I can't believe almost a month has passed since I last updated. And, since Susiezy has been bugging me about getting something up, I figured today was as good a day as any. I really hate this project. I hated it last year and I hate it again this year. The only good thing about the entire project is that I don't have to answer to anyone in my office, which means that I could technically blow off a whole day and no one would know. The downside is, there's so much damn work I don't get to slack at all.
Enough about work, work just depresses me and I also don't have any time to job hunt while I'm at work. Which also depresses me. Damn, the next thing you know I'll be on Wellbutrin or something. Actually, I'd probably have to go on Zoloft since that's a Pfizer product and I'd want to make sure that Alison, Matt, and Nathan were supported in my disease. I wonder if I could get workman's comp for a job that caused my depression which caused my inability to work at a job that caused my depression which caused my...well you understand.
Let's see what's happened since I last posted. I went down to the Nascar race in Bristol Tennessee with Mark, Robyn, Robyn's parents and her aunts and uncles. It's always a good time and I'm glad they usually end up with an extra ticket. It was hard being away from Gage for four days, but I managed. I also got to meet Ben Jones during the family festival on Thursday night. He was by far the most cordial and polite celebrity that I've ever met. The races themselves were good, although the new race for the chase or whatever the hell it's called seemed to tame the Bristol race. They ran over 200 laps of green flag racing. That's almost unheard of at Bristol. The night race at Bristol has been described as putting 43 cars into a blender and whoever can make it out wins the race. There were still lots of cars that were running and undented at the end of the race. And, I think it's because no one wanted to make a mistake that would cost them points in the chase thing. It was still a good race. Junior fans were ecstatic.
Labor day weekend was pretty tame. We headed down to my parent's house for a picnic on Sunday. Then on Monday I hung out with a band that doesn't like to wear pants. What did you think I meant? I mean, I had Gage with me since Terri was working. I got to catch up with Randy, Elizabeth and their daughter Katie who was born in December. And, Susiezy was the only other one that I knew there. I got to feed her addiction by giving her some catalog pages that related to a theme birthday party for Harry Potter.
I saw two commercials since I last posted that have really scared the hell out of me. The first was for these. A decent invention. You don't want soggy fries. The commercial utilized this band's music. More specifically, Cum On Feel The Noize. I haven't seen marketing that twisted in a while.
The second commercial was for this album. Now, I've seen this concept before so I wasn't totally shaken until they started to show some of the tracks. I think the two that almost made me fall off the couch were Bat Out of Hell and Livin' On A Prayer by Meat Loaf and Bon Jovi respectively. I don't really have a good punchline other than the fact they turned those songs into symphonic recordings.
Susiezy actually just sent me this link. Some of these actually scare me. I remember Chernobyl and the Challenger. Baby Jessica was huge news. When the required made for TV movies came out, TV Guide used two pages to show the diameter of the well. And, well, if it fit in TV Guide you know it was small. I think my favorite on the list is 34. Ivan Boesky has never sold stock. He and Milliken made for some interesting discussions in our civics class.
Oh well, that's enough for today. Hopefully I won't wait so long to update next time.

I was looking back over some of my more recent posts (although recent is a relative term given my lack of posting these days). One thing I've noticed is that I never really intended this to be a play by play rip-off for how my day (and by extension my family and friends days) goes. Somehow it ends up being mostly that and I apologize. My life is rarely interesting enough to sustain me, let alone the people that pop in here regularly. That being said, I'll attempt to have things other than what went on since I last posted.
I did take particular notice of the post I had a few Thursdays ago. I think I should clarify, it's not like I knew I was becoming a father and all of sudden I was reduced to weeping in a corner like a little girl without a pony. Don't get me wrong, I felt emotion before I found out I was going to be a father.
When I was 6 my parents took me to see this in the theater. During the scene where Superman renounces his powers to marry Lois, I started to cry. It's the first time I can remember crying for a reason outside of the kid's reasons (I'm hungry, I'm tired, you didn't buy me the toy I wanted, etc.). My mom thought it was cute and I just didn't quite understand the concept of movies not actually being reality. Hell, when I was 6 I still wanted to grow up to be Superman.
I've also cried on other occasions. When the Penguins won the Stanley Cup for the first time. When Badger Bob died. When Herb Brooks died. My wedding. The episode of M*A*S*H when Henry Blake dies. Miracle. But I usually had some sort of control. Until now.
We had our son dedicated in church on the 8th. It's not an occasion to cry and during the dedication, I didn't. However, my Grandmother (my mom's mom) was able to make it to the dedication in a wheelchair. Approximately 10 years ago she was given less than 2 years to live. She has a leaky heart valve that isn't able to be repaired and eventually will kill her. The entire family knows this and I think my mother and her brother are prepared for it, at least to the extent that they can be. I'm not. My Grandmother was the most independent person I knew. She lived alone (at least for most of my memory...my Grandfather and Uncle Frank died when I was 3). She carried coal in for her furnace every winter til I was a senior in high school and we basically strong armed her into getting a gas furnace. She walked the length of town every day going to the post office and grocery store to pick up anything she needed. The only thing she didn't do was drive. She wasn't able to make my wedding and I've always felt a piece of sadness in that happy memory. She was at my son's dedication and if I didn't believe in a God before, I did that day. With no advance planning or warning, two of her favorite hymns were part of the service. She was so happy and in turn we were all happy. Why am I bringing all this up, you ask? Actually you probably stopped reading several paragraphs ago, so I bring this up for me. On Friday, she slipped while she was walking and broke her ankle in two places. Now, she's become depressed. For someone that age, in her health, depression is a bad thing. So, on the way to drop off Dad's baby we stopped to see her. She's absolutely so happy to see Gage it breaks my heart to have to leave. I know that every day is another day closer to not having her, it's always been like that and the same could be said for anyone or anything, but after having known her for almost 30 (Yes 30 dammit) years, I can't imagine living without her.
Now that I've gotten that out of my system, not much else is going on. My uncles bought a house, so I helped them move in over the weekend and my cousin is looking at Carnegie Mellon as a prospective college, so I get to show off my campus in a personal tour.
On a completely different topic, I rarely take recommendations seriously anymore. Call it the whipped pup syndrome, I guess. I can't help but wipe out everything I've heard and judge for myself. In the category of books, I've had positive recommendations that I thought were horrible (Moby Dick), and negative recommendations that I thought were, on the whole, good (Crime and Punishment). Finally, Susiezy recommend Wuthering Heights. Actually, to be fair, she recommended that I stay the hell away from it. She was right. Hear that, you were right. I certainly don't say that often. And, to make matters even more interesting, I'm now doing something that I rarely, if ever, do with a book. I'm re-reading it. A few years ago, my brother gave me Black House for Christmas. Black House was written by Stephen King and Peter Straub and is the sequel to their first novel together, The Talisman. Now, I read the Talisman when it first came out back in '84 or '85. I wasn't more than 10 or 11. My memory is good, but not quite that good. So, I figured I would re-read what was a great novel the first time around in order to set myself up for what I hope is an equally enjoyable sequel. I'm going to have to do the same thing with the Dark Tower series. I haven't read the first one since the mid-80's as well and number 7 comes out sometime later this year, I believe. So, no it's not an obsession like other people I know. I certainly haven't re-read anything that I've read within the last five or six years. And, I haven't read the Harry Potter series so much that the cover is frayed and torn and the pages are almost worn smooth of all type. That is reserved for the truly addicted. Right, Suze?

I posted this last year in the wake of the tragedy and though I'm a day late this year, the sentiment is still the same.

"If there's any justice in the hereafter, Brooks is standing behind the bench of a hockey team in heaven today facing his old Wisconsin foe, Bob Johnson. The ice is wide and smooth and every player can skate like the wind and pass the puck perfectly from tape to tape, skating in seamless and ceaseless motion. There are no neutral-zone traps, no goonery. Just smart, swift playmaking and intelligent defense, the hallmarks of Herb Brooks hockey. Johnson, whose sunny nature shone in stark contrast to Brooks' serious reserve, saluted everyone he met by declaring, 'It's a great day for hockey!' August 11th, 2003 was not a great day for hockey."--Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times

It's been a pretty busy week. Tuesday, I spent all day preparing documents for an auditor who never showed up. Wednesday they had their annual Rah-Rah-We-All-Love-The-University-Meeting. At least they served lunch. On the bright side, we did get to leave a couple of hours early.
Thursday at work, I was trying to counsel someone on their Harry Potter obsession. I don't think I succeeded. I believe the last thing she said was, "I'm thinking about a tattoo of a lightning bolt in the middle of my forehead." Thankfully, I'm one of the most normal people in the world. I'm level, calm, and have no obsessive tendencies or qualities. It's this rock-steadyness that will enable me to help her through her problems.
Then, last night I thought I had stepped into some bizarro universe. I got home and Terri immediately handed me Gage and said that I should go get dinner and a movie while she mowed the lawn. I had to step outside to make sure the house number was correct. She had been participating in a public policy forum and had gotten a free rental card from Blockbuster, so I understood the movie part. Dinner and mowing the lawn kind of threw me. So, I put Gage in the car, headed down to the Blockbuster and began to marvel at the synergy and marketing strategy that was created. Near where I live there's a Pizza Hut and Blockbuster side by side. So, I went into the Pizza Hut, ordered dinner (the new twisted crust breadstick pizza-which got me wondering how in the hell they got away with creating that in the Atkins friendly low carb South Beach hell that the world is becoming lately), then strolled over to Blockbuster, looked over all the new releases, selected a movie, paid, and walked back over to Pizza Hut in time to grab my pizza, get in the car, and go home. That is enough to instill brand loyalty in me. It was quick, convenient, relatively inexpensive, the pizza was good, the movie was ok, and I'm hooked. I'm not hard to convert. I guess it comes from being normal and average.
I did have one problem with the movie. Since Terri was mowing the lawn, I didn't get the special edition of Die Hard like I would have normally. I decided to get something that she would like. So, Gage and I picked out this. I know, a chick flick without a doubt. However, in my defense, I get to stare at Jennifer Garner for an hour and a half. And, really, how bad could it be. So, we started watching the movie. I can believe that a 13 year old has enough expensive camera equipment to make most paparazzi shamed. I can buy into the fact that a 13 year old wants so desperately to fit in that she wishes she was 30. I can buy into the wish dust concept that makes it come true. I can buy into the fact that she doesn't remember anything from the past 17 years. I can buy into the fact that she ended up with everything she ever wanted, a cool life, working at her favorite magazine, and gorgeous as hell. I can also buy the fact that she's currently dating a New York Rangers hockey player. However, here's my problem. When the hockey player (a fictional player, not an actual NHL player) walks over and meets some of Jennifer Garner's high school friends, he attempts a few lame jokes and then apologizes saying, "I'm sorry, I get so giddy after we win." RIGHT THERE! NOPE! DON'T BUY IT! I mean, seriously, suspended disbelief can only carry you so far. Everyone knows the Rangers don't actually win. They wait around for the opposing team to screw up and lose.
Anyway, tonight is another work around the house/shopping night to get ready for Gage's Dedication on Sunday. That ought to be a pleasant event. It's the first dose of reality that Terri is leaving the Catholic faith and by the same token, Gage isn't being raised in the Catholic faith. Don't get me wrong, I'm going to end up taking all the blame and hatred from her family. As usual. That part doesn't worry me. I'm worried about later on when Gage begins to understand the difference. I'll never pressure him into one corner or another, but her family will. Hopefully, he'll recognize the game. Oh well, that's way into the future. For now, I just hope they keep the peace on Sunday. That is, if they actually condescend to show up.

Well, Friday we worked around the house trying to get all those little projects that build up taken care of. On Saturday I headed out to cut the grass only to be foiled again by the Pittsburgh weather.
Saturday night I headed down to Chiodo's bar. This bar has been operating in Pittsburgh since 1947. I'll contend (as will many others) that Chiodo's has the best beer selection in Pittsburgh. They also have really reasonable prices. Most import beers are $3.00. Anyway, Mark, Tom, Adam (Mark's brother), and I headed down to have a few drinks and hang out with Tony, who was guest bartending. The reason he was guest bartending is because it could be the demise of Chiodo's. Apparently Walgreen's Drugstore has put in a bid to buy and subsequently demolish the bar. It would be quite a shame, but it has to pass through all sorts of channels before it actually happens. We also met up with Diane and Ed at Chiodo's. So, it was a pretty good night.
Sunday, we headed to church and then back home so that I could make a cake for someone's 30th birthday. A nice tombstone cake with the inscription..."Here lies Tom's hair. After thirty years it left him bare."
So, we hung out with Tom and Tiff (a buggy driver from college) on Sunday night. Today, Terri and Gage came to visit me at my office and we went out to lunch. Everyone at the office loves Gage. They're impressed with the fact that he's so alert and mobile.
That's about all for today I guess.

I think fatherhood is turning me into a wuss. I used to be able to watch or listen to pretty much anything. And, no matter how sappy or how much it was supposed to tug at your heartstrings I was like a robot. According to the "Friends" assessment of Chandler, I was dead inside. Now, much like that episode ended up, I can't stop the waterworks. And it's for stupid stuff. I was listening to my Lonestar Greatest Hits CD (bought mainly for one song like so many of my other CDs). Most of the CD is fine, then I hit Track 11. A sappy typical country ballad called, "I'm Already There." It's about a father who calls home from the road to see how the family is. And, he ends up telling his children that in answer to their normal question (when are you coming home dad) in essence he's already there. His heart never leaves them. When this song first came out, it was ok. It bordered on a story song and was good enough to leave the radio tuned in when it was on. Today, however, I find myself getting misty for no damn good reason. So, I'm already a little ticked off for my lack of emotional control. Then I hit "My Front Porch Looking In." Another piece of schmaltz that before Terri's pregnancy was just ok. It had a nice hook and I would occasionally leave it tuned in because it has some neat imagery. Today, more potential tears. Then comes the Bonus Track on the CD (never mind that the song I bought it for...their remake of "Walking in Memphis" didn't even faze me.) The bonus track is "I'm Already There", but with a twist. They have intersperced real families with messages for their spouses, parents, siblings, etc. over in Iraq and other deployment areas. The little kids saying, "Daddy please come home soon." is usually cause for a little sarcastic mockery. Not today, no. I had to take my glasses off to wipe away the moisture. Then of course, the next CD is Martina McBride's new one. "In My Daughter's Eyes," a non-release called "God's Will," and a live version of "Over the Rainbow." Over the freakin' rainbow!!!! I've heard that song yearly since I was a kid. I now, in turn, sing it to my son as one of the many songs I use when I'm calming him. I don't know what to make of it.
I am, however, happy to segue into the fact that well written/sung/acted/etc. things have so much ability to convey emotion. I don't know if there's a prouder moment in a writer's life when the audience laughs in the right place, cries when they are supposed to, and feel themselves working into a frenzy to make sure the protagonist is going to have everything turn out ok. Writer's strive for it constantly in certain movies. (Um, You had me at Hello?) Anyway, that's the job of any piece of media. Whether it's a book, tv show, movie, song, scribble on a napkin, whatever...it's supposed to evoke emotion. Even a work of non-fiction will strive to make you believe what it's telling you. To me, the worst fate that can befall a piece of media is being unemotional and bland. Take this for example. A lot of people I know raved about this movie. Halle deserved the oscar, she acted her ass off, blah, blah, blah. This movie was more boring than watching paint dry on my growing grass. This movie elicited no emotion out of me. None, zero, zilch. I didn't feel any sympathy for anyone and could care less if they made it through the movie or not. I know that Heath Ledger just randomly commiting suicide is supposed to be shocking and Halle's nude scenes erotic, but both were so boring they could be packaged for sleep aids. Considering I'm a big fan of Peter Boyle, and enjoy Billy Bob and Halle I don't know where it all went wrong. And, just to see if it was something extraneous, I watched the movie, listened to the director's commentary, AND the actor's commentary. None of it helped. The movie was crap. Beyond crap. I would say that it surpasses that clooney remake crap, but I didn't actually see it so it wouldn't be a fair judge.
Okay, I've rambled enough for today. But seriously, shouldn't it at least provoke anger at having wasted my time? Nothing. Maybe I'll talk more about the things that I have liked tomorrow. I have read some pretty good books recently so it's not all bad.

Ok, where did I leave off.  Quite a while ago.  We headed up to the family reunion Friday afternoon.  Everyone loved the little boy.  He was pretty well behaved all weekend.  We headed up to Olean to get Trista (my sister-in-law) out of the house and to pick up a few things for the reunion the next day.  We left Gage with my mom and just a small bottle of milk.  As we were leaving Olean I had to call and see if Ken had won.  I could hear Gage in the background so we knew we had better head back quick.  Other than that he seemed to like the trip.  Saturday morning we went to the Zippo Swap Meet and Gage got to see the Zippo Visitor's Center and Museum for the first time.  We couldn't really find a lighter that Terri and I agreed upon so Gage didn't get a memento, just a picture in front of the American Flag made out of Zippo lighters.  Then Saturday afternoon was the reunion and he got to meet lots of new relatives.  One question that we haven't quite figured out yet (and if anyone knows for sure let me know, I've just been too lazy to look it up) is the relationship between everyone.  My first cousin Jeff and his wife Amy have a daughter named Sydney.  I thought that Sydney and I were second cousins.  But what does that make my son Gage and Sydney (who is damn cute by the way)? 
Then I got into a discussion about being removed.  Maybe I've been mislead in thinking that Sydney and I are second cousins.  Maybe she and I are first cousins once removed and she and Gage are second cousins.  Who knows?  That's why I'm asking.
Saturday night we headed into Bradford and saw Spider-Man 2.  It wasn't bad.  I've always liked the inner struggle that Peter had dealing with being the cause of his Uncle's death.  This movie had just one drawback for me.  Is there anyone left in New York who doesn't know his identity?  That being said, I liked the set-up for the next movie.  (Don't kid yourself, they'll ride this one into the ground as well.)  Michael Chabon did a pretty decent job with his part of the movie as a writer.  You can touch on his influences now and then. 
Sunday we headed back home and I ended up finding another version of Trivial Pursuit to fuel the fire.  The Book-Lover's Edition.  That ought to be fun to play.  Now, if I could just get someone that might be a challenge.
Last week itself was pretty uneventful.  I finished up both my classes for the summer.  Friday night we had dinner with Tom and then watched a DVD of Ron White.  Ron's humor falls right in line with mine most of the time.  He's very sarcastic and biting.  Most people will know him best from the Blue Collar Comedy Tour with Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, and Jeff Foxworthy. 
On Saturday I headed down to my parent's house.  My brother, father and I spent about 12 hours building a deck.  It was hot.  I am now, by actual definition, a redneck.  I also got the scare of my life when I realized that I was beginning to inherit my father's mannerisms.  People have told me on the phone that they can't tell any of us apart, which is true.  We all have the same phone voice most of the time.  But, for me to realize this, it had to be pretty blatant.  And that's frightening. 
Sunday we went to church and then did some stuff around the house til the evening.  Then we headed out with my brother and sister-in-law to Station Square.  We met my uncles at the Hard Rock for dinner and then rode the incline up Mt. Washington to look out over the city.  We got some cool photos and Gage loved looking at all the new stuff.  By the time we got back to the house Sunday it was late and time to get the little one and ourselves to bed. 
Yesterday was a fairly boring day at work, but we headed back to my parent's house to say goodbye to my brother.  They left this morning to travel back to the wonderful metropolis of Minot, ND.  Hopefully, we'll get some time to make it out there after the baby is born.  It will be interesting to be an actual Uncle. 
And today is also ranking on the boring side.  Although I did have some really cool pics of some old buggies sent my way.  Thanks, Diane.  That's about it for now I guess.  We're still trying to iron out stuff for Gage's dedication and someone I know will be 30 very soon. And he has the male pattern baldness to prove it. I wonder what's worse, going bald prematurely, or going grey early?

Well, Wed I had the little boy all to myself for the majority of the day. We went out and ran a ton of errands and he was very good. Friday (which I guess it is now) we're headed up to my family reunion. Gage will meet a ton of actual aunts, uncles, cousins, and Great-Grandma. He's the 10th Great Grandchild on my Dad's side of the family. My brother's child will be number 11 when it gets here in October.
I'm also sure that there were other things that I needed to blog about, but as it's late and we need to be on the road early tomorrow, I'll just say goodnight.

Alright, I guess I better get the truth up before either Tom or Susiezy decide to try cloud the facts with their tainted versions of what actually transpired.
First, Friday night went pretty well. Dinner was so-so, but that's the restaurant's fault, not the company. The Band was great and Lindsy was exceptional as usual. If you look at the pictures on the band's website, you'll notice that the guitarist is a big big man. I love when the band sings Sharp Dressed Man by ZZ Top. Babe likes to wear comfortable clothing and would never be confused for a sharply dressed man. Though I would like to see him in a nicely tailored suit. I think it would look something like Michael's portrayal of Wilson Fisk aka The Kingpin in the movie Daredevil.
Anyway, it's enough to say that the band was good and Lindsy's version of Redneck Woman was equally good. Frank and Trista (my sister-in-law) seemed to enjoy themselves. The real test will be this coming weekend when she has to meet all of the extended family at the reunion.
Saturday morning/afternoon was spent in front of the computer working on an internet course that I've been putting off since Gage was born. We headed out quickly at the beginning of the evening for some snacks and food and then I found it. Another version of Trivial Pursuit. Of course I bought it. You don't even have to ask that question. I'm up in the 20's range now for number of different versions that I own. So, I prepared myself for the evening's activities...a trivia match between Tom, Susiezy, and myself. This all came about due to the claim on Susiezy's blog about being phenomenal at Trivial Pursuit. Well, I couldn't let that stand.
So it began. We started off with the 20th Anniversary edition. Terri, Susiezy, Tom and I were seated around the dining room table with Gage watching comfortably from his seat. And then, about a half-hour into the game we did something that we've never done before. We actually stopped a game and switched to another edition. We switched to Genus 6 and began again. Now, here's where you'll need to stick to the facts not any of the other versions that you may or may not hear. Standard rules of play at the end of the game do not apply in a grudge match game. Everyone knows the rules offer up this pansy-ass ending of rolling on an exact role to get into the hub where the other players pick a category without looking at the card, and then proceed to ask one question. ONE question. For years, we've found it highly unfair that the end comes down to a luck of the draw. Sure, there have been arguments that the whole game comes down to luck and every once in a while it actually does come down to luck. However with 6 scoring pieces to capture, you have to be damn lucky to have it happen 7 straight times. So, for the longest time we decided that in Trivial Pursuit as in everything else, majority rules. There are 6 questions on each card so the majority would be 4. We used to roll with an exact role into the hub and then you have to answer 4 out of the 6 questions on one card. Then somewhere in the midst of that, Matt introduced us to a different style of ending the game. Once you garnered your last pie piece, you stop rolling the dice. You simply answer up the spoke. There will be 5 questions, each in a different category going to the center. You could conceivably do it in one turn, but most people usually stumble once or twice. Then once you've reached the center, it was 4 out of 6. This felt like a win. So we kept it, and it's been that way ever since. Even in multi-board games.
Anyway, why bring all that history up? Because Susiezy's pheom skills have apparently only been tested on the luck of the draw win. And, for some reason she didn't like the way we ended the game. Tom managed to win the actual game, but if you listen to Susiezy, she'll tell you that she should have actually won the game since she was in the middle longer and got 3 out of 6 several times. She'll also try to convince you that since I hadn't made the center hub yet that I lost the game. However, since we didn't play for second (Terri had long since taken the baby and gone to bed), everyone that didn't win...ended on equal footing.
I'm sure there will be another game in the future. Perhaps Matt might even get involved next time.
Then Sunday it was back in front of a computer after church. I spent approx. 20 hours out of a 48 hour weekend in front of my damn computer and it wasn't even enjoyable. There was no games, no blogging, just that damn course. I finished all the course work. I just need to mail in the disk and take the final exam.
Monday was a normally crappy day at work. After work we headed out to pick up our new glasses and had a nice dinner out with the baby sleeping peacefully. He's a really good kid and highly transportable (as long as I like where we're going, then he becomes a nice reason not go...hehehe).
That's enough for now. Happy Birthday to Jacob M. who is now one year old. Man, time flies.

Well, tonight we're taking my brother and sister-in-law to see Unbridled. I think they'll like it. Hell, after being stuck in the frozen tundra of North Dakota anything will seem interesting, right? Ok, it's probably not that bad there, but during the course of conversation they said that last winter got down around 75 BELOW 0. That's -75 degrees. Minus. As in less than 0. As in not a positive number. That's not a good thing. It's not even a, "wow dude that's cold" thing. That's insane. Positively insane. There are things you can do when it's cold. You can MOVE to a more suitable climate. Maybe if I was a polar bear or a chunk of ice 75 below wouldn't be bad. I might even like it.
Enough about that. Work is driving me insane. In addition to the fact that the project is already a complete and utter nightmare, now there are 85 different levels of access that I have to go through. I need to push this thing right into the middle and get the hell out dumping it in someone else's lap. I'm also beginning to suspect that maybe in light of everything that's happened, they are actually hoping that I will leave on my own. That could just be my paranoia talking.
Anyway, enough about work. Why have something I can't stand encroach upon my little creative endeavors? This weekend is going to be fairly packed with stuff that I need to get done. In addition to dinner tonight, tomorrow I have to sit in front of a computer all day and finish my internet course. It has to be done. I have no other choice. Thankfully there's a television in the library with the computer, but even so, it's going to be a long tedious day.
Even if I manage to finish before the day is out, there's still more yard work and house work that will need to be finished. So, it's a never ending cycle. And, I could always job hunt.
Oh well, all that aside so that I can enjoy tonight. It's been almost two months since I've seen Lindsy and the band play so it will be a fun night out. And, the little one gets to spend some quality time with the grandparents.
Oh, and did I mention that Duran Duran's album Decade is a pretty good album to work to?

Alright, I finished Craig's incredibly hard sports questions quiz. Took me most of the afternoon and I had to call in a lot of help considering I don't follow most major sports.
Now, I just have to get my nominations in for the second round of Rick's movie contest, and the first round of Craig's song contest and I'll be all set web wise. If only the rest of my life were that easy.
Not too much going on today. Like I said I blew off most of the afternoon for the sports thing and just general personal stuff that I wanted to finish up. We're almost locked in on a daycare that I can't possibly afford. Talk about motivation to get the hell out of here.
Anyway, here's something that I ran across today that scared the hell out of me. Everyone has heard about Jolt Cola. Today I found Jolt Caffeine Energy Gum. In two flavors, no less. Makes me wonder how I didn't end up in marketing.
Nothing else out of the ordinary. I have a picture of Gage in his bouncy seat that cracks me up everytime I see it. It's not posed or staged. Terri was just trying to get a nice picture of him in Aunt Niki and Uncle Tony's bouncy seat. So, that is keeping me cheerful at work nowadays since little else will. My to-do list at home, at work, and wherever else I may be grows momentous. I now feel as though I've lapped myself on the crazy trail, which is a whole other topic completely. And, one that I will blog about at a later date when I've gotten some distance and perspective on the situation.
I think that's about all for today. Besides, I've got a million other things to take care of that don't involve typing, a monitor, or a blog. And, people keep telling me that I should be doing some of those things too.

Ok, I'm having some trouble viewing other pages, but I'm not going to let that stop me. Everyone has been updating but me it seems. Anyway, let's see what's happened since I last found the time to blog. In my last post I said I had several things to blog about, but with my failing memory...they're gone. They obviously weren't all that important. But, what in my life is nowadays?
Anyway, I did inherit the nightmare project that kept me away from my blog so much last summer/fall. However, that won't happen this year. Mostly because I'm going to try and get the hell out of here before the project gets into the nightmare stage. Although, the people here at work have already managed to screw it up and I'm working with less than 30 documents at the moment. Last year it grew to over 4,000 I think. So, there are plenty of mistakes left to be made.
On Wednesday the 30th, we had our last day of the fiscal year. I'm not sure why, (though the new manager will certainly take the credit for it), but this year's close went smoother than the last two I've been a part of. I think it has to do with the fact that we have almost as many temps as we have regular employees. However, I didn't have to work monster overtime to save their collective asses. Not that I would have done it this year, with a new baby and all, but thankfully the situation didn't arise.
We met with the preacher at the church we've been going to about getting Gage dedicated (the Baptist's version of christening/baptism/etc.) We're also in talks about becoming members ourselves. So, that's another life struggle that we'll be tackling since once the Catholics have their hooks in you, they don't like to let go very easily.
Friday night we had dinner at Niki and Tony's house. We got to see James' nursery and Gage got to try out some of his stuff. The mural that Tony and his brother painted on the wall behind the crib is really cool looking. Glen, Amy, and Cole were also there for dinner and we watched Ken win yet again on Jeopardy. I'm really interested to see who or what actually stops this man's streak.
On Saturday I spent about 8 hours working out in the yard. I got the yard mowed and the hillside weed whacked and raked. Boy did I ache Saturday night. Tom was back for the holiday weekend and headed over Saturday night to hang out. Terri and the baby still both have colds so they weren't feeling up to going out. So, we all just sat around and talked.
Sunday morning, Terri, Gage, and I went to church. Gage sleeps pretty much through the entire service. They announced that 20,000 troops would be coming home from Iraq. One of the women in the congregation is hoping that her son is among them. Then, the preacher announced that he was saddened over the fact that the slots bill passed in Pennsylvania. I know that gambling goes against the church and the like, but I was definitely in favor of the slots bill since revenue from that is supposed to help the Penguins with a new arena. So, I just kept that little bit to myself.
After church we headed down to Terri's parents house for lunch/dinner. Her Uncle Charlie and Uncle Regis were there to meet Gage for the first time. Everyone seemed to enjoy him. And, other than one of the cousins I can't stand showing up, all went ok.
Monday we headed down to my parent's house for a cookout. We also got to see my brother, whom I haven't seen for about two years since he joined the air force. We also got to meet his wife, my sister-in-law for the first time. She seems like a nice person. They are expecting in October so if they ever move back to the area Gage will have a cousin very close in age to play with. They aren't sure if it's going to be a boy or a girl yet. There's a chance that they won't be able to find out until the birth. So, I don't know if I'm going to be an aunt or an uncle.
And, now it's today. John Kerry screwed up my normal commute by closing down several city blocks (not a good way to earn my potential vote). So, Terri had to drag Gage and herself out of bed early this morning and drive me into work so I could be at a job I can't stand on time. Oh, and the woman who managed to end up with my promotion started today. Woo-Hoo!!!!
One last set of strange things I've seen and heard over the past week or so.

An SUV driving around a speed bump in a parking lot. An SUV! No wonder I can't stand most of the idiots that end up buying those things.

At random time on B-94 (which used to be a vast wasteland of Britney, Beyonce, N-suck, and the Backstreet Boys) Under the Bridge and Give it Away by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen Just So Very Wrong.

And this of course. Courtesy of Dwight's trip to visit Joe and see other sites of California.

I think that's all for now.

I have several issues to blog about, but not a whole lot of time to squeeze it all in. So, I'll have a monster post later on I guess. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to cram in a semester's worth of an internet course into the 10 or 15 minutes I have a night to myself. I know, I know. Why are you wasting time on your blog when you have this work to do. Well, this is more fun of course.
I found out last night my eyesight got worse. Wonderful. Just what I need at this point. I think I'll start carrying a bag to pick up the pieces as they fall off of me.

This past weekend was a blur of activity. Amy's mother was moving from Pittsburgh to Maryland and Glen asked me to give him a hand. Since his part was out of obligation, I told him that I'd help. So, Friday night after work I headed downtown to meet Tony. His very pregnant wife Niki picked us up and we all headed to Monroeville. Glen, Tony, and I then proceeded to spend the next 6 hours unloading the apartment into a U-haul and trailer. We managed to get almost everything. Amy visits her mom frequently so she's going to haul out the last little bit of stuff.
Saturday morning I was up at 5:30 and I loaded our car full of stuff and Terri, Gage, and I set off for Glen and Amy's. I then unloaded the stuff from the car into the van and off we went. We got to Maryland and unloaded the entire U-haul and trailer and helped move some of the bigger furniture into the rooms they belonged in. Then, in lieu of relaxing, Gage was being cranky on his first trip out of state. So, I bundled him up in the snugli and off we went. All told I think I walked him about two miles. And this is after loading and unloading furniture for two days. My knees were ready to fall off my legs. So, then we headed out to dinner and got a little sleep.
We were back up at 6:00 am for the drive back to Pittsburgh. We were supposed to meet another Amy (this one from Terri's office) at 12:30 and didn't want to cancel on her. So, we made it back to Glen and Amy's house and I unloaded everything from the van back into the car. Then once we got home, from the car into the house. After seeing Amy, we headed to Eli's 3rd birthday party. Eli is Tom's nephew. It was the best birthday ever. There was not one present that needed assembly. (That's my job at parties.) Looking around at their house, I had put together two tricycles, a picnic table, a wagon, and a bouncy thing on wheels. The kid is only 3! And, of course, everyone ooohed and ahhhed over Gage. Especially Tom's parents. I've known them so long they're practically family. So, of course they think of Gage as their grandson.
Tom's sister-in-law is pregnant again and due at the end of August. When Eli was born, it was a scheduled C-section and we knew what time it would be. Because of the time of day, Terri and I actually got to meet and hold Eli before Tom did. Now, with him living across the state, there's a pretty good shot the same thing will happen with his (might-be-but-aren't-sure-yet) niece.
After Eli's party we headed to my parent's house to pick up Terri's car and then finally headed back home. So, the weekend was a tad busy. Gage seemed to enjoy everything though.
Today I found out there's a pretty good chance I'm going to re-inherit the nightmare project that I had last year from July to October. Now, I'm certainly finding a way out of here and fast!

The system we use at work decided to crash today in the middle of the most hectic month of the year. Needless to say things are a little touchy around the office. No one is getting anything done, but it's ticking off the manager and the supervisor. They want stuff to be getting done around the office, but there's nothing left to do that doesn't require the computer system. Wheeeee, what a predicament.
Anyway, all turned out well with the babysitting. I didn't realize that Terri was going to be on a conference call from the house, and Gage would never be totally alone with her. So, that made it a little better, not much, but a little.
Of course, the day I don't have a ton of extra non-work things to take care of is the day the system crashes. Such is the content of my life. Next week, once the hurried pace of June dies down in the office, the job hunting starts again in full swing. I want to be out of here by the end of summer. To that end, if anyone hears of anything, let me know.
Gage and I walked around the mall yesterday while Terri was in with her clients. We found out that when you're pregnant, everyone wants to make clothes for you. When you're nursing, look out. So far, we've only found one store that has nursing shirts and pajamas, etc. Makes it very difficult to build a wardrobe, or buy presents.
I've also been scouting different locations for printing pictures from digital media. So far the standard price seems to be about .29 cents per picture. Although I've found some coupons for 20 free pictures and some for .15 cents per picture. So, I'm going to spend some time, figuring out what pictures I want printed and how many I'll need. Then it's off to the different CVS, Rite-Aid and Eckerd's. Ah, I love beating the system. Will I actually save money? Who knows. However, I'll feel like I'm saving money. And, since it isn't a great trek to any of these stores, it's not like I'm driving 90 miles out of the way. We have an Eckerd one block before the house and a Rite-Aid one block after the house. I could actually walk to both. Oh well, I guess I've wasted enough free time today. I've got one or two minor administrative tasks and then it's out of here for the day.

Woo-hoo!
Susiezy has decided to join the wonderful world of blogging. You can see her link to the right.
That link has replaced Diane and Ed since they seem to have fallen off the internet.
Anyway, not much in the way of earth shattering news here today. Terri informed me that she asked my mother-in-law to babysit tomorrow. Not a good day so far. For those of you that don't know me personally, take the normal animosity for that particular relationship and multiply it by infinity squared and you might come close to scratching the surface of the past history. So, I don't have any recent updates about the little one. I've been a little too peeved to call home to check on him.
Yesterday, Terri claims he rolled over onto his stomach. I think it was because he was on the bed and just rolled towards her, but you never know.
Anyway, I'll be venturing out to the mall with Gage again tonight while Terri is in with her clients. I'm hoping to finish up the errands that I've been trying to run since last week.
My dish was hooked up yesterday and I didn't get a lot of time to play around with the features and functions due to class yesterday, but hopefully I'll get to experiment a little tonight.
Anyway, again the main purpose of this post is to welcome Susiezy to the blogging world. I'm sure you'll find her as entertaining on the web as she is in person, unless you don't know her in person and then she'll just be a web page, which may cause some dismay since you can't talk to a web page. Well you can, but people look at you funny. Kind of like the people were looking at the woman I saw in Wendy's today. She had to be at least 80. She was wearing a black leather beret, a red sweater, and gold lame pants. She also had on what appeared to be slippers, but I couldn't tell for sure. But I digress and say again, welcome Susiezy!

Terri called me at work to tell me that the dish is all hooked up. Of course she was watching TLC. That stupid channel reminds me of Oprah. They both give normally good people bad ideas.
The talk around the office today has been Bill Clinton and his book which is released today I believe. I don't have anything against Clinton per se. I mean, I did vote for the man twice. However, I don't see the reason to hype this book. It's about 1,000 pages long and I'm guessing only about 10 pages of that will be actual fact filled information that a reader might find interesting. I was in college when the whole Monica Lewinsky thing broke. Her brother, Mike, attended the same school. We got to experience first hand what a media circus it was. Radio stations called the campus constantly trying to track him down. The news crews came from far and wide and camped out. Mike was in a frat then and normally I'm not a big fan of fraternities and sororities. However, I was very impressed with their conduct. He stayed in the house and his brothers got him everything. They took notes in class for him, turned in his homework, explained to his professors why he couldn't be there personally, and most importantly, fended off the media with a chorus of, "No Comment." everytime one of them went outside. After a while the camera crews realized they couldn't stake him out forever and left. I chalk it up to a small victory for organized friendship. Where was I going with all of this? The sex in the book is what will generate the frenzy. Then when people realize that there's no content they'll back off quickly. At least that's my hope. Who knows? Maybe I'm just bitter because no one is handing me a ten million dollar advance for my words. In any case, I'll wait for it to hit the dollar bin at Barnes and Noble before I pick it up.
After the marathon post to catch you all up to speed, there's not a whole lot left to report. I have class tonight so it'll be a while before I get to see the little one. Last night I ended up putting him in the Snugli and walking him on the treadmill. It worked like a charm. He slept the entire time I was walking. The only drawback was the fact that I can't walk forever like some one man version of "The Long Walk"
I also didn't realize what a popular place the zoo was to hang out. Mark, Robyn, and Jacob go all the time and for father's day Glen, Amy, and Cole went. I guess this means that we'll be taking Gage sometime in the not too distant future.

Well, it's been quite a while since I've posted. So much for getting back to regular posting.
Well, that Monday Tampa Bay won the Stanley Cup. Although I don't think their coach deserved the coach of the year award. Let's see, what else happened recently. I finally came to a head with the morons at Comcast and dumped their ass. The people for the dish are installing it tomorrow. I can get every channel the Dish offers on every TV in my house for 6 dollars less per month than cable. Funny how Comcast just blows. I'd tell you the whole story, but I don't have the three hours to type it out and you don't want to listen to that rant.
That same day my parents came up and I drove Terri to see her clients for the first time since giving birth. So, for just over 2 hours the little one was all by himself with Grandma and Grandpa. He apparently did really well. He had his two week checkup and everything was A-OK. So, again we haven't managed to screw anything up too badly.
A couple Saturdays ago we had a bunch of people out at the house to help with me some long overdue yard work. We worked for about 8 hours, had a picnic type lunch and got a lot accomplished. I could actually see that I had a yard which was an improvement over what it had been.
That same weekend we also went to a graduation party for Jaime. Jaime is the younger Jacob's mom. So, as usual, those functions are always lots of fun. The little one didn't take too well to the heat, but other than that he seemed to enjoy himself. He was in the Snugli (a gift from Uncle Matt and Aunt Alison) for the first time. He has really grown to like being walked around in it.
Then on Monday we had dinner brought to us by Randy, Elizabeth, Katie, and Suzy. It was delicious Chicken Pie and Brownie Sundaes for dessert. We were all talking about the plethora of children. Katie was born in December, Gage in May, and as you'll find out in another paragraph or two, another one followed in June.
So on Tuesday I was off work and hung out with Terri and Gage all day. Alison was scheduled to be induced early that morning, so we waited by the phone just in case. Turns out their son (yes a little boy) decided to be just as stubborn as Gage was. In any case, at 7:03 AM on Wednesday the 16th Nathan Thomas joined dad Matt and mom Alison. I've seen pictures and he's adorable. I'd point you to the site, but I should get Mom and Dad's permission first. Hockey practice will be starting soon for all the boys. Also, before taking off for the sunny world of California and visiting Joe Dwight dropped by with a quilt and bear that his mom had made for Gage. I was blown away by the amount of work that went into it. And, the bear was charged with watching over Gage and making sure that he slept well at all times. We've got some cool pictures of everything, but I have to download them and make them a more manageable file size before I can link anything.
On Friday night we took Gage to see his first movie, "Harry Potter 3 and the Prisoner of Azkaban." We went to see how he'd take to the noise and atmosphere and because the tickets were courtesy of Matt and Alison. He slept through the majority of the film and in retrospect he had the right idea. Suzy told me to take some sort of Xanax or Prozac or something before seeing it. I doubt it would have helped. Those of you that know me know that I like things to stick to their original incarnations for the most part. I rarely like remakes and especially in a popular series like this, I think there's an obligation to get it right. Now, Chris Columbus built a pretty decent world from the books. My biggest gripes with his two films were the main parts of plot and characterization that they left out or conveniently forgot about. Cuaron decided to throw the book away entirely. This movie had about as much in common with the book as this had in common with the Frank and Jesse James story. Anyway, in addition to the fact that he moved major events around within the story, there were missing gaps so big you could fit the Empire State Building through it. I'd go into a ton of detail, but what's the point. Everyone would just disagree with me and then I'd get even more pissed about it. I will say that throughout the books and the first two films my impression of Hogwarts has been akin to a prep school for the witches and wizards. Rowling is very detailed about the robes and the look of Hogwarts to reinforce that belief. Columbus also made it seem very clean and prep like. The attitude of some of the characters, Malfoy for instance, also plays into an elitist type culture. Cuaron took a very dark book and made it...dirty. Everything and everyone in this film seemed grungy. The robes and uniforms were barely present and when they were they were disheveled. The kids were unkempt and the new look of Hogwarts took on that of a barrio or a ghetto. I half expected to see John Cleese swooping by with a boom box on his shoulder listening to 50 Cent with a '76ers uniform on and the shorts pulled down to his knees.
Anyway, Gage was good throughout the movie. Saturday we headed down to my parent's house for an early Father's day. Then we all headed up to an old family friend's house and had a wonderful chicken roast. If you are unsure of what that might be, picture a 12 foot stick with 25 chickens turning slowly over an open flame while being brushed with spices and marinade. Excellent. And everyone, of course, oohed and aahed over Gage. After the roast, we met up with Tom and had a sort of farewell dinner. I still can't believe he's actually moving. Although today was actually his first day of work out there so we'll see how it went. I expect he'll be updating his blog a little more frequently now that he'll have some steady computer access.
Sunday we went to church where Gage receieved another handmade quilt. Then we headed to her parent's house for a second Father's day. Turns out Gage let me pick out a 1/2 inch drill to run my hole saw. Not bad for my first Father's day. And, I'll wish a belated Happy Father's Day to all the first time dads. Rusty, Glen, Randy, Matt, John, Rob, Erik, and me. I don't think I've forgotten anyone, but with all these kids you never know. So, if I did forget someone, my apologies. Also, Happy Birthday to Matt. He's one year closer to catching up with his hair loss.
Tonight I was supposed to go see the Vandermark Five with Mitch, but I'm not sure either of us is going to be able to make it. That's a shame, I would have loved to have met Ken and had him sign my disc. And, tomorrow I get my Dish so all is well at the moment. In case you hadn't gleaned from above, Gage and Mom are doing fine and we'll be sending out hospital pics real soon to those who haven't gotten them hand delivered. And, that's about enough for today.

Well, today was the first day back at work. As expected it sucked. I wonder, as I usually do at work, was I more upset being away from my son or just being at work? I realized today more than ever, I need a new job. I have never had a job in my professional career that even began to challenge my abilities. I have skated through every job I've ever had earning a slacker reputation because I could do the work necessary to the job in less time than most of my co-workers. And believe me, I'm in no way demeaning the people that I've worked with. They are some of the best friends I've made in my life and without them, I would certainly have a big gaping hole to try and fill. They are also some of Pittsburgh's best and brightest workers in their respective fields. I was just never able to lock on to the type of position that would suit me. I used to intentionally let things go at the smaller internet firm I worked at and then see how quickly I could accomplish an entire day's work. My record was just under an hour. About 56 minutes to accomplish about 8 hours worth of work. No wonder my freecell abilities shot up. So now, in addition to just looking for a new job...I'm looking for job fufillment. I can't just skate through another dead end job. I had a company that I was looking at, but being a smaller firm, they've been pretty hard to crack into. I've been slowly expanding my search, but so far nothing.
What does all that mean...not a damn thing to you, o readers of mine. Just me whining about my so called lot in life I guess.
Gage is doing well on his 11th day of life. There are lots of annoying new parent things I could say about him, but I don't want this blog to turn into...My son smiled for the first time today. He did it faster than any other kid I've ever seen. He's a freakin' genius...That annoys me and I won't bother anyone else with it. (Although he actually began smiling about 5 days ago and I think that is borderline genius)
The Calder Cup certainly didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. However, the Baby Pens put forth one hell of an effort and played in more post-season games than they ever had before. The Stanley Cup is going my way at the moment. Tampa Bay scored in the second overtime to force a game seven which stands at 1-0 Tampa Bay with about 7 minutes to go in the second period.
Now that I'm back to work I'm hoping to post on a more regular basis. However, life sometimes gets in the way so I won't promise. I'm also slowly beginning to work on a project with a friend from CMU that started with a great head of steam, but life like I said sometimes gets in the way. She will also yell at me for my use of the ... to space things out. She can't stand that and honestly I can't either, but looking over the posts, you'd never know it.
SCORE!!!!! 2-0 Tampa with 4 mintues to go. And I think it's time for me to go tonight. Although I will say that there are two reasons in my life to be sad at the moment. Ronald Reagan is indeed dead at 93 and less important on a grand scale of things, but very important to me, tonight is the absolute last hockey game of the season. No more hockey until August when the World Cup starts and who knows about next season.

Well, he's one week old. He's still alive and functioning so I couldn't be a total failure, right? And, we're still alive and functioning. So all is going well I guess. Sorry I haven't been more wordy recently. This whole raising a kid thing takes it out of you. My yard looks like the south 40 of a hay farm. I need to get out and take care of that and start on the inside. I thought I would have lots of time this week, but Gage has decided that he's going against all the newborn info. He spends a lot of his time looking at the world around him. We've read through all of the books that Aunt Susie gave him and most of the big book of Curious George that Terri and I bought for him. He seems to like them all. We went for a little outing today to see how he'd do. He was fine in the car seat and the stroller so we don't forsee too many problems taking him out and about. Niki's baby shower is on Saturday as well as Jacob's 4th birthday party.

So far so good, I guess. I realized that in preparation to go anywhere now, I feel like I'm managing my own equipment store. You have to have this bag and that bag, extra clothes, warm clothes, cold clothes, food, diapers, and a whole ton of stuff that we haven't even figured out a use for yet. And all of this just to stand on the porch. I can't imagine vacations at this point.
On the hockey front, I read that the Baby Pens beat the Wolf Pack in game 7 on the road in overtime. So, they will meet the Milwaukee Admirals in Milwaukee tomorrow night.
The Lightning are in the process of evening up the series with Calgary 2-2. It's 1-0 at the end of the second period. Hopefully they can hang on to win the game and tie everything up heading home to Tampa.
There are other things to blog about, but I said I was going to go in little doses. I will say that if you look back in my past couple of posts, you'll see I made fun of the McDonald's commercial for the "adult" happy meal. When we were in the hospital, I noticed that one of Terri's doctors actually had the little pedometer that comes in the meal. It was difficult not to laugh and point. And, speaking of nice new commercials...Bud has brought back the frogs to deal with the Miller spokesperson. They have decided to hit back harder and funnier. The frogs beat Traves-sha-mockery anyday.

Well, there is a lot to say and since it's been almost a week, I'll try and do it a little at a time, especially since I only get little blocks of time to myself now anyway. I definitely want to say that it was an experience and a good one at that. I also want to say thanks to Tom, Glen, and Amy for all the stuff that they brought to the hospital for Terri, Gage, and I. Without them I would have been admitted to the hospital myself for starvation, exhaustion, knee surgery, dehydration, boredom and a ton of other things. We are in debt to all our family and friends throughout the past 10 months. Everyone has been so great and supportive. And, there is more news to come, but the particulars are...Thursday the 27th at 2:04 AM...7 lbs 14 ozs...20 in long.

Absolutely nothing. I guess this means that we'll have actual news after all the tests and things tomorrow. So, if I get to update tomorrow I might have good news.
Just when I thought the ads weren't clocking me anymore a French ad shows up. That's when I realized I used the word "deux" in the last entry. So, big brother is always scanning I guess. Not much else is going on, we've simply been sitting around waiting.
The one thing that I realized through all this is that we're very isolated. Now, don't get me wrong, we have a ton of friends and family waiting to jump at anything we need. The only problem is, we can't just call to chat. Invariably if they see our number on caller ID or pick up and hear our voice they think that this is "the" call. So, in addition to both of us dealing with the burden of waiting, we've transferred it to everyone else.
At the very least neither of us we'll have to go into the office tomorrow. They have so many tests and monitoring scheduled it just made more sense to take the day off.
In hockey news the Baby Pens pulled even with Hartford. Hopefully they can take the next two games, close out the series and head to the Calder Cup. Tomorrow night also starts the first game of the Stanley Cup Finals between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Calgary Flames. I'm still routing Lightning. Mainly for the good of the franchise, but also for their captain. Hoisting the Stanley Cup is the dream of every NHL player and Dave seems worthy this year. At least more worthy than Andy Ference and his ever moving mouth.

And nothing is going on.
We went to church this morning and though it's only the third time we've ever been to this church, even they realized that we should be three instead of two.
So, it looks as though I've been knocked out of the pool and while I'm not surprised, it means that I'll have to get up at the same time tomorrow morning and go to work and endure one more day of all the comments. And, more importantly so will Terri.
However, the hockey game finally went my way. Yeah Lightning. Now, I'm kind of rooting for them to beat Calgary. It would be nice to see them win a cup in their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals. And of course, Dave is kind of Ray Bourque part Deux. So, let's go Lightning. Game one Tuesday.

And the ongoing saga continues.
Just working around the house yesterday. I integrated new book purchases into the library and realized that, yes, I do need another set of shelves. Here's hoping that a new job follows a new son. I also just learned from Tom that Knight Rider, The A-Team, and The Dukes of Hazzard are all being released on DVD. As though I wasn't being tempted enough by what's already out there.
And, as game 7 commences again I say...Let's Go Lightning.

Nothing.
We went out shopping and walking around trying to run some last minute errands. Although last minute, seems to all be in the hands of Gage.
I guess I need to add catching up on my soap operas to my list of things to do. I haven't read or caught up on any of the story lines since November. This was brought on by something I discovered just a moment ago by channel surfing and hitting the daytime Emmys. Anna Lee passed away on May 14th. That means I was a week late hearing about it. Now, for those of you not instantly familiar with Anna, she was the uncontestable matriach of General Hospital. She's been on the show since 1978 and been amazing throughout the whole run. She was also one of the nuns in The Sound of Music. I'm sad to see her go and know how much the show and all those who knew her will miss her terribly.
In the past month we've lost three great talents. Alan King, Tony Randall, and now Anna. I'm sure they don't rank in the same categories for everyone, but they were all immensely talented in their respective fields.
Oh well, that's good enough for today or tonight. Hopefully I won't be able to post tomorrow due to pre-emptive circumstances, but at the rate things are going, I'll be here. Let's go Lightning. Home ice advantage, not ever having been this far before. Dave Andreychuk is the reigning "I've been playing forever, but haven't gotten a cup yet" player and he's fairly deserving.
And, in hockey news a little closer to home, Assistant Coach Lorne Molleken resigned to be the GM and head coach of an WHL team. And the Baby Pens are in a 1-1 series in the Eastern Conference finals for the Calder Cup.

Well I was holding off on blogging this evening hoping to have some happy hockey news. Alas, that is not the case. Simon Gagne decided he didn't want his season to end so now I have to wait til Saturday to see the Flyers go home. It will be nice for Tampa Bay to win it in front of the home crowd.
No baby yet. Not even a hint of baby. Over half the people entered in the baby pool are now cursing those left. I installed both car seats today and put the strollers in the trucks of the cars. I've also put together the little bouncy seat and the swing. The cats aren't quite sure about the bouncy seat. It has a vibrating motor attached to it. When Newbie decided to be adventurous and put a paw on the seat, I turned on the motor. They both just stared at the chair.
No news yet on the job front either. I have several resumes in for positions that I'm damn near perfect for, but I haven't heard anything yet. So, I just keep plugging along.
One thing I hadn't mentioned was my activity Tuesday evening. I started my summer classes. The one that I'm not taking over the web is called Intermediate Accounting. It's in the same classroom with the same teacher. That means in the practice test, I'll be getting every test question. I forsee another A.

Another day ticks off the calendar and another 400 hundred questions all directed towards the same topic. No, no baby yet. The due date has now come and gone. People are dropping from the pool like crazy. And still he refuses to show. Just like his dad.
We had another Doctor's appt today and the doctor, upon examination, said that there was no change. Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Zip. Zero. No progress. So, now we wait another week til Tuesday and if nothing has happened yet then we have a day full of tests. (I say we, like I have something to do with it. I really mean Terri.) So, we decided to get out of the house for a little while.
Anyway, headed out to the Best Buy today and picked up Miracle and the last episode of Friends. I know I'm a consumer moron, but I did like the show. Then we went with Mitch to the Improv for open mic night. Now, you know that amateur comedians are hit or miss, mostly miss. However, two local DJ's and one local columnist were working out material for a charity event. Keep working. Keep working. Jim Krenn and Val Porter both from DVE were mildly amusing. Then the columnist was none other than this jackass. I don't know what it is about him that irks me so much. I won't spend more than 5 seconds at a time in passing thought so I've never really figured it out. I don't like his column. I don't enjoy his writing. I can't stand his little mini-rants on Fox Sports Tonight...my channel changer and mute button don't work fast enough at that point. And, his stand up wasn't even mildly amusing. He tried to play on the fact that advertising and the like aren't masters of the English language. Duh! Advertising panders to the general populous and they aren't masters of the English language. And, his weak attempt to belitte the Ford truck commercial doesn't even come close to the real live person who sat two seats away from me in a Principles of Management class and said, "Internship don't pay child support." When your example is that strong, you don't need to go any further. The six actual open mic night contestants were a wide mix. The first three were pretty funny, the last three not so much. Oh well, it was a mild distraction for Terri and these days that's pretty important. Now, we both have to head back to our respective offices tomorrow and endure another round of..."You're still here?"

Ok, it might have been a false alarm, or we might just be off to a really slow start. Anyway, up until the time she went to sleep we were still having pains every 20 minutes. I'm making this entry now, more in the interest of keeping up with my, at least once a day, blogging attempts. That way if things blow wide open tomorrow, I'm covered for a little while. Although I'm gonna be damn tired tomorrow. Hope the coffee tastes good tomorrow.

Well, I don't want to alarm anyone, but I do want to keep people updated. Terri called me this morning saying she was having pain, but it wasn't like they described contractions. So, I told her if they keep happening to call the doctor's office and ask. I'm certainly no expert in this matter at least not yet. The doctor's office said that they MIGHT be contractions. They wanted her to drink lots of water and walk around and see if anything changed. They also wanted her to start timing them. They said if they get to be under 10 minutes apart or her water breaks to call back. Well, as of this afternoon, nothing has changed. She's still having little pains every twenty minutes. So, he might be on his way or she could have had bad pizza for lunch yesterday.
In other news, I'll bet if you posted this picture in the locker room a lot more boys would work a lot harder in gym class.
Tonight is Game 5 in the Sharks/Calgary series. The game starts at 10 so hopefully I'll be there to see it. However, with the above information, I don't really know where I'll be tonight.

Well today almost got the better of me. After church, we decided to catch up with Terri's family at brunch. We got the car seat that her aunt had bought, but we also ended up spending almost all of the rest of the day with them. So, I didn't get home til almost seven and then spent the next two and a half hours finishing off the hillside. Between Friday night and today, I filled 20 33 gallon lawn bags. So, how was your weekend? Better than mine I hope. Now I just have to replace the light in the laundry room, the light switch in Gage's room, the outlet cover in Gage's room, the outlet cover in my writing room, write out the bills for the latter half of the month, mow the lawn, and on and on and on. I hope Gage likes yardwork.

Well, today was an interesting day. No yard work since it decided to rain 95% of the day. I was about 20 minutes from heading out to do a ton of shopping that we need to get done when the phone rang. Terri was mouthing to me that I needed to get ready quick and I figured that meant we got roped into spending time with her relatives. Some of them are in town this weekend for her cousin's graduation. Turns out Robyn's grandmother had had a stroke and they needed us to watch Jacob while they went to the hospital. We quickly got ready and headed out the door. We got most of the scoop over a cell phone call on the way up and found out that the family had tickets to see Dora the Explorer Live this evening and we were supposed to take Jacob. Thankfully, it turned out that Robyn's grandmother didn't have a stroke, but a blood condition that mimicked a stroke and with treatment, she'll be fine. So, not only is that good news, but they were back in time to take Jacob themselves, which made us all happy.
No news on the baby front yet, but Terri keeps hoping.
This came damn close to making me fall out of my chair laughing. If you want to be fit, stop eating the slop they're serving.
Lemieux was once again named to the Canada World Cup team. It may be the only chance I get to watch him skate as there has been no new news on the CBA front. I also can't believe that Philadelphia managed to pull even in the series again. Although if the current trend keeps up, I can watch Tampa Bay win game seven. This took me by surprise. He's not exactly one of my favorite players. I figured the least I could have done would be to egg his hospital window or something.
Hopefully the weather will be nice after church tomorrow and I'll be able to finish up the hillside. I doubt I'll make it to cutting the grass again, but you can't see to much of that from the road.

I don't know who the brain trust was that scheduled a workshop from 1-5 on a Friday afternoon. I was upset at first, but when it let out at 4 and I got a free hour, I decided it wasn't so bad. When I got home I changed clothes and headed out to do yard work. I cut about 1/3 of the hillside with a weedwacker and then proceeded to fill 9 lawn bags full of stuff. I have a lot to finish tomorrow. Then I need to work on cutting through some of the rest of the jungle. Plus, the grass needs cut again.
Once I finished with the amount of yard work that I was going to do, I took a cool shower and then grabbed the box out of my trunk. Then I proceeded to put together our christmas present from my parents. They bought us a grill. So, once I got all that together I came in the house, had some dinner and discovered that On Demand is now showing older movies. I was going to watch one of Tom's DVD's, but Monster's Ball was in the player and I just didn't think I was in the mood for that. I actually found a 40's movie called, His Girl Friday with Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant. I had seen it once or twice before and love the way it portrays journalism. I also noticed that Guys and Dolls was on the list too. Maybe they've realized that you can only watch 2 Fast 2 Furious so many times.

Well, it'll have to be a short post so that I can get it in on Thursday. Yeah Lightning. They are now up 2 games to 1. Hopefully, San Jose can make a comeback. And, God said...Let there be light. Well, ok we had to ditch the light, but we did manage to get electricity in Gage's room and as a by-product in my writing room.

Once the millionaire game closes this time, remind me to tell you a funny story.
There's no hockey on this evening so it's been a rough night. I think I'm having withdrawals. I don't know what I'll do if the season is locked out.
The Lightning beer giveaway has been sacked. Those responsible for the Lightning beer giveaway have been sacked. Those responsible for sacking those responsible for the Lightning beer giveaway have been sacked. They have all been replaced by Ralph the Wonder Llama.
Anyway, no kid yet and boy is Terri frustrated. I keep trying to tell her we're 5 days from the ficitional "due date" to begin with. I wouldn't expect the kid to show up early. He's from my side of the family and seriously, when have we ever shown up early for anything let alone on time.

The finale of Friends was written for 3 sets of people. 1.) The cast and crew of the television series, most of whom spent the entire 10 years on the show. 2.) The writers and creators of the show. 3.) The "faithful" fans. Why do I bring this back up? Well, it's partially due to Matt's comments on my little finale rant and it's due in part to some nostalgia from tonight's redux of the Dick Van Dyke show or the original DVD as I saw it referred to in an advertisement.
I respect Matt's opinion on just about everything (although he and I will never agree about the best Pennsylvania hockey team). In this case, however, I think (and I stress think because I'm not certain) he's only a casual fan of Friends due to dislike. A casual fan of the show has no real reason to care about the six Friends. They also had a fairly good reason to dislike the finale. It was laced with the faithful tie-ups. They didn't try to do anything unusual (although the twins gag was nice). They ended the show the way they started the show. They took a little snapshot of the six and slowly had you care about each character in turn through backstory, drama, laughter, tears, and maturing. The final show didn't try to advance any character, no one had a life changing experience (that they didn't alredy know about), no one was jailed, no one died, no one hit the lottery. It ended with a nice piece of symbolism followed by one last punch-line. It didn't end making you think that nothing else was going to happen. You kind of create the next few scenes in your head and that will probably continue to happen until Joey hits the air this fall.
Once Joey begins to air, the universe that the writers of Friends spent so long crafting (and made so few mistakes in continuity in) will gain a dramatic wormhole by dragging Joey across the country. Unless he keeps in pretty close phone contact with everyone else and gets frequent visitors, it will do the finale a great injustice.
Ok, enough rambling about a show that ended a week ago (although the finale hit store shelves today and I wonder how it sold).
On to hockey. The Flyers managed to tie their series and apparently San Jose has just fell apart. They gave up two goals in the time it took me to switch subjects and they're losing 4-1 now. That means, barring heroic play that I have yet to see from San Jose, Calgary is going to go up 2-0. I can handle either team coming out of the west, though I'd prefer San Jose. I just have to keep hoping that the Lightning come screaming back in game 3 and take control of the series once again.

Just kind of bummed out today so I'll wish good luck to the Tampa Bay Lightning who are currently down 4-0. No kid yet, but I'm sure that will change sooner than we think.

Well, this post is kind of late because of all the upgrades to blogger. Not much going on since yesterday. However, I don't want to break my streak of writing every day. Now, I just need to get some consistency in size of post and time of writing. Then I should be ready to tackle actual structured topics. As though I give a damn on the structured topic front. Anyway, that's not too important. We're basically just hanging out playing the waiting game at home trying to get all the last minute things cleaned, built, put away, taken out, or whatever needs to be done with them. Although we're still 9 actual days away from the due date babies don't seem to run on any sort of schedule that I can determine. I was able to determine the sex of the baby by using a co-worker generated form of statistics. I worked in a group with 10 people when I first started working. At this point, I'll be the fifth in the group to produce a child. The men all had boys and the women all had girls.
Alright, there is no actual system. I just got lucky in my guesses. However, there's also no rhyme or reason on the due date either. And, there's no sense in rambling on about that either. At this point I'm just ready to be able to hold him when he arrives.

Not too much in the way of stuff today. We had lunch with my parent's, uncles, and grandmother to celebrate Mother's Day. Since we were down in the area, we decided to drop off Evan's birthday gift from the end of March. Right on the ball aren't we? Evan and Bela are the two children of my old boss. She and her husband live down near my parents and we try to drop in around the kid's birthdays and Christmas. We only meant to stay for a few minutes, but a few minutes turned into almost 5 hours. We ended up leaving with all sorts of diapers and clothes that Evan has outgrown. Wendy also lent Terri a bunch of maternity clothes. I don't know what we would have done without her and Chris. In fact, all our friends have been wonderful throughout the entire pregnancy. No one can believe that it's all almost over.
I just read an e-mail that said Michael and Kim had their baby on May 3rd. Man, 2004 is the year of the child. The baby pool is rocking along. I feel like I'm running my own little bookie window.
Oh, and in other news. Tampa Bay 3 Philly 1. Picture happy dance here. One down, three to go. I can't believe I'm rooting for Tampa Bay, but as long as St. Louis can fill the net behind Robert Esche I say, Let's Go Bolts.

Well, I got the list up and heard about it almost immediately. In the comments section, you'll notice I missed the Hooters which now seems like a pretty obvious choice. I also got questions as to why I started with the Bunny Hop. That's so easy to answer. Ray Anthony used to be Ray Antonini and he was from my hometown. Now, he's not like a local celebrity. I doubt you'd find anyone in the town under the age of 50 that a.) knew he was from the town or b.) knew who he was period. But, useless knowledge is the plague of my circle of friends and that's just my little nugget for today.
I watched the series finale. I came close to tears, but didn't actually cry. The last show is hard. The publicity was overwhelming and they were already under fire for spending most of the 10th season showing "viewer favorites". However, I think they managed to put together a good show. Nowadays 50 million is a pretty good crowd. Although it all depends on where you look. I've heard numbers from 45-55. But, who cares. It's over and the hype will continue for the majority of the summer while they release the last episode on DVD a mere 5 days after the showing. And season 7 is still doing well in the markets soon to be followed by Season 8 and in September, "Joey"
Why waste all this space on a sitcom? Because over the course of 10 years of watching the show it was the closest thing to the type of writing that I wanted to see more of on TV. Tom mentioned seeing the movie Oscar on my recommendation. I saw it purely by accident and now watch it anytime I happen to catch it on cable. Over the course of the hour and a half of the movie, it has some of the best jokes and subtle writing. Other examples that leap out in my memory are M*A*S*H (the TV series) and Radioland Murders.
Seinfeld was supposed to be a show about nothing and that sounds like the purest concept and I thought for sure I would love it. Anyone who knows me knows what's coming next. I can't stand Seinfeld. Each and every one of the characters annoyed me by being vapid, shallow, and completely lacking in any intelligence whatsoever. Okay, the show was supposed to be like that, but that didn't mean that the writing had to follow suit. Even the Dukes of Hazzard, which is supposed to be a backwoods, small town, hick show had smarter writing than Seinfeld. That's one of the reasons why movies made out of books or remakes of old songs, movies, or TV shows also have to pass a close scrutiny for me. I've been called a purist and our California (soon to be Michigan) readership says that nobody hates stars like I do. And both crowds are probably right. I came out of the first and second Harry Potter movies saying words that the children around me weren't supposed to hear. To take books that had that much hype and butcher them the way that they did is just crushing to an aspiring writer. I know that in the back of my mind on occasion I don't want to have a popular piece of fiction on the market because there's a chance it might get hacked to pieces. Alright, enough rambling for tonight. The cable people are visiting yet again tomorrow which is a story that I don't even want to get into right now. Maybe I'll be reminded of it later on.
Now, I've seen this on both Craig and Diane's blogs. It's a question and answer session. Craig uses three questions. Diane uses five questions. I'll be average and use four. So, ask any four questions in the comments section and I'll be sure to answer as quickly as possible.

Ok, after reading Dek's latest post, I decided to see just how hard it would be to come up with 30 songs by Pa. artists. In no particular order, here they are. Feel free to comment as you'd like

1. The Bunny Hop- Ray Anthony and His Orchestra
2. Penny On The Floor- The Clarks
3. Send Me On My Way- Rusted Root
4. Catch A Falling Star- Perry Como
5. Roses Are Red- Bobby Vinton
6. One Last Time- Dusty Drake
7. The Pink Panther Theme- Henry Mancini
8. Oh, Susanna- Stephen Foster
9. It's Such A Good Feeling- Fred Rogers
10. Parent's Just Don't Understand- DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
11. Wild Wild West- Will Smith
12. Mickey- Toni Basil
13. The Twist- Chubby Checker
14. Lightning Strikes- Lou Christie
15. Turn Me Loose- Fabian
16. I Love Rock 'n' Roll- Joan Jett
17. Nothin' My Love Can't Fix- Joey Lawrence
18. Volare- Bobby Rydell
19. Ain't No Mountain High Enough- Tammi Terrell
20. Sentimental Journey- Les Brown and his Band of Renown
21. Time In A Bottle- Jim Croce
22. Born Too Late- Scott Blasey
23. I Alone- Live
24. Beautiful- Christina Aguilera
25. Motownphilly- Boyz II Men
26. Head Like A Hole- Nine Inch Nails
27. On The Sunny Side Of The Street- Tommy Dorsey
28. Runaround- Blues Traveller
29. Every Rose Has It's Thorn- Poison
30. Can't We Try- Teddy Pendergrass
and a bonus
31. Bang The Drum All Day- Todd Rundgren
Now, it took me a little longer than I expected to compile the list, but there it is. I'm not saying I agree with all 31 choices, but they are all Pa artists in some form or another. And, that's probably enough blogging for today or at least enough typing. I may get to the whole ending of Friends, etc, etc a little later. Now, it's time to get the hell out of work.

Ok, there were probably quite a few things that went through my mind to blog about today. However, it's late and there are only two things that I can remember off the top of my head. Jessica Simpson's new version of Berlin's Take My Breath Away is, um, horrible. And, at least the baby Pens are doing well. They beat the Philadelphia Phantoms 5-4 in the first game of their series in the Calder Cup playoffs. And, the news seems to think that Mario Lemieux's status if there is a next season is a go! Woo-Hoo!

Today's post will be one of the short posts that I was talking about. I may post more later. How about the Flames? Knocking off a number 3 seed and a number 1 seed. And Detroit makes it's second quick exit from the playoffs in as many years. Wonder how secure Dave Lewis's job is now? I wasn't rooting for one team over the other, but it's a shame to see Robert Lang and Brett Hull go home early. And, after his comments made post-trade, I guess I was rooting against Andy Ference.
Hopefully the hockey action tonight will benefit me. I'd like to see San Jose close out the series against Colorado. I have nothing against Colorado and I like Tony Granato as a head coach and Rick Tocchet as an assistant coach, but I gotta go with the Sharks. And, it's no secret that Toronto needs to force a game seven and then whip the pants off of Philly. (sorry Matt) Philadelphia has advanced far enough. I don't think my head could handle a Tampa Bay/Philly conference final. It's already trying to comprehend how Tampa got there.
Anyway, I had my last Management test last night and aced it. I have my last accounting test tonight. I don't even have the will to study, but I do need to get a decent grade to keep my A. Wow, am I turning into a student or what?

Even if I just get on to say hello and goodbye I want to attempt a post of some sort every day. Why, you may ask? Well I recently had an interview for a writing position. It's been so long since I've had one of those I had to comb back through my portfolio and update it with new work, but more importantly go back and review old work. One of my old pieces was an interview with Robert Olen Butler when he was promoting Tabloid Dreams. One of the things that he said in that interview was that a writer has to write every day. If you aren't prepared to write every day then you shouldn't be a writer. This is something that kind of struck a nerve with me since I do purport myself to be somewhat of a writer. So, even though this is certainly not what Mr. Butler had in mind, it's a small start for me and for now I'll have to be happy with that.
Saturday May 22nd on QVC...Cure by the Shore is a huge sale on sunglasses with all net proceeds going to MS research. For those of you that don't know, this is a cause that is very near to me. My cousin Kathy passed away in December from MS related complications, Robyn is also affected with the disease as is Brian's mom. Terri and I walk in the MS walk every year (although this year Terri had to cut the walk a little shorter) Apparently 8 months of baby and 5 miles don't mix.
That's about all for this evening. One more blog to go and I'll be all caught up.

This morning somewhere between the ass crack of dawn and way too damn early to be mobile, the cats decided to fight. Not too much of a problem on the surface. However, they decided to fight on the windowsill at the head of the bed. They managed to make it sound as though someone was pounding on the window which for some reason snapped me to attention. It also snapped something in my neck which I haven't been able to move without pain all day. I can look right without too much of a problem, but don't stand on my left side.
That combined with the rain today made sure that I couldn't get outside for any more yard work. I guess it's just as well. I have enough stuff that needs to be done inside the house. I also have a test Monday night and Tuesday night.
We're almost completely done with the baby's room. I just need to get the electricity up and running from the wall outlet, but since I can run an extension cord off the ceiling light, I'm not overly concerned right away. Especially since he'll be bunking in the bassinet in our room for at least the first month. Terri arranged most of the stuffed animals in the "jumbo" net in his room and she'll probably finish up the rest either later tonight or tomorrow.
And, outside of the fact that neither of the sporting events went my way and we went had another interesting church experience today wasn't too bad. Stuff around the house got done as mentioned above and it was a mostly relaxing day which is something that I'm fast running out of.

Well, in four and a half hours and a lot of back and forth, I managed to get my lawn mowed today. Oh well, I guess it's true. The first cut is the deepest. Sorry, couldn't resist.
Anyway, I want to know why instructions have to be written (and I use that term loosely) in a fashion that not only guarantees that no one will read them, but if someone does happen to try, they won't understand them. They are trying to shrink them to smaller sizes and the other day I put something together that only had pictures and it looked as though my directions were photocopied from the original.
I had a professional writing professor in college who decided that my approach to the mousetrap instructions that we were supposed to create didn't serve any useful function and I was told to stick to the status quo. If the status quo isn't working, shouldn't it be changed? I'm beginning to feel as though I'm the only sane person on the planet.
Anyway, time to work on some other projects around the house that will invariably require me to read some sort of instructions.

Well, since I'm easing back into this slowly, I'll try to keep the entries short and sweet as well. That means that I probably won't gear up to full hockey rants til about the Finals. However, I will say that I'm glad the Leafs are finally working out their agressions on Philly. Let's Go Leafs!
Since the California contingency caught me on-line, I was reminded that I should probably inform people that hell hasn't frozen over and to date I have no viable offspring. However, the day is fast approaching with a super scary emphasis on fast.
Two quick commercial notes. I would never even remotely think of putting a bottle or can of Coors Light to my lips even if it meant dying of thirst, but damn they have funny commercials. Wingdog gets a nice nod. And my other new favorite is the DQ burger commercial where the guy ends up setting fire to his entire office. Maybe it's just because I've thought of doing that without eating jalapeno bacon and tabasco sauce. I've covered 2 1/2 blogs of the ones that I list on my site and I'm still continuing to plow through them. I wanted to finish them this weekend, but unless God sends extreme rain conditions I have to work in my yard. Anyone who's seen the house knows that it's out of hand on a good day and I have yet to touch it this spring.
And I would wish myself a happy one year of blogging, but since I basically blew off the last, almost two months, I'll just pride myself on returning to the world of blogging.

I'm in the midst of so many projects that listing them all would just simply create a new project for me. Over the past day or so I'm slowly starting to get caught up on everyone's blogs. I can't believe all the good hockey talk on Craig's blog that I could have been a part of. However, slowly but surely I will return to the world of blog. Although in three weeks or so that may all change again.

Well it's been several days since I was writing last and sadly enough I have nothing to really say. So, other than to just see some words on the web, today's entry is just a slight recap of the last few days. Tuesday was Cole's first Penguins game so now I've been to Jacob's first Penguin game and Cole's first penguin game. And, hopefully I'll be able to make my son's first Penguin game. The game was actually a pretty good one. The Penguins came from behind to tie it up and that's the way it ended after overtime. 3-3.
Wednesday night we headed to the Rhythm House in Bridgeville to see Lindsy's band. The sound guy (not their normal person) was horrific. The first set sounded like it was being done by a third grader using his dad's broken equipment in the room above a garage with the furnace banging and clanging and the wind howling through the cracked windowpane. And that doesn't even include the outside noise of the police sirens and firetrucks showing up at the house in question because the neighbor thought cats were being tortured and set on fire. After much deliberation and wire switching on his part, he finally managed to get it together for the second half and the band was excellent as usual.
Thursday we were back in the arena and watched the Pens have a nice 9-4 meltdown against Nashville. I understand that Nashville wants to keep the playoff spot it currently has, but they didn't have to rub it in. Chiodo had a very off night and I'm not sure I understand what rationale Edzo was following leaving him in there for the whole game. We had an interesting dinner before the game too. Ask Terri and Amy about the pie if you get a chance.
Thursday I also had to don a suit and tie for the office and teach an internal workshop class to all of my co-workers. I had to break the news to them ever so gently that they were not only making mistakes, but making them more frequently and to a larger degree. Then I had to explain the right way to do things. Ton of fun, let me tell you. Now I know what some of my teachers went through when I was in their class.
Today has been a return to boring. I've been playing phone tag with a gentlemen since Tuesday. Hopefully I can catch up with him on Monday. I think 4:30 on a Friday is a little too late to try and talk shop.
I think we're headed to see Lindsy's band again tonight. Although this place is a lot further away and in the middle of back woods nowhere. Ahh, a return to my roots. And, don't let them kid you it's the same story for Dwight Tom Joe.

Have no fear, I will be back to reading and writing soon. And, let's go Pens!