage to beat him, go with scissors. Hear me, scissors? Okay, the chick always leads with rocks. Must be a penis fetish or something? Can you remember that? Good, this 50 grand is as good as ours. Then we can break out of the bush leagues and into the big leagues. I hear the top prize in Canada is paid out in loonies. That's got to be worth something big.

I just can't believe it.

Not much going on today, fairly standard day at work, normal drive home, normal routine. It's such a relief to have a day like that. I'd like more normal boring days.

Hmmm, 1st and 43rd. Doesn't exactly make for a great start to the season. Thankfully there are 36 races, not just one. So, there's always next week. It's interesting to me how Tony Stewart can claim that bump drafting is going to cost someone their lives on Feb. 12th and then turn around and do the exact same thing thus wrecking Matt Kenseth. Um, Hello pot? This is kettle.

Ok, I'm done with winter. It's damn chilly and I'm shellin' out way too much already to turn the heat up. Welcome to the lose-lose situation. Maybe I could set my pants on fire. On the upside, I've gotten quite a bit of work done in the library and I'm on episode 11 of the first season of Veronica Mars. Interesting show, a few rough spots, but overall a good show. Hopefully season 2 will come out before season 3 so I can get caught up enough to watch in real time. And, gee I'm so sorry for the people of the Czech Republic. I guess Finland knows how to play a little hockey. I'm also guessing the people of New York aren't too happy with the hit put on Jaromir Jagr. Ah well, the cosmic karma.

Another random famous person sighting. Well, at least Pittsburgh famous. Don Cannon, a local news anchor was checking out books at the Half-Price book store. I have to give credit to Terri for noticing him first, since she was the first one in the store. Since most things come in 3's, I wonder who is next in this weird SAT question. "What comes next in this sequence...Jim Leyland, Don Cannon _____?" Thoughts anyone?
While I was walking around the book store, a few of the clerks were having a conversation about Cheney's little "incident." Apparently there's a conspiracy theory floating around that Cheney shot him intentionally to send a message to "Scooter" Libby about keeping quiet. Why didn't he just send one of the Area 51 aliens to suck out that part of his brain? It would have been easier.
Who sits around and dreams this stuff up? In addition to the fact that laziness, a decline in general intelligence, apathy, and things like ipods, audiobooks, and the internet have caused the decline of the written word it might be due to the fact that all the really good fiction is being passed on as fact nowadays. It's getting harder to dream up stuff more cockeyed than what the American public is being asked to believe by media whores like Oprah, Dr. Phil, and the White House Press Secretary. I'm just sayin'.

So I've been diagnosed with ADHDOCD, which basically means that I'm always switching what I'm obsessing over. Here's my latest in a long list of "What the *#@! are they thinking?"
When I buy a candy bar, I don't wait for instructions on how to peel the wrapper or consume the item. When I buy a set of batteries, I don't really think that Duracell or Energizer so tell me that I can't use them in blenders, alarm clocks, and portable cheese slicers. Mountain Dew doesn't call me on the phone and say, "Hey Jackass, use a glass."
So, why does the RIAA feel that after churning out an inferior product for years (and overcharging for it) that they can release this spew of bile and expect to get away with it?
My long term plan is to create an entirely digital library out of my vast collection. To that end, I've worked hard to keep the collections cataloged and arranged. I've looked into external hard drives for storage. I've investigated software that does similar things to dvdaf. I've picked up an imic in order to be able to translate vinyl, 8-tracks, and cassettes into mp3's so that I can enjoy my entire collection. I've watched the evolution of mp3 players (most notably ipods) go from hard drives to flash memory and expand to 60 gigs and beyond. Now, the RIAA is going to tell me that if, fuckin' if, I decide to part with anywhere from $11-$21 dollars for the newest release by Rilo Kiley, Barry Manilow, U2, or The Dead Milkmen I can't make myself a back-up copy, or pull down my favorite track to put on a drive mix, or move it over to my ipod so I can find a little motivation to exercise my fat ass, or perhaps just in case my son or wife accidentally scratches the hell out of my cd, it won't be a total loss.
If this shakes out badly, I'm writing a huge GFY to the RIAA. I may do it before hand. What the hell happened to this county? And more importantly, does the head of the RIAA quail hunt? Anyone? I'm just sayin'.

I apparently don't belong in outer space. I tried taking the quiz found on Adam's site. The results came back blank. I looked through the code and there were no results. Perhaps I'll try it again, but I'm a little ticked that I don't belong anywhere.
So my project manager called in sick yesterday as well. That meant there were 0 people present out of two. They guilted her into coming into the office for a couple of hours. It's nice to be needed, but damn.
So, Happy Valentine's Day to those that care. Happy Tuesday to those that don't. I've come to realize that the only thing worse than a bad movie, is the commentary for that movie on the DVD. I've had many good movies coupled with bad commentary, that's ok. You are left with just the movie to enjoy. Never have I had a movie bolstered by the commentary. And yet, I keep looking. So, who's the crazy one?

Man it sucks to be sick.

I don't want to jinx anything, but two weeks ago tomorrow we abandoned the crib/toddler bed altogether. We decided that we were going to keep the same bedtime routine, but instead of putting him into his own bed, he was going to sleep on the guest room futon. So far, he's been to bed every night somewhere between 9:30 and 11:00 and slept til after 5:30 every morning. He's really only been up one night and that was due to sickness. So, here's hoping that the entire problem was the fact that he just hated his crib. I guess Phil Bourque must have jinxed the crib when we picked it out.
In a little over 8 minutes of game play, barring a miracle comeback by the Caps, the Pens will win two in a row. And then we'll be off for the rest of February while the world participates in the Olympic games. The Olympics are a strange beast. One of the guys that I work with is in his late 30s/early 40s and one of those guys who never really grew up. He's a slacker coder who snowboards and drinks too much. He's single and seems to prefer it. What's funny is that in a discussion of Olympic events, he's the one who says he loves to watch figure skating because it's a chance for perfection in each program. A chance to land every jump perfectly, spin like a top, and glide into the hearts of the world. Bizarre coming from him.
6 1/2 to go. That means just to tie the Caps will need a goal every 1:37ish.
I watched some of the Olympic Women's hockey coverage today. I missed the early games, but apparently Finland beat Germany 3-0. I watched the United States beat Switzerland 6-0. I watched most of the Canada/Italy game. Ouch. 16-0 Canada. And Sweden beat Russia 3-1.
And the Pens beat the Caps 6-3. It's a shame Fleury had to give up that last one with 30 seconds to go, but I'll deal. It's a win. And it's two wins in a row. And now we go on hiatus for half a month. Grrr. At least there will be lots of Olympic hockey left. Russia vs. Canada and Germany vs. United States are on tomorrow. Men's hockey starts on Wednesday so by mid-next week there will be twice as many games.

The best team in the Eastern Conference against the worst team in the NHL. I almost watched the Opening Ceremonies. Yet somehow I just couldn't give up on the Pens. No matter how badly they get battered, they are still my team to root for. Win, lose, playoff, or golf I'm watching. And I only wish that was enough to ensure that the team was going to be here long enough for my son to do the same.
I just hope they fare as well tomorrow against the Penguin's favorite whipping boys, The Washington Capitals.
This article has an interesting quote from former Penguins goaltender Garth Snow. If you scroll all the way to the bottom you can see this...
"Mario was the best ever. Honestly, I have this argument with everyone. If you swapped him with Gretzky, and put Lemieux on that team with Jari Kurri and Glenn Anderson and Mark Messier and Paul Coffey, he'd be the one with all those records. Can you imagine him on that team?" - Islanders G Garth Snow
I'm just sayin'.

So the Grammy's were on last night. Mariah Carey didn't take home the number of trophies that she planned. U2 took home some major awards with an album that won Grammy's last year too. That's pretty good longevity. However, can anyone guess the Grammy winner that has the number 1 album on the United States Pop Charts right now? Oh that's right. None of last night's Grammy winners are topping the charts right now. Thanks to everyone who sent me this article. Mr. Manilow, hats off to you.
Oh and in the two+ weeks of the football blitz that was the Superbowl, I don't remember seeing any coverage of the Tokyo Raiders or the Berlin Packers. In fact, checking on the NFL's site, I see 32 teams all in the United States. So how are the Pittsburgh Steeler's "World" Champions? I gotta go out on a limb and say there's probably a group of guys in the Soviet Union that could hand the Steeler's their asses on the playing field. I'm just sayin'.

I'm not really thrilled with this new trend of releasing albums with one set of exclusive material for one store and a second set for another store. I'm also a little ticked about Trisha Yearwood's new album (though less ticked than if I hadn't heard about it first). I was about to select it as a free album through BMG but then I found out that they were re-releasing the album with extra tracks on it. Of course, I'd like the extra tracks, but the free selection has come and gone and who knows when it will be available again or if the new version will even be available from BMG. Of course, I could pick it up in the store, but as referenced above, how many different versions of the second album will there be? Does anyone see this as a potential flag for a large portion of the CD industry flushing itself down the toilet? You have the CD industry crying that it's losing money yet CD's are still 18 or 19 dollars a pop if you don't know how or where to shop. You have the movie industry crying foul over losing a ton of money and yet movie tickets are coming close to 10 dollars in some metropolitan areas. Remember when both of you could go the movies for 10 dollars? I do and I'm not that old. Is any industry in the United States comfortable? The jobless rate keeps dipping, but no one seems to be getting ahead.
Prince was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live this past weekend. Since Steve Martin was the host, I decided to bite the bullet and watch the show. Thankfully Martin was very funny, and Prince was superb as usual. One of the sketches was Martin at the table with one of the regulars and it plays as an infomercial with the pamphlet entitled, "If you can't afford it, don't buy it." (Or at least something to that effect) Follow that up with an MSN article Monday morning about Credit Cards being used for survival debt due to emergency or lack of planning and it adds up to a nation's credit card debt that is probably coming close to the budget deficit. And yet, we have a weekend, actually just about a 4 hour block of one weekend where people will spend 2.5 million on 30 seconds of time. Considering how lame most of the commercials actually were this year, I'd say it was money well wasted. 2.5 million would buy a lot of food for an under-developed nation. Hell, 2.5 million would go a long way toward making our own homeless feel less dehumanized.

Nothing much going on today. Although if anyone can explain to me how technology works in instance A, but stops working when copied into an identical instance B...I'd love to hear the theories.
I'm extremely worried about how this is going to turn out. Tocchet had ties to Pittsburgh and rumblings have already started about former teammates. I'm hoping that the NHL kind of washes out of it since allegedly none of the gambling was done on hockey, but it's still the kind of publicity that the league doesn't need right now. With Gretzky's wife being semi-accused, it makes you wonder how high and how far it goes.

It's over. Almost. Tomorrow is the rally and then hopefully things will get back to normal. And it will be, at a minimum, 2010 before I hear any idiot yelling, "One for the thumb."
We headed to Mitch's house for the Superbowl and realized we were pretty close to having an anti-football party. No one there was really a "fan" per se. I think we did pretty well though.
The ride home was pretty tame, lots of horn honking and towels flapping out the various windows. Of course, we didn't have to travel through Oakland, the Strip, or the South Side.
So, Tom wanted to make sure that he got hold of some Steeler's crap so I said I'd go out and pick some up. I managed to get the hat with no problem, but I couldn't locate the particular shirt right away. So, I decided to take a quick run out to the Pointe and check out the Dick's Sporting Goods store out there. Now, I didn't find the particular shirt but I did have a random sports figure sighting. Yes, I saw ex-Pirates manager Jim Leyland who is now the manager of the Detroit Tigers. Tom Selleck must be proud. I know he's 60, but the way he was wandering around the store, he kind of looked like he was in the later stages of dementia and couldn't find his way out of the store. Hopefully he'll look a little more coherent or Craig will be having the same type of baseball season that I'm having with the current hockey season.

So, yesterday was Groundhog's Day and our company had it's annual chili cook-off. A lot of varied entries this year. There was "Ulcer in a Jar," chili made with rabbit meat, a white chili with chicken, as well as many others. Of course, there were all pretty tasty.
Today, a few people in the office were distracted making it harder to get actual work done. Which on a normal day isn't a problem, but when you're trying to ship three major projects out the door, you need the people around you to focus just a bit.
Terri had a get-together this evening, so Gage and I went out and did a little running around. And, I just have to bring this up, if only to demonstrate that I'm not alone in some of my thought processes. As I'm standing in the Toys R Us putting Gage into the cart and composing my mental list of things to look for, I hear the two managers at the Service desk begin their conversation.
Female (early 50's): "Did you hear about the ship that sank?"
Male (late 20's early 30's): "No, I haven't picked up the paper or watched the news all week. You know, at this point, I don't care who wins or loses, I just want it to be Monday."
Female: "I know what you mean. I know more about Jerome Bettis than I ever want to or care to."
...At this point, I walk over, casually interject and completely agree and then continue on my way secure in the knowledge that a lot more people are swinging to my side of things...
Today I stumbled upon a poll that has apparently been around for 17 years, but no one I talked to had ever heard about it. Anyway, Dwight mentions a few of the highlights, but the one that I wanted to point out was the one I was emailing back and forth with Tom.

"Barry Williams (Greg Brady, The Brady Bunch) 'Steelers, 42-38. They are used to the cold.'"

Now, I'm not exactly a football expert, but there's certainly been enough coverage in this area to know that Ford Field in Detroit is a dome. Tom wondered which we should explain first... the fact that Seattle is also in the North or the fact that they were playing in a dome. I chose the dome option. If he's making statements like that, Geography is going to be lost on him. I'm guessing he's good at the math and science, right Mr. President?
Another news item that managed to make it though the aluminum curtain was this. It made me a little sad. I know why they are impractical nowadays, but it's such a large part of history that just quietly went away.
I guess that's all for now. Hopefully all this snow that they're predicting will hold off a little while so I can head down to the Pens rally tomorrow.

I missed the majority of the AHL All-Star game, but 9-4 isn't a pretty score. PlanetUSA got trounced by Team Canada.
Tomorrow is Groundhog's Day. A ton of people are going to pack into a tiny little town and watch a rodent predict the weather. Wonder if he'll be wearing a Terrible Towel. Man, I was kidding when I wrote that, but as I typed it, I realized that it might actually come true.
I managed to blog 23 out of 31 days in January. At that pace, I will hit the magic number I set for myself in 2006. So, one resolution is potentially safe and sound.
Hmmm, none of the websites that I accessed today for work seem to be working now. Wonder if that's something I should report?
***Update***
I should have kept my big mouth shut.

So I angered Susie today by going off on yet another rant about the Steelers and their 5 network affiliates, two newspapers, and 12-15 radio stations. Not to mention all the advertising that they've managed to buy on people's windows, cars, etc.
As I was driving home, I had to switch off three stations or risk having the "Here We Go" song stuck in my head. So by the time I got home to my mother-in-law (who was babysitting) I was plumb Steelered out.
Now, I have the patience of a saint (alright, hold it down), but I was trying to figure out what's been setting me off recently. After getting Gage and heading out to do a little shopping, I saw a sign at the Mall at Robison.

"Due to overwhelming requests, Mall Management has decided to close the mall at 5:00 on February 5th for the Superbowl."

That was finally the last straw. I almost went to lodge a complaint at the service desk. Yes, the Steeler's made the Superbowl and 99.9% of the city seems to be ecstatic. The other .1% would like to crawl into an underground bunker to reappear on the 6th and check for our shadows to see if there's going to be 6 more weeks of the black and gold.

So, my hackles were raised pretty much all day and passing person after person in Steeler's garb did nothing to appease my attitude. And then, it finally clicked as I neared the end of the mall and saw the All-Christmas store having their yearly liquidation sale. It was the same feeling of resentment I had toward the Christmas holiday and music on the radio.
That's when the epiphany struck. It's not Christmas that upsets me, it's not even Christmas music that upsets me. It's not that the Steelers made the Superbowl and the Pens are in the toilet bowl (though that doesn't help). What bothers me most of all is the abject lack of respect for the American consumer.

That's right, I said lack of respect.

The powers-that-be have decided that simply telling you once and letting you make up your own mind is not sufficient. It has to be crammed down your throat over and over until it becomes a pre-programmed second nature. And I realized that I reject all attempts to make me think what people want me to think. It's this constant barrage that makes me dislike normally happy events like Christmas and yes, even the Superbowl. It's like holding a conversation with the egotistical Ivy League student who works in the fact that he graduated from Yale at least four times in a three minute conversation even though he's wearing a Yale sweatshirt, Yale hat, and a Yale ring, with a Yale license plate on his car and a bumper stick that says, "Go Yale!"
The first time it comes up, you're mildly impressed...by the end of the conversation you want to beat him with a polo mallet. It's like the amazing marketing campaigns for movies like "Monster's Ball" and "A Beautiful Mind", both of which sucked, but for some reason got tremendous word of mouth due to the all out media blitz.
Christmas has gotten so bad that it occurred to me that with the exception of getting gifts for Gage I was ready to scrap the whole thing. And as any parent of the child that has grasped the opening of presents can attest, the look on the child's face is priceless, so it's a lot to give up in the midst of the complete media blitz. The Superbowl passed this point a while ago, but since Pittsburgh has only had a cursory involvement in years past, it was slightly easier to ignore. This year, with direct involvement, it's beyond the point of bearable. Even some football rabid fans that I know are crying, "Enough, already!" It's a running gag in our office whenever a piece of actual news slips through. A couple days ago, there was an 80 year old man who was out on his roof (it was never discovered why). His wife was out on the roof with him. He slipped and started to go over the side. She made a grab for him and they both went over. He lived, but she passed away from the injuries sustained in the fall. This was a sad story and would normally have been given a space in the run of hometown news. However, it was barely a blip on the one affiliate that did cover it. We realized that if they had been wearing Steeler's sweatshirts and hanging a terrible towel on the Steeler's mannequin resting in the black and gold striped armchair motif on the roof of their recently repainted black and gold house, they would have been the lead story on all the major networks.
So, it's not that I hate football, I'm very apathetic toward the sport. It's not that I'm against the Steelers, most seasons they're barely registering in our household. I can't stand being forced to feel a certain way by a media that's so blinded to what is or is not news it's simply become the PR extension for whatever event is going on at the moment. That's why my new favorite holiday is Arbor Day.

Got hosed at work again today. My project manager called in sick so that I had to deal with all of the wonderful client issues that cropped up today. And, to top it off, there was some sort of issue with another program that another team was working on. It had to be tested on a dial-up connection. Apparently, mine is the only computer with a working dial-up connection. So, every couple of hours, I had to stop what I was doing, and connect to a 56k dial-up to try and watch a video program that wouldn't download properly. All in all, a crappy day. So, now I sit at home and try and catch up on my own work since I spent most of the day doing someone else's.
This article caught what little attention was diverted today. It's very true. Children's songs tend to burrow in and they aren't the only ones. It's interesting to see how the mind functions when it comes to the mystery of melody and lyrics. Meet my childhood neighbor for any length of time and surely one of the slightly less embarrassing stories that she'll regale you with is the fact that when I was about 3 or 4, I would spend hours on their porch singing into a magic marker with a piece of yarn tied around it. However, I didn't stop with things like the Sesame Street theme song. Apparently I did things as diverse as "Bye Bye Love" by the Everly Brothers and "Sleepin' Single in a Double Bed" by Barbara Mandrell. Songs that I really had no intellectual knowledge of, just the ability to reproduce all the necessary sounds. I've noticed some of this starting in Gage as he mimics sounds and has melodies already committed to memory as he works on replicating the actual words to the melody.
Although Terri does the lion's share of putting the little one to sleep, I've certainly had my turn at it. And one of the things that I've noticed is that Gage usually enjoys being sung to. It's a nice challenge to see how many different songs I can remember from start to finish. A few Fridays ago, Gage and I were at dinner at the Warner's household. Susie was there as well and when Gage started his little dance routine, we always call it his "Happy Feet" after what I know as the old Cab Calloway song which was redone on the Muppet Show by Kermit the Frog. Turns out Susie had sung the song when she was back in school and still remembered the majority of the lyrics. Which led to me postulate the following:

Think about all the songs you've heard on the radio that you can sing from start to finish with all the little nuances that accompany the song.
Add to this all the songs that you can sing from start to finish with the song playing on the radio
Add in all the songs that you can make it 95% of the way through with assistance from the radio, perhaps only transposing a word or two
Now top that off with the number of songs that you know a verse or the chorus
Add in the number of songs that you know from various other factions in your life that aren't related to the radio (Hymns, Girls Scout Songs, Boy Scout Songs, Campfire Songs, Church related songs, etc.)
Top it off with things like commercial jingles and theme songs.

Come up with an approximate total? Neither did I. The number went into the thousands and I lost count.
Imagine if I could harness the brainpower storing these lyrics and use it for an applied situation. I can tell you that in the second verse of the song "Bless the Broken Road" by Melodie Crittenden, there is a line that says, "I'd like to take the time I lost and give it back to you." In the more recent Rascal Flatts version of the same song, the line becomes "I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you." And yet, it takes a few seconds of staring off into space before I remember something along the lines of the denotation for Planck's constant is h. It takes another bit of staring to realize that it is Max Planck that this is named for or after and it is mostly used in Quantum mechanics.
If I could put on a pair of glasses akin to Cyclops in the X-Men series to turn that brainpower keeping all the lyrics stored in my head into a focused source of intelligence, I could be ruling the world at the moment. Why, I could think great thoughts, I could...I could...I could wile away the hours, conferrin' with the flowers, consultin' with the rain. And my head I'd be scratchin' while my thoughts were busy hatchin' if I only had a brain.
Certainly this has rambled on a little longer than I expected, but when I glanced at my shelves of CD's, tapes, records, and 8-tracks...I realized that if I only knew one song on each I was already over 7,000.
And as a parting shot, with the exception of the bad over-the-top singing, Minnie Driver had no business being in the Phantom of the Opera and I'm only 20 minutes into it.

So, I got an email invitation from someone I haven't heard from in a number of years inviting me back to the madness that is buggy for a reunion of sorts. It amazes me how easily all of that stuff comes back to the forefront of my mind. Things I haven't thought about it years comes flooding back as though it happened yesterday. So, tomorrow morning I'll be sending an email making sure I can get that day off. It'll be fun to see everyone that's able to make it back. There are a bunch of kids now too so even Gage will have people to hang around. Although we'll have to make sure the current group knows there will be a lot of kids so they can create buggy clothes in smaller sizes this year.

I hate it when schedules are wrong, but at least this time I didn't have to subject myself to a 7-1 rout. I thought the Pens game was on at 7, but it turns out it was on at 2. Which really sucks because at 2 I was actually home to watch the game. Instead I was walking on the treadmill watching the director's commentary for Undercover Brother. Which, though painful sounding, was much preferred to the evening's activity of dinner with the in-laws and various extended relatives.
Oh well, I guess if I thought about it, things could get worse. Though at the moment I'm not sure how.
Oh well, on the bright side the Pens can't lose again until Wednesday.

A nice mid-afternoon edition, whilst I delay work I should be doing.
I read this article online today. Regardless of what the accident reconstruction people find out, having to plan 8 funerals is too much for anyone. I can't imagine what this family is going through. And to be perfectly selfish, I don't want to.
In between the heavy story at the top, and the one to follow I give you (especially Joe, Dwight, and Tom) this. I still say Mike and I would have made a good Steeler's tandem.
This was another article that caught my eye. Tomorrow marks the 20th anniversary of this tragedy. Carnegie Mellon always took an extra moment to salute the astronauts due to Judy Resnik's association with the University. After reading the article, apparently I did not watch live action, though since I don't remember the footage cutting away, I still say that I did see it live. We were home from school on a snow day. My brother and I had been out sled riding and my mom called us in to warm up and watch the launch. The gifted program that I was part of in elementary school had been doing an in-depth study on the space program and this launch in particular since every teacher in America was pulling for Christa McAuliffe. The other 5 members of the crew, Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Ellison Onizuke, Ron McNair, and Greg Jarvis can be seen in this picture of the 7. I still have a copy of this picture stashed among my childhood memories along with a mission patch.
The one thing that I didn't need to realize after reading the article is that the astronauts didn't die from the initial fireball. They lived for another 2+ minutes (possibly conscious, though no one knows) until the capsule hit the water at 200 G's of force. I didn't need to know that to remember them as heroes. I didn't need that piece of information for historical accuracy. Thinking that they had died instantaneously and not suffered was good enough for me. There are some records that don't always need to be set straight. Knowing that there were subsequently crushed to death instead of exploded is almost a matter of tomato/tomato for the general public. I'm sure NASA needs to know, but John Q. Smith doesn't. (Wow, the tomato/tomato joke doesn't work on paper.)
Well, not much else to report on, I guess. Just felt the need to vent after reading the "myth-busting" article on the Challenger, which some people call the Gen X/Y's Kennedy Assasination (everyone remembers where they were or what they were doing). 20 years. Wow.

A bunch of loose ends today.
Working from home on a dial-up sucks. I need to get into a situation where I can do the whole wireless thing.
Did you know that a double ear infection can manifest itself within 6-12 hours with no visible signs or symptoms? Neither did I.
If you have the opportunity to pick something up that costs anywhere from $25-$65 and will likely increase in value, is it worth it to spend $52 on similar items with the hope of finding one or more of what you're looking for but with no guarantees? I know that sounds confusing. Terri wants to procure a Sidney Crosby rookie card for Gage since they both had their first year of hockey at the same time. Looking around the mall last night, I had the chance to buy an Upper Deck rookie card for $25. However, I passed and decided to order a box of Upper Deck cards for $52. I have a chance of getting multiple Sidney Cards as well as Ovechkin, Lundqvist, etc. Of course, I could simply end up with a ton of Sergei Gonchar cards. Smart deal or not?
3 out of 4 points in the last two games. Are we on the upswing?
I don't think Disney should be allowed to bastardize the Greatest American Hero theme.
I can't believe almost one month of 2006 is gone already.

I'm not sure it was due to last night's post, Gage being sick, or the abject lack of sleep, but I was feeling very surly this morning as I got ready for work. I get in the car and what discussion do I hear on the radio...who is the greatest Pittsburgh athlete? I'd give you multiple guesses for my answer, but you don't need them. So as I listen to the different callers rattle off their opinions, how many of them do you think agreed with me? One. One. And he was the radio announcer. Terry Bradshaw, Roberto Clemente (both potential choices), but Mike Webster? Rocky Blier? Franco Harris? Yes, I'm biased against hockey, but when you have an athlete of Mario's caliber and you fail to recognize that it's more than just short-sightedness or a sport to sport bias.
So, I'm pretty jacked going into work. Then I log on to the computer. And, again, I don't know if it was due to last night's post or the fact that everyone knows my hockey bias, but a lot of friends began to send me articles, podcasts, photo retrospectives, etc. about Lemieux and his retirement announcement. The following came from Susie and was located at the end of the Pittsburgh Pirates Q&A section

In closing ...

On this extraordinary week for sports in Pittsburgh (PirateFest!), I feel I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the retirement of Mario Lemieux and at least one question I had on the matter that might be of interest to fans of the baseball club:

Was there any greater athlete in the city's history?

My answer is no.

The only one who comes close, in my view, is Honus Wagner, both in terms of individual performance within a league-wide scope (eight batting titles), team championships (remember the Pirates won three National League titles before there the World Series was born), and the great intangible of having spent so much of his career in one city (all but his first three years in Louisville).

Roberto Clemente? No, with all due respect. One MVP award, four batting titles and two World Series championships is impressive, as are his many intangibles. But there are few accounts I have read that describe him as the greatest player of his era. The same cannot be said for Lemieux and Wagner.

The Super Steelers of the 1970s? Maybe the best team in NFL history, but who among them stands out? Terry Bradshaw? Joe Greene? Was either one of them the best player of his era?

And what about Ben Roethlisberger? Well, if he keeps going as he has, he might be the greatest athlete in the history of civilization. At the least, he could be viewed that way in our corner of the world within 11 days.

To date, there has been no one like Lemieux. Not in our town. He is seen by many as the most talented player to ever play his sport -- though Wayne Gretzky still gets most of those nods -- and no other athlete with a firm stake in Pittsburgh can make that claim. Not even Wagner.

And just imagine if Lemieux been healthy for even half of his 20 years since being drafted.

The city will not be the same without him on the ice.

Without a doubt I agree with his sentiments. In fact, I sent him a message thanking him.

Tom also passed along the podcast of the Mike and Mike show from ESPN and during their segment they batted around the idea of where to place Mario on the list of all time greatest hockey players. And, they came up with a point that I'm willing to concede to. Part of a superstar athlete's career and legacy is longevity. Obviously the longer you play the more you can accomplish. So, I will advocate the following two statements.

The hockey player with the greatest career is Wayne Gretzky.
The hockey player with the greatest talent is Mario Lemieux.

And I could link to any number of articles, but that would take forever so I'll just link to this retrospective.

Oh, and please can someone schedule the rest of our games this season against the Washington Capitals?

We'll Miss You!
As a Pittsburgh Penguins fan, I've been through this before. It doesn't hurt quite as much as it did the first time around, but honestly more than anything else it hurts that Mario will never have the complete respect that he deserves. He's 7th on the all-time scoring list. What no one seems to realize is that he's not even in the top 100 in games played. Wayne Gretzky played 21 seasons in the NHL. This year would have been Mario's 21st season. If you take Mario's current points per game, not even the 2 points per game that he retired with the first time, just the 1.88 that he currently has and extrapolate that out over 21 seasons, he eclipses Gretzky's scoring by almost 400 points. 400 points. And yet, he's rarely if ever considered the best player in the world. Anyone who has seen him move on the ice knows the fluidity of his game and the softness of his touch. To see him move in a healthy fashion with Sidney Crosby would have made the Penguins a force to be reckoned with. Mario, I will miss you and you have my respect. Maybe someday you'll have everyone else's as well.

Two more weeks of this. Tom, Dwight, Joe...really I'm happy for your happiness. I'm sure if I cared about football I'd feel some of that happiness. The problem is, they won, which means I'll spend the next two weeks trying not to offend the people that give a damn. I'm sure at some point I'll end up snapping and snarking at someone who gets just a little overexcited about it. (And, I can hear those people yelling, "Hello pot? This is kettle." over my exuberance and undying faithfulness for the boys of winter in the igloo.) To answer you, yes, I am a fan through and through. I celebrate their wins and I feel their losses. I get disgusted at stagnation and mistakes and I cheer phenomenal plays and superhuman effort. However, with their loss to the Flyers on Saturday, they've dropped nine in a row. And yet, I still have to get up and go to work. Gage still needs a father. When I went to the 2nd Stanley Cup rally in 1992, I didn't have to get up and go to work, but that's because I was in high school. I had to do things like help out my dad and clean my room. Nothing changed in my life because they win or lose and it's this perspective that I wish to impart to the "Steeler Nation." Seriously, I'm happy you're happy. Even the weather report incorporated the Steelers. It's sad to have to go into a self-imposed news coma just because I'm indifferent to football. Hell, Cyril Wecht gets indicted on 84 separate counts and he barely made the news. I had to search two different sites to find out that he did in fact hold up his end of the bargain and resign his newly held post after the indictment. Two more weeks. Then win or lose maybe I'll be able to stick my head out of the hole and see some news.

Wow, so I'm watching the Dennis Miller special and I can't believe how political he's become. It's interesting to see him draw both praise and criticism on George Bush and not alienate the crowd.
So I've managed to keep up with the majority of my resolutions. I just can't seem to get ahead on my reading. I'm reading on the treadmill and I try to read at night most nights, but the magazines keep pouring in and the books don't read themselves. Hopefully I can do better in the future.

I'd love to see tonight's game replayed, or at least the third period anyway, with a referee that will make three obvious calls, that for some reason didn't get made in the game that I saw.
One: A Ranger's player blocks a shot from the neutral zone and breaks his stick in half. He then proceeds to skate almost all the way to the bench holding both halves of the stick. This is a penalty. All players on the ice must immediately drop a broken stick. The only exception is the goaltender who may play with a broken stick until the whistle sounds.
Two: Jaromir Jagr snags a clear out of the air, holds it in his glove, skates four strides and then drops the puck cleanly onto the ice so that he can control it with his stick and skate into the offensive zone. This is a penalty. No player on the ice is permitted to close his hand over the puck. The only exception is again, the goaltender who is permitted to glove the pucking in his catching glove.
Three: Ranger Defensemen Marek Malik shoves an oncoming Sidney Crosby into the Ranger's net and the Ranger's goaltender is standing poised in his crease when he fails to stop a shot from Tomas Surovy. According to the NHL rulebook, there are 3 scenarios for this particular rules infraction. One, the player was intentionally looking to run into the goaltender in order to open up the net for a clear shot. This results in a penalty for the player making the contact. If a goal does happen to go in, it will not count. Two, the player was pushed into the goaltender by a defender. This will not result in a penalty, but will disallow a goal. Three, a player is pushed into the goaltender and subsequently the net, it is at the discretion of the referee whether to a.) allow the goal and b.) add a penalty to the player making contact. Apparently they decided to muddle the rules and not only disallow the goal, but add the penalty too.
With these three calls being made correctly, it would have been a very different game. And maybe, just maybe, I'd be up a lunch instead of out a lunch.

So Ziggy Palffy retired. I, among others I know, wonder if perhaps Ziggy was going to retire at the beginning of this year. Now, his retiring salary is smaller than his playing salary and we can take that money and put it towards Fleury's bonus and this new defensemen. Interesting.
I guess we'll see how this guy does tomorrow night against the Rangers. Hopefully he'll put a clean hit on Jagr and bring him back to whiny reality.
Not much else is going on today. Since I've been working pretty much non-stop at work since August, I finally got around to some clean up administrative stuff today during a welcomed lull. I filed about 1,800 email messages which is only just a little over half of what I have left. I guess that's what tomorrow is for.
Though I must say, filing email is an incredibly boring task to fill your day with.

I can't believe what an ongoing ordeal it is to put a child to bed, ok, not a child...my child. I started at 8:52. I finally managed to get him to fall asleep to the point where I could get out of the room at 10:03. 71 minutes completely gone. I could have walked 3 miles at an unhurried pace on the treadmill in that amount of time. I could have ridden almost 15 miles on the exercise bike. I could have finished all tbe bills and filing that I need to get done. I could have organized all the new magazines that have come in that I haven't had time to read yet. Amazing. And, of course, there's no guarantee that he'll even stay asleep. That's why I'm typing as fast as I can.
Friday night, while Terri was traveling for work, Gage and I headed up to the Warner's house to visit with Susie, Randy, Elizabeth, Katie, and Andrew. I can't believe how big Andrew is getting already. It seems like only yesterday we were visiting him in the hospital and he's been to his two month checkup already. Katie has an amazing vocabulary and knows a lot of songs as well. I hope Gage is doing that well after his 2nd birthday. Of course, watching Gage chase Katie through the length of the house yelling, "HUG! HUG! HUG!" was one of the funniest things I had seen in a while. It reminded me of Animal chasing a female up the aisle of the auditorium yelling, "Woman! Woman!" I guess that's why Gage's favorite muppet so far is Animal.
Saturday was a lazy day. The whole family just lounged all day long. Sunday we headed out to do some much needed shopping after church and nap time.
Monday night I went to the Penguin's game with my buddy Ray. Even though it was another disappointing loss, I thought they played well. Though I'm becoming increasingly disheartened with the blind eye the refs are turning to all the cheap shots Sidney Crosby ends up taking in the course of a game. Gonchar, the million (actually multiple million) dollar boy, actually had 5 shots and drove to the net a couple of times. Does this mean he's finally realized he's a hockey player and not a spectator? One can only hope. According to the paper today, the Pens already have a magic number of 55. Craziness.

I'm not a huge fan of Mark Messier, I think he's an overrated cheap shot artist myself. That could be a Rangers bias, or an errant Gretzky bias, or something else entirely. However, with the free preview I just happened to turn on the Oilers/Rangers game and happened upon the retirement ceremony for Messier's #11 in the rafters of Madison Square Garden. He is certainly well respected in New York. The ceremony was beyond heartfelt and players, coaches, fans, and Messier alike were all moved to tears at one point or another. Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon were in the stands and Dana Reeves sang a tribute to Mark and in memory of Christopher since they were both apparently huge Rangers fans. It was refreshing to see the community work that Messier did, for me it almost makes up for all the on-ice crap he got away with.
Anyway, tomorrow I'm most likely off to the Warners with Gage in tow to celebrate Elizabeth's passing of the PE exam (not physical education).
If you haven't opened your heating bill this month, don't. Just sign over your next paycheck to whatever utility company you have. It amazes me, our house is bordering on ice-box status according to some (I think it's right on the edge between chilly and comfortable) and yet this was indeed the highest heating bill I've ever seen. Hopefully this 50 degree weather will stick around for a while.
Oh well, it's early this evening, so maybe I'll get some productive things done before bed.

I actually ended up feeling a lot better today than I have in quite a while. I even managed to get some work done, which is surprising considering I don't usually do that when I'm well.
Oh, and before I forget, Matt...DirecTV is offering another free preview of Center Ice from the 10th to the 16th. It's not much hockey, but it's better than nothing, which is what you have now. They are also going to broadcast some games on NBC on Saturdays, so program the TIVO.
Ok, not much else going on, so there's not much more to report. Within the first 10 days of the year, we've had 4 different people call off sick at work. Using 1/3 of your sick days in the first 1/36 of the year doesn't make for a good ratio for the rest of the year. I guess you have to hope for a healthy spring, summer, and fall.
I guess that's all for today, otherwise I'll start ranting about how half the season is over, we're at the bottom of the conference and it'll take more than a small miracle to get into the playoffs at all, let alone go deep.

I guess the coma got to me yesterday before I could post. Oh well, my resolution is just to post more often, not everyday. I still feel like crap, but at least I'm mobile crap now.
Hopefully this will pass soon. I'm getting behind in my other resolutions.
Not much else is going on. I sit and stare at the stack of Christmas gifts and boxes on the dining room table and realize that I need to get to the post office. Though they aren't high up on my good list at the moment. Two damn cents! It's time to start doing everything online and through email.

Again into the coma tonight. I slept on and off until about 3 this afternoon and it helped but I still feel like crap. The 4 points I was hoping the Pens would steal out from Atlanta didn't happen. That's going to make things much more difficult. Oh well, that's not something I can worry about tonight. Tonight is again for the coma. Say hello to Klaus.

Just a short post tonight as I slip slowly into the effects of the coma and listen to the Q talk to me.
Hopefully Gage will allow us to sleep. Due to my cold, I didn't end up following asleep until between 1:30 and 2:00 last night. At 2:20 I woke up, but I didn't know why I woke up at first. Then I heard the screaming. Gage was screaming his head off, inconsolable. He didn't go back to sleep until 3:15 and that was between Terri and I. So, for the rest of the night, I was either dealing with little hands and arms reaching out and latching on to make sure I was still there or little feet kicking me in the back. Restful, huh?
So due to the lack of sleep, my cold took over. My chest feels as though there's a steel band that someone tightens a notch everytime I take a breath. I'm coughing to the point where I think I pulled a muscle in my back and I've spent the better part of the evening trying to locate the off switch for my nose. (Graphic, huh?)
When I woke up this morning I swung my legs off the edge of the bed and stared at the phone on the dresser. I was so close to calling off, but when you only get 3 sick days a year, it's hard to justify burning one in the first week of the new year. So, I drag myself through the shower, pull on some clothes, and put it on autodrive to head to work. When I get to work, I pulled in behind one of the project managers. Out of her passenger side climbs the guy who is living with my project manager. Adding that factoid up quickly, I realize that my project manager called off sick today. So much for just burying my head at my desk and praying for 6 to arrive.
It took me 7 hours at work just to get a handle on things to the point where they were back to the same point they were when I left last night. I actually did manage to get a huge program squared away and received the final ok at 5:58. Talk about waiting til the last minute.
Then of course I had to come home and babysit since Terri was working til 10 this evening. And that trend continues all weekend. What fun. Here's hoping the coma fixes all.

If I keep on my current exercise pace for this little family wager, by October 1st I'll have walked over 500, ridden almost 1,000 miles and spent almost an entire day working on my abs. Not bad to calculate for just the first five days of the year. I'm going to guess I'm doing more than most, though.
One thing that may prove to be my undoing is not actually dieting. I don't believe in dieting. I'm going to eat what I want, when I want. It's hard enough to follow through on something like this without having to deal with hunger pains, guilt over some forbidden snack or actually reading those god-awful FDA labels and realizing everything is going to kill me anyway. There's a real simple equation for weight loss, one my metabolism, if placated with a little physical exercise, performs to perfection. If you burn more calories than you take in, you'll lose weight. It's like a miracle. It's so easy. I can't believe more people haven't caught on to it yet. That's why I put it on this blog, to keep it secret. It's fairly obvious that no one is reading or writing nowadays on their respective blogs, so this is a safe a place as any.
I'm kidding, I guess. It's been a long week. Cleaning, exercising, and working aren't a good mix the first week of a new year. I can see now why so many people loss the will power to continue the lofty resolutions that they set. Last year I was doing pretty well, but then suddenly at the end of January I lost my first of two grandmothers in 2005. That kind of kills will power you know.

I'm not sure how those of you who have a lot of days off around the holidays deal with the whole going back to work thing. I had a three day week last week and it's coming back to haunt me this week. I already feel like I've worked two weeks within this one. It also doesn't help that all of the stuff we sent out for review two weeks ago is now coming back all at once since all the clients are also back in their office.
We drove out to Dayton last Friday to see Terri's aunt and family and pick up some furniture that they were giving to us. We had a good time and Gage enjoyed playing with the 3 dogs that they have. They have 2 retired racing Greyhounds and one dog that's so full of energy you'd think he was on speed. On the way back to Pittsburgh, we stopped to get gas and I noticed a guy standing on the corner holding a going out of business sign for Media Play. So, I manage to talk Terri into stopping since I had missed out on an ECHL game and a half-price book store stop during the trip. We walked in the door and the place looked like a demilitarized zone. There were two cashiers and lines that stretched to the back of the store. It looked a little like the aftermath in a daycare after a group of two year olds hopped up on juice went through. After glancing around, I realized that the 40% off of regular price at Media Play almost brings it down to a price that I'd pay at Best Buy or Costco. So, I tried looking around for any exceptional deals and as I was browsing, I noticed several people carrying baskets that were overflowing with DVD's. They were picking up current titles as well as box sets, etc. I realized at that point that America no longer knew how to shop for a bargain. We're on such sensory overload from all the stores that carry everything to shopping on the internet to a distinct lack of time, they were just scooping up anything in sight. I did manage to find a small number of bargains, but nothing that I'd consider exceptional. I did manage to find this. I haven't watched it yet, but I'm sure that's it's writer/director is well trained. In fact, I'd stake my diploma on it.

What a lovely win in Montreal. Way to go Penguins. It's nice that they can hang on in the four point spread game. Montreal is (or now maybe was) sitting in the last playoff spot. So for us to garner two points while giving them none is perfect. With tonight's win, we've moved out of the basement and we're now 11 points out of the last playoff spot.
Here's hoping.
So far I've managed to exercise 2 out of the 3 days this month. That's a pretty good batting average for me. And I'm 3 for 3 on this whole blogging thing.
We went to a funeral this evening for the father of one of Terri's oldest friends. It was a lot of mixed feelings. He was a pretty bitter alcoholic for a good portion of his kids' lives. It was the first time that I've been to a funeral that was held directly after the evening viewing. It was also the first time that I've been to a military themed funeral that played a pre-recorded 21 gun salute over the speaker system. In the end, whatever the feelings were, no matter how well you knew the deceased, you can't help reflect on the finality. I watch a lot of M*A*S*H reruns in the evenings as I'm winding down to go to bed. (I'm actually watching one right now.) Loretta Swit played Margaret on the show and in one of the holiday episodes, she works with Alan Alda and Mike Farrell to keep a soldier alive til the day after Christmas to spare his family. When the soldier doesn't make it, Margaret remarks "It never ceases to amaze me, one minute you're here and the next you aren't. No fanfare, no warning." And there really isn't. The ice skating rink in Germany that collapsed killed lots of children that were skating with their families. Tons of broken homes. Watching Gage walk around, hearing him talk, seeing Terri and Gage sleeping in our bed for a nap, I can't imagine losing either one of them. It's not like I'm going to get a memo on the subject. My birth certificate doesn't have an expiration.
Ok enough with the morbid. After reading DEK's blog, I'm thinking that it's a damn shame John Rocker and Barry Bonds don't play football. Think about this all star team... Ray Lewis (hopefully I got his name right), Terrell Owens, Maurice Clarett, Bonds, Rocker. It'd be a PR spin nightmare. Of course, I'm open to suggestions for the rest of the team.

Wow, two days in a row. So, new year's resolutions. Nothing special about the day, in fact, the only reason they're called New Year's resolutions is because they start on New Year's day. In fact, I may start writing Arbor day resolutions. Maybe next year. This year, I've come up with a few old ones and a few new ones. In no particular order...
1. Drop 20% of my body weight
2. Double the number of novels read in 2005 from 15 to 30 (yes, I know it's sad that I only managed to clear 15 novels in the past year, that's why I'm trying to change it.)
3. Blog a lot more often with a lot more consistency
4. Begin writing for me
5. Visit family and friends
I'm sure I have more, but those are the main ones. So far, I've managed to get on track for the first three. Here's hoping I can keep it going.
I would talk hockey, but that's a dismal prospect at the moment. Although, the tickets that Tom bought us for Christmas proved to be an incredible game. We saw 4 of the 6 Penguin goals in our end and they were sweet. It's a shame that Thibault can't find a way to close out games. I think they really could have taken the Leafs tonight, though I'm happy with the point. Of course, they're still 12 points out of a playoff spot. I hope they can get half a good streak going through the rest of January. I don't want them to get too hot and cool off for the Olympics, but I would like them to keep winning the majority of the games and getting stronger as they go. They're going to need a phenomenal stretch run to make the playoffs. So much for not talking about hockey.

A month and a half. I'm sure if anyone was actually reading this, they'd think something was seriously wrong. Anyway, it's a new year. 2006. Nothing overly momentous about it I guess. Dick Clark finally showed some sign that's he's actually an aging human. I have a much greater respect for him after watching the program last night. To show vulnerability like that takes a great deal of courage in a town like Hollywood. To say nothing of the battle that's he's had over the past year. Learning how to walk, talk, and basically live again isn't easy for anyone.
Anyway, Terri's cousin is getting married in October. So, the family has decided to take their extremely competitive nature and put it to good use. They've decided to lose weight within a support group system. So, everyone weighed in today and in Tuesday's mail, there will be somewhere between 10 and 20 letters winging their way to the keeper's house. These envelopes will contain everyone's weight as of January 1st, 2006. On October 1st, 2006 everyone weighs in again and that number is subtracted from the original number to get the percentage of weight lost (or gained, I guess). Winner take all, $50 buy-in. I've got a short list of what I'm going to do with the money. I figure I can drop 20 percent without too much of a stretch in the span of time allotted.
I'm sure there will be more mentioned at another time, but that's a good overall start for today I guess.
Perhaps tomorrow I'll discuss the obligatory resolutions (one of which I'm in the process of keeping as I type this). I plan on posting a lot more often. So, more tomorrow, don't want to post everything tonight. Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving, wonderful Christmas, and Happy New Year.

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

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

bill

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

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

Contemplate this problem I must.

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