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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To whom it may concern:

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

Sincerely,

bill
devout husband, father, and hockey fan

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

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

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

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

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

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