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Tuesday, February 28, 2006

All is well...

Hi interweb friends! I just wanted to put up a quick post to let those who may be interested know that my wife gave birth to a happy, healthy and very cute baby on Monday! Mom and Baby are both doing great and are resting comfortably.

I just came home quick to change and grab a few things for my wife, then I'll be heading back to the hospital. My wife is very sore so I need to be there to help out wherever I am needed.

Thanks!

Saturday, February 25, 2006

Procrastination...

Wow, looks like I got in the mood to write a few posts last night eh? Hmm. Must have been the Reward Friday whiskey... That would probably explain the frequency of the f-bombs too. With the inconsistent manner of my posting lately, I should have saved a few for future entries. Oh well.

Right now I should be down in my basement sheet-rocking but I am procrastinating, big time. I have been looking at web pages and making some small changes to the layout of the site. I put that IM status thing back on. I figured I'd give it another shot. I don't know if anyone ever clicks on that thing or not, but I put it back up there just to see what happens...

I spent the morning cleaning the house like a madman. Once the baby comes home we expect to get several visitors and we would prefer that the house not be a complete disaster when people come over. The kids were on school vacation this past week and it seemed like every toy they own had somehow made it out of their room and into the middle of our living room. I could not even walk around in there so my wife and I went on a cleaning tear and got the whole place picked up and squared away. The kids helped pickup all their stuff and they did a good job so they both got some coins for their piggy banks and some ice-cream with lunch.

Tomorrow is going to be our last day as a 'foursome' and it feels very weird to me. It's a strange mix of excitement, anticipation, nervousness and anxiety. As I have mentioned before, I will be very relieved when the child-birth part of this whole experience is over and everyone is resting safely.

I want to try and do something fun with the family tomorrow as a way to put a cap on this season of our lives. Soon we'll be starting a brand new chapter in this story..

This song from Kenny Chesney does a good job of summing things up...

It's my life and its sure fun
Another season of my life's begun
Another race I'm glad I get to run
Another chapter of my life I'm writin'

No I'm never gonna feel like this again
Time's rushin by me like the wind
Got to grab each moment that I can
Cuz I'm never gonna feel like this again

Friday, February 24, 2006

I miss football...

While most people around here seem to be frothing at the mouth for baseball to start, I am one of the oddballs that is sitting here pining for football. Damn I miss it. When does camp kick in?

The Pats off-season has kicked in in earnest with the scouting meat market combine taking place this past week, as well as the start of the free agency period right around the corner.

When it comes to the players on The Patriots, I am like Spock. I try really hard to be all cold and un-emotional, but sometimes, I just can't help it, that damn emotion just comes out.

It's looking like The Pats could potentially be losing some very good players during this off-season and if one of them is named Adam, I may have a conniption. Hopefully it won't come to that. If the Pats let the best clutch kicker in the history of the NFL go to another team, I will be beyond upset. I will be fucking pissed off. In my mind, Adam is one of the core pieces of this team that you do not want to lose. Yes, you might have to pay more than you would want to for a kicker, but as Gino Cappiletti has said on many occasions, Adam is more than just a 'kicker', Adam is a 'football player' and he is part of the group of key players that has made the Patriots what they are over the past 10 years. Just fucking sign Adam. Don't piss me off...

From reading the various reports, and from my own common sense in watching and understanding the situation, it seems inevitable that The Pats will lose David Givens. That really is a shame. He has been a go-to receiver for The Pats over the last 4 years and for selfish reasons, I would hate to see him leave the team.

At the same time, this is Givens' chance to make the big, big bucks and you can't begrudge a guy for wanting to hit the pay-dirt when his chance comes up... You never know, maybe he will want to stay with The Pats. The chance to play for a Superbowl contender does have it's merits, but it's hard to pass up what I'm sure will be offered to Givens for his services by teams that are looking for a high quality receiver.

Some other notable players on the Unrestricted Free Agent List are:
Tom Ashworth
Troy Brown
Matt Chatham
Andre' Davis
Tim Dwight
Heath Evans
Christian Fauria
Doug Flutie
Artrell Hawkins
Stephen Neal
Hank Poteat
Chad Scott
Michael Stone
Ross Tucker

Some will be back and some won't. Regardless of how attached to a player a fan may become, there will always be someone that will eventually take their place and hopefully help The Pats to return to the Superbowl on '07. That is the cold reality of the NFL (but if Adam's not back I'll still be fucking pissed. Stupid emotions...)

Just curious...

I'm just wondering, is men's hockey still considered an Olympic sport? Because if it is, nobody seems to be covering it. I know that since there's no NHL at the moment, there are Olympic teams playing hockey somewhere. The question is, why is NBC not showing it on television?

Ok. I will admit that I am not sitting down every night and watching the Olympics, so I guess it could just be some kind of odd coincidence that the hockey games are being shown on TV on the nights that I'm not watching, but when I do watch, which is usually a couple nights a week, it seems like the only thing they are ever showing is figure skating, figure skating and occasionally figure skating, with a little speed skating thrown in...

The best thing about the Winter Olympics is hockey on the big ice and I have not seen a single game. My mind is boggled...

Do you know a soldier? Information to pass on...

A reader sent this to me recently and I wanted to post about it to try and help to get the word out about this program that was passed by the Massachusetts legislature.

It is called, The Welcome Home Bonus and it is a payment of $1000.00 to soldiers... "who have at least 3 years active duty service since 9/11/01, who live or have lived in the Commonwealth [of MA] for 6 months prior to that date and who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan since then."

If you know of any soldiers who might be eligible for this bonus, please pass this information on to them and point them to the details of the program which can be found here:

http://www.mass.gov/treasury/veteransbonus/welcomehomebonus.htm

Thanks to "Dunndee" for passing this info on to me. I am happy to do my small part to try and spread the word about this. I would also like to add a special thanks to Dunndee for his service to our country.

Thank you.

Sign Him...

I completely understand that all the uncertainty surrounding the current state of the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement is throwing everybody's contract negotiations all out of whack.

I also realize that Belichick and Pioli are doing the right thing by not making rash decisions until the CBA situation is worked out.

That being said, from a purely emotional standpoint, I have to say: Bill, Scott, SIGN ADAM!

I still get a little misty just looking at this photo...

You guys have a week. Make it happen... Just make it happen.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Assignments...

Hey what's up interwebs. I have not been writing too consistently lately. I have been spending my free time learning some songs for my new side job as a guitar player.

My assignments have been:
Foo Fighters - Times Like These
Pearl Jam - Last Kiss
7 Mary 3 - Cumbersome
Dylan - Knockin on Heavens Door
Goo Goo Dolls - Long Way Down
3 Doors Down - Kryptonite
Danzig - Do You Wear the Mark (this one was my addition to the list. I needed to balance out the Goo Goo Dolls a little... Heh.)

And I have to admit there has not been a whole lot going on in the world of sports that has inspired me to write much. The B's and C's are both on break for The Olympics and the NBA All-Star game. The Sox are starting Spring Training, which is exciting and all, but it's not enough to get me all riled up to write anything too substantial about it. I'm glad to know the boys are down in FLA, stretching out, playing some grab-ass and long toss, hitting some balls in the batting cages, working on their banter... (You know, it's a rough life those baseball players lead...) but beyond that, there's not much there for me to say about it. When Grapefruit League starts maybe I'll have more to write about...

On a completely unrelated note, my company recently moved to a new office and I'm really loving the change. My drive to get to the new place is both easier and shorter, and my desk is now located next to a window. Kick ass!! The lab even has a window in it, which is just incredibly great.

Small things like that make a big difference in improving a person's attitude towards the place where they lose spend 8 or 10 hours of their life every day...

And just to keep the theme of having completely unrelated items in one post going, this time next week I'll be a brand new Dad again. D-Day is Monday for baby number 3. I'm getting kind of nervous for the childbirth part of the whole thing. I'll be glad when that part is over and everybody is safe.

I've been telling my kids that they are going to be in charge of diaper duty. I told them I'd pay them a quarter per diaper. They just look at me like I'm crazy. (They've already got that look down. Oy.)

'Nooooo Dad, we're not changing any diapers, thats your job! We'll bring you the clean ones... '

Gee, thanks.

Monday, February 20, 2006

New side job...

I recently started a new side job that I am very excited about.

Position: Lead Guitar
Responsibilities: Framming, occasional shredding where necessary, playing lots of musical notes in quick succession.

Ok. The story is that I answered a posting on Craigslist from some guys who were looking for a guitar player. They already had a drummer, bass player and a guitarist / vocalist and they were looking to add a second guitar player. They invited me to one of their practice sessions and liked the way I played so they asked me if I wanted to join their band, and just like that, I was in. Cool!

They all seem like a nice bunch of guys and they like to play straight-ahead rock songs. They are all around my age and have a similar taste in music. They asked me what I liked to play and I told them my usual, non-commital, 'anything'.

The bass player was like, 'no, seriously what do you like to play'.

I said, 'I like just about anything. Whatever's on the radio...'

'Do you like the heavy shit?'

'Sure'

'No, I mean the really heavy shit.'

'I don't know. Guess it depends on your idea of what 'heavy' is... I like metal, punk, rock, whatever...' (I'm kinda hard to pin down sometimes.)

He said he wanted to play some 'heavy shit' so he was glad that I was cool with that.

I never really got what his version of 'the heavy shit' was, but I told him I was a big Misfits fan so I could totally do some songs about killing people and destroying the world if he wanted to...

'Nah. We'll work up to that'

Nice.

Sunday, February 19, 2006

So Much for That...

Well I did not get to see a single lap of the Daytona 500. Nor did I get half the work I wanted to complete finished in my basement.

Late this morning I got a call from work. They needed help in one of the labs so I had to go in. Not the way I like to spend a Sunday afternoon, that's for sure.

When I came home, I went back into the basement and got some more sheet-rock up. I got one entire wall done and about half of a 2nd wall up. By the time I finished it was about 9:30 PM and I was exhausted. I was so tired I was starting to fuck things up, and I was cursing my head off over my mistakes. Plus I was doing things like putting my measuring tape and my knife down and then not remembering where I left them, which caused more swearing, etc, etc. Basically I was becoming non-functional, so it was time to quit for the day.

I was annoyed because I knew that if I had not had to go into work, I could have gotten the all of the outer walls up and I would have just had the closets left to sheet-rock. Oh well. Nothing can be done about it.

I checked the results of the 500 when I got home. I see Jimmy Johnson won the race. Eh. I am ambivalent about him. I was glad to see Ryan Newman in third and Jr. in 8th. Mark Martin actually had a good Daytona (for him,) finishing 12th. Seems like he usually wrecks in Daytona so I'm just happy to see him manage to cross the finish line.

When I came up from the basement, my wife was watching figure skating on the Olympics. I could not believe how many of the skaters fall during their competition. That has got to be hard. You spend all those hours practicing for a 2 min chance to win and then the whole thing goes down the drain. We watched a little of the Olympics till, for some unexplainable reason which is beyond me, NBC had a segment on Jerome Bettis. What does Jerome Bettis have to do with the Olympics? I quickly switched channels and was happy to see that NESN was showing Red Sox Now or Red Sox Today (or whatever the fuck it's called). Much better. The were doing a feature on Coco Crisp. So far I'd say it seems like he is going to fit in well here in RSN....

It's all happenin down in FLA

There's all kinds of action down in the Sunny Sunshine State this weekend. Pitchers and Catchers have been arriving down at the Fort, playing some long toss and showing off some goofy t-shirts. I was glad to see that the Red Sox were 'ok' with Shilling's choice of smart-ass t-shirts for long toss sessions. There was some cause for concern there, but thankfully it all worked out.


(boston.com photo)

(In case you're wondering, Curt's shirt reads: "I’m trying to see things from your point of view but I can’t stick my head that far up my ass.")

On a less sarcastic note, it's good to see the Sox getting back into action, even if it is only Spring Training. The temps may be somewhat frigid up here in New England right now (currently 11 degrees), but that warm weather is coming soon. Seeing baseball players take part in real live baseball type stuff helps to remind us that the end of winter is in sight.

Along with Spring Training, in case you have not heard, there's also a big race taking place down in sunny Florida today. I'm looking forward to hearing those magical words, 'Gentlemen, start your engines!'

Meanwhile, I'll be taking part in some scintillating activities myself this afternoon. I'll be down in my basement today putting up sheet-rock. Should be fun... WOOOOO!

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Let's go racin'...

The starting lineup is set. Let's go racin' people. I am ready.

Some Daytona odds and ends for ya.

- Anyone who calls racing boring should try actually going to a race and experiencing it live. In person, it is far from boring. Try standing on the white line, 10 feet back from the track as the cars go by you at 150 MPH and the force from the wind off the cars almost knocks you over. Boring? Hah!

- Earlier today I realized that I no longer hate Jeff Gordon. I was watching an interview with him on Speed Channel the other day and he was joking with the hosts and generally acting pretty cool. I thought to myself, you know what, Gordon's not that bad. Hatred over.

- I still think Kurt Busch is a dickhead.

- I love the mix of drivers in the starting 10. You've got old-school drivers like Mark Martin, established, former champions in Gordon, and LaBonte (who I love in the 43 car by the way) and young up and comers like Carl Edwards. Very cool.

- I hate all the hype that is getting kicked up around this year being 5 years since we lost Dale Earnhardt. Hate. It. Fucking. Hate. IT. The fact that someone dies is not something you use to hype up an event. Hey while you're at it, why don't you remind me about all the other dead friends I have. Thanks NASCAR. Fuck you. This storyline is all over the place. It's not just NASCAR, it's ESPN and pretty much every media outlet covering the event. It really bugs the shit out of me and I'm just a fan. I can imagine how it must bother Earnhardt's family... Not that the press gives a crap about respecting people's feelings...

[Okaaay. That was a nice little mini-rant there... Now where was I?]

- I'm so glad Mark Martin is no longer driving for Phizer. Even before that whole Kelo vs. New London thing happened, I have to say I never really liked rooting for the Viagra car. I have always said that I root for the driver, not the paint scheme on the car, but still. Rooting for the Viagra car did kinda suck. I like AAA as a sponsor a lot better.

I've been rooting for Mark to win that championship for so long now... He's been such an incredibly good driver for so long now and that championship has always eluded him. I really hope he can win it all this year.

- I think it's great to see Dale Jr.'s enthusiasm for racing has returned. He had an off year last year but this season it seems like he is really embracing the challenge of winning a championship for DEI. I'd love to see him dominate this year.

- It's great to see Jeff Burton on the Pole for the 500. After racing at a championship contending level for many years, he's had kind of off years the past few seasons. He has always been a favorite driver of mine. I hope he'll be in victory lane a few times this year.

- I can't believe Bill Elliot is still racing. I thought he was going to retire like 3 years ago. I guess the track is just in his blood. Nothing wrong with that! Bill Elliot is old school. It's great to see him out there.

- I really did not follow NASCAR too closely last year but I'm really excited for the Daytona 500 this Sunday. My drivers have not changed much over the years: #1, Mark Martin, #1A Dale Jr., #2 Bobby LaBonte, #3 Kenseth, #4... Hmm. I guess I don't really have a #4. I pretty much like all the drivers. There are only a few that I adamantly, do not like (Kurt Busch, that's you).

- I used the phrase, 'it's great' an awful lot in this post.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

An Even 50...

After 'Lost' ended, I clicked over to the C's game, just to see how the boyz were doin'.

Like the Bruins, the C's are a team that just can't seem to find itself this season. They have had some nice moments but... there have been a lot of times where it's not been fun to watch. Despite an inconsistent season so far, the C's remain in contention to make the playoffs.

In tonight's game vs. The Cavs, the C's showed a lot of grit, but came up just short. The C's made a game of it and it certainly was exciting to watch. Paul Pierce set a career high with 50 points before fouling out in the 2nd over-time. The effort was there, even if the result was not what we would have liked to see. That counts for something in my book.

Trial run...

When I got home from work last night, I walked in the door to find my wife on the phone with the doctor. She thought she might be feeling the first signs of labor starting, and after talking to the doctor, we decided it was best to go into the hospital and get everything checked out.

We were both pretty sure that this was not 'the real thing', but we felt it was better to be safe than sorry. Either way, I was still feeling a bit nervous, 'What if this was it?' Childbirth can be a tricky thing and I could not help feeling anxious about my wife and the baby. On top of that, the idea that very soon I was going to be a brand new Dad again suddenly hit me full force and my thoughts were filled with what lay ahead in the next few weeks and months.

We grabbed my wife's bag, which she already had packed and ready to go for just this type of thing, along with the camera and a few other things like toothbrushes, etc.

As we drove to the hospital, I put on some classical music to help my wife stay relaxed. She seemed to be doing ok and did not appear to be in any discomfort.

Once we got to the hospital, we headed up to labor triage and got checked out. We spent a few hours up there making sure everything was ok. The doctors did an examination as well as an ultra-sound to be sure there were no problems. While the doctor was doing the ultra-sound, the baby was kicking the area he was looking at and the doctor said, 'Boy this baby is really kicking!'

Thankfully, it turned out my wife was not in labor and she and the baby were both doing fine. Everything looked ok and we headed home. Both of us were very tired, but relieved.

Last night we had quite the 'trial run'. Before I know it, it will be time for the real thing.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Valentine's Day Games...

Every year, my wife likes to play the same little game on Valentine's day.

"You don't have to get me anything this year for Valentine's. Flowers are too over-priced and expensive. Just get me a card"

Yeah. Right.

"I mean it," she'll say. "I don't want you spending a lot of money on Valentine's this year."

I usually reply with a terse, Tony Almeida like, "Yah."

She knows I'm not that dumb...

This year I figured I was being sooo smart... Instead of going to the grocery store on Valentine's Day and battling with 100 other flower hunting husbands and boyfriends for the best looking bouquet, I'd beat the rush and go to the grocery store the night before Valentine's Day, on Valentine's Day Eve, so to speak. I'd get a nice, perky bouquet of un-trampled flowers, aaaand, I'd still have my pick of the best cards, because all the normal dumb-asses would be decending on the card section tomorrow.

Ha! So shrewd! After all, no normal man ever thinks to get a Valentine's card ahead of time...

Wrong.

The first part of my plan worked out ok and I got a nice bouquet of flowers, but it turned out the card section was completely barren. It was devoid of 'To My Wife' cards. The only cards that were left were 'To My Husband' cards.

What the hell?? I figured I was set getting to the store a whole day early to get my Hallmark Holiday, oops, I mean, Valentine's Day cards.

Thankfully, there was a CVS in the same plaza as the grocery store, so I headed over there. They had a more 'robust' selection of cards available and after some jostling and bumping of shoulders, I managed to target and acquire the card that I needed. I could not find a good 'To My Wife' card, those had been cleaned out, but there were still a lot of good, 'Sweetheart' and 'To My Soul-Mate' cards left.

After I got my Wife's card from myself taken care of, the next challenge was finding a card for each of my kids to give to Mom. For some reason all those cards were cleaned out too. All the good 'I love you Mommy', little kid style cards were gone. All that was left were those obnoxious, 'Teenager to Mom' cards that say stuff like, 'Even though I never pickup after myself and I go out drinking with my buddies every night and worry you to death, I still love you Mom. Happy Valentines. (Um, can I borrow 20 bucks?)'

Slim pickin's

To make things worse, the cards were totally disorganized. It was a complete mess, with all the different cards stuffed into the same slots or the wrong slots, (and of course, no envelopes).

Thankfully, after a lot of digging, I managed to find a couple cute cards that the kids could give to Mom.

Mission complete.

I feel bad for you saps who are reading this right now and haven't gotten your cards yet... good luck. I hope You didn't fall for the, "Don't get me anything for Valentines Day" thing.

Happy Hallmark Holiday Valentines Day.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Hope Springs Eternal on Truck Day...

With the Red Sox equipment truck beginning it's journey down south today, I was thinking about the current state of the Sox and you know what? I think our team is in pretty good shape right now.

The Sox got the best player they could to replace Johnny Damon in CF with Coco Crisp and they signed a high quality SS in Alex Gonzalez. They got a very good defensive 1st baseman in J.T. Snow and a former Gold Glove winner in Mike Lowell to man 3rd Base. I have a feeling that both of those guys will be responsible for several wins this year simply from their infield playing skills.

This may be a football term, but I think it applies in baseball too. Defense wins Championships.

Looking at our pitching staff, on paper at least, we've got a quality rotation with depth in the bullpen. Of course, there are some big 'ifs' that have to be answered before we find out exactly how good our rotation really is, but looking at the names on the list, Wake, Beckett, Paplebon, Arroyo, Wells, Shilling, Timlin, you can't help but get a little bit excited to see how this year's pitching staff is going to do.

There is a good mix of experience and young, up and coming pitchers there. I am looking forward to watching Jon Paplebon's ongoing development as well as seeing how Shilling and Foulke look this year in Spring Training.

I am admittedly bi-polar when it comes to The Red Sox, and I threw some tantrums over some of the Red Sox off-season escapades this year that would have made my kids proud. In general though, I tend to maintain a positive outlook towards The Sox and the players on the team. I always try to be supportive of the team and I rarely get down on a player, unless they are in an extremely prolonged slump or have done something totally stupid to piss me off..

Take for example Keith Foulke and Curt Shilling. I get the feeling from some of the things I have read over the off-season that a lot of people have written those two players off. Two of the heroes of the 2004 Championship season had a down year last year, so they have been cast aside, thrown in the trash heap.

Personally, I have never understood the Shilling-bashers. I think Shilling is the balls. I honestly don't see how you can't like the guy, but I guess he is one of those 'love em or hate em' type players. Count me in the 'love em' group. I have a feeling Shilling is going to dig down this year and remind people why The Sox went out and got him in the first place.

I have a good feeling about Keith Foulke as well. He's got something to prove too, not only to Red Sox Nation, but to himself as well and I am backing him all the way.

After all the ups and downs this past off-season had, I think things have turned out pretty good for the '06 Red Sox and as you can see, I have a good feeling overall about this team as we head into Spring Training.

Players came and went, Theo left and returned, but with everything that happened, The Sox managed to keep things from falling apart. Now that this tumultuous off-season is coming to an end, my feeling toward The Sox could best be described as 'serene'.

Pitchers and Catchers report this weekend and something tells me that this is going to be a pretty good year for the Boston Red Sox... I'm looking forward to feeling the hot sun on my face and listening to some some enjoyable baseball games.

Guess I should start reminding my 'sources' to keep me in mind for tickets...

GO SOX

Truck Day!

Today is Truck Day, (a day for you and me, hooray!)

After digging out of yesterday's snow-storm, truck day helps me forget about winter and reminds me that Spring Weather is not too far away.

Time to get that Red Sox gear out of the closet...
 

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Pats / Sox Nation Frapper Map...

The Patriots and Red Sox Nation map on Frapper has been slowly but surely gathering new members.

I am glad to see people seem to like the map. If you have not added yourself, swing on by and stick a pin in there! No obligations. It's all just for fun!

Awaiting Truck Day, NHL break and the Pro Bowl...

The other day I was listening to some random goodness on my iPod (welcome back little friend!) and 'Sweet Caroline' from Neil Diamond came on. It immediately got me thinking about The Red Sox and a warm, summer-time baseball game at Fenway Park.

Truck Day is rumored to be tomorrow. Hopefully this weekend's snow storm does not throw a wrench in the works. I can't say I'm one of those people who is climbing the walls waiting for baseball to start, but I am looking forward to baseball season and everything that comes along with it: green grass, warm weather, hangin' out in my backyard oasis with the fam, Joe and Jerry on the AM Radio and a T&T; close at hand... Nice.

Right now, I'm still coming down off of football season. Football is my primary sport and once it ends, it takes a little while for me to change over to baseball mode. Over the next few weeks I'll begin to switch over and I'll start wearing less of The Pats ball-cap and more of the Red Sox cap, but I'm not ready to get into full baseball mode quite yet.

The bridge between Football and Baseball for me is Hockey and now that football is over, I've been paying more attention to the Boston Bruins. The B's have been up and down all season and it's not looking like that is going to change any time soon.

The last few B's games have been frustrating to watch. There have been flashes of brilliance and excitement, but there have been too many let downs, with games that have started out promising only ending in disappointment. The B's are playing hard, but they need to learn how to finish a game. It's been one step forward, two steps back for the Bruins this year.

Friday's game vs. The Lightning was a perfect example of a game that was really frustrating to watch. Locked in a 4-4 tie midway through the 3rd, The B's got a spectacular short-handed goal to go up 5-4. They had the momentum and it was looking like they were going to roll to a win and get those much needed 2 points. Instead, The B's got conservative. Instead of staying aggressive and taking the game to Tampa in their offensive end, the B's started dumping the puck in and trying to run the clock.

Things fell apart with loose defensive play in their own end of the ice and The B's gave up 2 goals, eventually going down 6-5 to Tampa Bay. Instead of picking up 2 points and clawing one step closer to a playoff spot, they got nothing and wound up going backwards in the standings.

I still think The Bruins will somehow scratch their way into the playoffs this year, but I have a feeling it's going to be a fight the whole way. Now it's the 2 week break for the Olympics. I'm hoping I can catch a couple of the mens ice hockey games. I love Olympic Hockey on that big European ice... Wide Open.

Speaking of wide open, The Daytona 500 is next Sunday. Gentlemen, start your Engines. I have to admit, I paid very little attention to NASCAR last year.

The other day I got a catalog in the mail from Roush Racing that had Mark Martin on the cover. I was kind of surprised because I thought last season was going to be his last year running the circuit. Shows how much attention I have been paying. Look's like ol' Mark is going to give it one more go round.

I was glad to see he's no longer running with a sponsorship from Phizer. Even though Martin has been my favorite driver for many years, after the despicable Supreme Court decision in the Kelo vs. New London case last year, (still have not forgotten about that) I could no longer support Martin while racing with Phizer's sponsorship.

Now Mark is running with AAA as a sponsor. Much better. Definitely more agreeable.

I spent a little bit of time watching the Pro-Bowl today. I was not very interested in it, since there was not a single representative from The Patriots in the game, but still, it was football, even if it was a meaningless exhibition. With the Pro-Bowl, Football season comes fully to a close and baseball mode gets one step closer...

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

recently noticed...

I asked my wife some questions about some recently noticed odd behavior:

- If you park in a handicapped spot, but put your hazard lights on, does that make it o.k.?

A: No.

- A bunch of people in my office have built mountains of empty soda cans on their desks. They are literally surrounded by a pile of cans about 8 cans deep and 6 cans tall. Is there some kind of geek status derived from the amount of empty soda cans you can surround yourself with on your desk?

A: I don't know. Is that like beer cans but with soda? To me that's pretty stupid.

- While driving, if you look in your rear view mirror and notice that there is a mile of cars trailing behind you waiting to pass, yet you refuse to move over, are you doing some kind of public service by making us all drive below the speed-limit?

A: I gotta say No.

Thanks dear!

In other news, I finally got my iPod back from Apple today. It took exactly 6 weeks for them to send me a new, (read: refurbished,) iPod.

I'm just glad it's back. I've already been yelled at to turn that damned music down... I felt like I was back living at my Mom's house.

Monday, February 06, 2006

My lame Superbowl...

Various Superbowl XL afterthoughts:

- Every time I clicked over to the ABC's pre-game coverage, hoping to catch some Bill B, Super B pre-game analysis, they were showing a commercial or some ridiculous segment that I had absolutely no interest in.

- I tried to limit my Football intake yesterday, just to give my wife a break (I'm so thoughtful). After all, game coverage did start at like 10 PM Sat night...

- While watching the NFL Films Superbowl highlight shows, it seriously started to feel like nearly every other Superbowl had either The Cowboys, Steelers or The Steelers, Cowboys. It began to get a little sickening.

- I had forgotten how much I hated 'The Mile High' salute.

- I missed the pre-game ceremony featuring the MVPs from past Superbowls and I also missed Tom Brady doing the coin flip. I was watching the Superbowl 36 highlights, which ran till 6:30 PM, and I was so into it that I completely forgot the Superbowl starts at some weird time like 6:18 or something... I was kind of bummed that I didn't get to see Tom Brady and Dion Branch up there with all the other Superbowl MVPs and I really wanted to see Brady flip the coin. I was actually looking forward to that more than the game itself but when I switched the channel over to the game it had already started. Oh well.

- After looking forward to the Superbowl all week, I missed watching most of game and didn't even see the end of it.. Some time late Sunday afternoon I came down with some kind of 'stomach thing' (I'll spare you the details) and around the beginning of the 2nd quarter of the game I became so uncomfortable, I had to go up to my bedroom and lay down. I tried to watch the game for a little while in bed but the flickering from the TV screen was making me feel worse, so I shut it off.. I didn't know who won the game till this morning. I was hoping I would find out it was Seattle but I had a feeling it was going to be Pittsburgh... It was.

- I was reading some of the news about the game on the interweb this morning and I was pissed when I read that all the lame-ass Pittsburgh fans at the stadium had booed Dion Branch and Tom Brady during their MVP introductions and had booed Tom Brady during the coin flip. Pittsburgh fans are like school on Saturday. And to think I actually felt a small amount of pity for them last week. F U Steeler fans. I can't believe I actually felt a little bad for you guys. I hope you're finally satisfied. It only took your team 14 years to back up all the talk with an actual accomplishment.

- Even though I would have preferred watching the game instead of lying in the fetal position in bed, it sounds like I did not miss much of a game. I won't be surprised if the Superbowl XL highlight show is scheduled for an early morning time-slot on ESPN2 next year.

- 5 months till Training Camp starts...

GO PATS

Sunday, February 05, 2006

The Superbowl is a Holiday. Happy Superbowl!

Despite what my mother-in-law may like to believe, The Superbowl is a holiday, a great holiday and, as far as I'm concerned, the best holiday of the year.

Today is a day when everybody gets the same present, a (hopefully) great Football Game to watch with the two best teams in the NFL fighting for the right to be called 'Champions'. For fans of the eventual winner, it's a very special present indeed, for as a football fan, when your team wins the biggest game of all, there's nothing like it in the world. The feeling of seeing your team win The Superbowl can only be described as pure joy. It's a feeling of happiness that stays with you for months afterwards and you get a heart-warming feeling in your chest with every reminder of it. A smile will come to your face every time you see that Sports Illustrated ad featuring your team on the the cover of the hard-bound Superbowl Champions commemorative book.

As a Pats fan, I've considered myself to be very lucky these last few years, watching my team take home the Lombardi Trophy 3 times. I went through what I refer to as sports-inflicted torture during all 3 of The Pats recent Superbowl appearances, but the payoff at the end made all the writhing on the floor, acting like a complete lunatic and pulling out every insane superstition in the book worth it.

For me, Superbowl 36 (Pats / Rams) ranks beneath only my wedding and the birth of my children as one of my life's greatest moments. (My wife feels a little differently about that. 9 months pregnant at the time, she was literally moments away from calling an ambulance at the end of the game as I collapsed and lay sprawled motionless on the living room floor, reveling in the feeling of pure bliss.)

Of course, just because my team is not in The Big Game this year, that does not mean I won't thoroughly enjoy watching the Superbowl. Even when your team is not in it, the Superbowl is always a game to look forward to and the Superbowl games of last few years have been very exciting and enjoyable to watch.

Superbowl 34 was an incredible game, with the Titans missing the game winning TD by about 1 foot as the final seconds came off the clock. I didn't think a Superbowl could match that type of excitement until my Pats took on the Rams in what may have been the most exciting Superbowl ever played in SB 36.

Ok, Superbowl 37 may not have been considered 'exciting', but as a lifelong hater of the Oakland / La-La Land Raiders, I was quite happy to see the shellacking that the Tampa Bay Bucs put on The Raiders and, adding insult to injury, I appreciated the fact that the ass-whooping was applied by the team's former coach, Jon Gruden, only one year removed from his head coaching position at Oakland. I was also thankful to Oakland QB Rich Gannon for erasing Pats QB Drew Bledoe's name from the record books as the owner of the record for tossing the most interceptions in a Superbowl.

My team played and won in both Superbowl 38 and 39, so obviously, I am biased about those being great games, but I think even non-Pats fans would have to agree that both of those games were very exciting to watch. Superbowl 38 had it all: Defensive chess matches and Offensive firepower and in Superbowl 39, the game once again came down to the wire (and a near heart attack for me).

I'd like to wish the best of luck to the fans of both Pittsburgh and Seattle today. I'll be pulling for Seattle, but if Pittsburgh wins, that's ok too. Overall, I'm pretty neutral here. I'm mainly pulling for Seattle to win simply because they've never been in the big game before and also because Seahawks LB Lofa Tatupu is the son of one of my favorite Patriot players, Mosi Tatupu.

Yes, The Pats are not in the game this year, but at least there's a little bit of Patriots flavor in it. I'll be trying to catch Bill Belichick's pre-game analysis in between the NFL Films Highlight shows that air on ESPN2. And of course, there's the 'Patriots Hour' on ESPN2, with the Superbowl 38 and 36 highlight shows starting at 5:30 and Tom Brady doing the coin-flip to start the game.

Enjoy the Superbowl everybody. Let's hope it's a good one because after this it's a long stretch till August.

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Playoff nightmares...

Last night I had a real hard time sleeping.

I had a crazy nightmare that I had tickets to a Patriots playoff game, but when I got to the stadium (for some reason carrying with me a life-size Tedy Bruschi cardboard stand-up), the guy manning (Freudian slip right there?) the gate would not let me inside.

I kept telling the nightmare gate-keeper that there was nothing wrong with my ticket, but he kept giving me the the run-around and made me do all kinds of silly things.

I had to go to the Pats front office and get my credit card checked and then, after I came back to the admission gate with a printout of my balances, the ticket guy was telling me that my card was maxed out, even though it was not, and because of that I could not use my ticket to get into the game. I had to go work it out with the credit card company if I wanted to get in.

The whole time I could see through the gate that the game was starting and I was missing it and I kept asking the burly ticket guy with the big handlebar moustache what any of this stuff had to do with my ticket to the game. My ticket was perfectly legit and real so let me in! But he would not let me in. I was barred from The Pats playoff game.

I tossed and turned all night, fitfully going back and forth between the admission gate and The Pats front office, calling the credit card company on some pay phone, and begging the admission gate guy to just take my ticket and let me in, all the while missing the Pats in the playoffs.

I think my sub-conscious has not yet come to grips with the fact that The Pats are not in the Superbowl this weekend. My wife just thinks I'm nuts.

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

WARNING: LOUD MUSIC CAN HURT YOUR EARS

From the completely asinine and ridiculous department:

Apparently, if you listen to your music too loudly, it's entirely possible that you can damage your hearing.

Somebody's going to have to pay.

If this guy has his way, that pay out will come from Apple computer, because I guess the company did not properly warn him that sticking headphones into his ears and cranking up the Mantovani can actually hurt your ears.

Fucking un-believeable.

That sad part is that this idiot probably has a good chance of winning his case. I mean, if you can sue Dunkin Donuts and win because you were not properly warned that drinking hot coffee can burn your tongue, and you can sue McDonalds and win because you were not properly warned that eating fries, burgers and shakes can make you into a fat fuck, why not sue Apple because you were not properly warned that sticking headphones inside your ears and listening to your music too loudly using your iPod could cause hearing loss.

Makes sense to me.

Personally, I just want my iPod back from the dang battery replacement service... Hey wait, Apple told me the repair job was going to take 2-3 weeks and it's been longer than that. Maybe I can sue!

Daily craziness...

I usually call home around lunch-time just to break up the day a little and say Hi to the wife.

Invariably during our phone conversations, she lets out an exasperated sigh and then asks me to hold on a min. She then proceeds to shout at our children to make them stop doing whatever mischivious thing they are up to in the background.

It seems that whenever my wife tries to talk on the phone, the kids go out of their way to start doing something they are not supposed to in order to get her attention.

I am often amazed at some of the things she has to yell at them to stop doing.

Today's mischief had her yelling,  "UHG! Don't lick the hermit crab!!"

It's a nut house...

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