Ahh... The Weekend

Finally..
Not much to report on lately. Work has been completely insane. I've been there 4 months and I'm already feeling burned out. Oh well. Didn't do much tonight. Got chinese food, watched some tv and read... exciting stuff huh.
The weekend though should be fun. I have some stuff to do around the house tomorrow, along with putting up the xmas lights on the outside of the house. (pictures will be taken, don't worry) Tomorrow night, my cousin D is staying with us, which will be cool. Most likely pizza and watch a movie and play some video games.. the perfect night really.
So I just finished reading a new book. Slam, by Nick Hornby. I've read pretty much everything by Hornby (High Fidelity, A Long Way Down, Fever Pitch, etc) so obviously I'm a big fan. This book could be considered "young adult" but I read it anyway. It was written in typical Hornby style, my style really (only 100x better). The book is about a 16 year old who worships Tony Hawk and (oops) gets his girlfriend pregnant. As are all of his books, it takes place in England and its really well written. It only took me a couple of days to fly through this one, but I would recommend it to anyone that likes his earlier stuff. Easy read, keeps the reader interested, a couple of laugh out loud moments.
Ok, that's it for now.. back to the Celtics game..have a great weekend all.

Hump Day!

Wednesday.. can't wait for the weekend..

• Someday when we have kids, I can't wait for this.. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/071126&sportCat=nba
• The best thing ever, the amazon.com "wish list". It makes buying gifts for people soooo much easier. Although I have no idea what to get my lovely wife for Christmas. We've put a $100 limit on gifts this year, and the idea is to do one great gift as opposed to 10 small trinkets that'll never get used. Any ideas out there?
• So I haven't been to the gym in like a month, lazy I know. But I just found out that my brother-in-law, who's a great guy, but just doesn't scream "in shape", is running a 10k with his wife this spring. I think this is the motivation I need to start going back to the gym. If he can do it, I sure as heck can too. I need some sort of weight loss/get in shape bet though. Any takers? I figure if i'm competing directly with someone, I'm more liking to keep going to the gym as I hate to lose at anything.
• Can you believe that Wheel of Fortune has been on 25 years! Think about the concept of the show. Hangman on tv, with money.. simple as that. And Vanna, easiest job in the history of jobs. She doesn't even have to turn the letters anymore, they're all touch screens! Easy money right there. And she's never worn the same dress twice. They're all returned to the designer or auctioned for charity. I'm like my dad, I wear the same thing pretty much every day, and she's never worn the same thing twice! Amazing..
• For those of you who loved sports in the late 80's/early 90's there was NO ONE better than Bo.. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=bojackson&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1 To say that I was obsessed with him is an understatement. Remember the Nike slogan, "Bo know."? I must have owned 15 Bo Knows t-shirts, all in different colors, once for each day of the month. I still have his book and some of the posters from back in the day.
• Did you see that in tonight's Republican debate, people could use YouTube to ask the candidates questions? Not sure how I feel about this. There are some pretty dumb people out there, and YouTube seems to bring out the worst in them (or best, if you like to judge and laugh at others)
• So one of our favorite shows, Mythbusters, is currently do a pirate themed show. Good stuff. However sometime in the next couple of weeks, they're doing a MacGyver themed show, testing the most popular contraptions/schemes on MacGyver. Can not wait for this episode. Who doesn't love MacGyver?!?!
• PowerBall jackpot is up to $155 million... Another great thing about Maine.. Powerball...

Happy Anniversary!

So yesterday was our 3rd anniversary. We really don't do a whole lot to celebrate since if you think about it, all an anniversary is saying is "yay, another year were we didn't break up!", which is a little too pessimistic for me. I did bring the misses flowers and cook her dinner (shrimp scampi mmmmm), but besides that it was pretty much a normal night. So congrats to us for not breaking up last year! Let's try for one more!!!
Some random thought:

• The Celtics. Can you believe the season so far? Allen, Pierce and Garnett all averaging 20 points/game or more. Garnett being a beast on the boards bringing down 12+ rebounds a game. There are a couple of caveats however. The have yet to go out west and play the juggernauts out there. For the most part, they've beat the teams they're supposed to beat and taken care of business. The month of December well be a true test however, with a trip out west and thru Chicago, Milwaukee and Toronto. The schedule gods have been very nice to this team though, with only 14 games in the month and only 3 sets of back to back games. I wouldn't be shocked if they went 10-4 or 9-5 in the month.
  The kids have been playing well as of late too. I'd like to see Perkins get more rebounds and Rondo get a couple more assists, but for the most part, no complaints. Ronda can beat pretty much anyone off the dribble; he just needs to be a little more aggressive and assertive.
  And the best sign to date, Doc Rivers who's notoriously bad at using his bench, seems to have a rotation down. Granted it gets tweaked depending on the opponent, but for the most part its House, Tony Allen and James Posey first off the bench. Davis has been playing well, but I'm slightly concerned with his itchy trigger, as he immediately looks for his shot every time he touches the ball. He needs to realize who's on his team and who's on the floor with him, and when to shoot and when to pass and run the offense.
  Can't wait for this season to play out though…
• Great win by the Pats Sunday night. They didn't play as well as they have in the past, Phily played way above their heads, and NE still managed to win. That's a very good sign for this team.
• Great seeing everyone over Thanksgiving. Hopefully we'll get to see those of you we missed over Christmas.
• Legally, today is our anniversary, as the minister put the wrong date on our marriage certificate. So Happy Anniversary, part II, to my lovely wife!

I Missed Maine..

Ahhh Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday. No need to stress over what gifts to get everyone, or worry about credit card bills. Just lots of eating and family time.
So since the wife and I were down in Boston for Turkey day, we got to see most of the family. We started out the morning at the in-laws making 10 pounds of mashed potato's, 9 of which were going to my grandmother's house for dinner. Thankfully Sarah peeled all the potato's, so I just had to help mash them. (we have this great mashing pot that makes life so much easier too) That afternoon, we headed over to Gramma's a little early (12:30 or so) to get in a few minutes with Gramma and Papa before the crowd showed up. Two o'clock, dinner. So by 1:50 everyone was ready to go...
We had two tables set up. The first two pictures are of the same table, I just didn't get everyone in one shot. The table is packed with yummy food, although I gotta say, the preprepared/store bought vegetable have to go. Its Thanksgiving people! Everything should be somewhat fresh and not arrive in a disposable plastic container packaged by the nice people at whatever supermarket.
The other half of the picture. Notice there's only me (taking picture) my grandfather and father in the pictures representing the males...
Yeah, apparently the other guys couldn't tear themselves away from the tv for 20 minutes to eat dinner with the rest of us. So they sat at the traditional kiddie table near the tv. We also revert back to the 1950's during Thanksgiving as none of the women with husbands present would sit down until all the men had their food. Huh? C'mon ladies, you're better than that! They've got legs! If they're really that hungry they can get up and get the food themselves!! Oh and one more thing. I'm pushing for a ban on all soda's during a holiday dinner. Drinking Pepsi at Thanksgiving just ain't right. Someday, when I host a Thanksgiving at my house, there will be a posted set of rules that all guests have to adhere to. Sounds fun doesn't it! In years past, we've had huge crowds (cuz the family is so big) but as the years have gone on the crowd has thinned out. Part of me misses having 50 people crammed into my grandparents house, but another part of me likes the relative quiet of not having that many people.
So after dinner and lots of catching up (its times like this I miss Boston), we headed off to dinner with Sarah's side, which was at her mom's friends house. (both have very little family in the area, never mind just in general, so they always do holiday's together.) As you can see below, its a much smaller crowd...

Dinner was good. I'm more of a traditional guy, so the stuffing scared me (curry i think) but otherwise, everything was yummy. Its funny though, these are some of the most intelligent people I've ever been in the same room with, yet every time they get together the conversation always reverts back to cats. We could have conversations in french!, but nope, always about the curious things the cats do, or their odd habits or whatever. Its pretty funny actually.

Friday, the wife and I met up with Mike, Kim and baby Maya for lunch. Great seeing them as we really haven't had a chance to see them in a bit. Everything seems to be going well, and Maya is growing up so fast. She's about 13 months old now, but getting so big and learning sign language along with speaking! Can you believe that?!?!? We better hope that our kids get Sarah's genes, otherwise we could be in trouble haha.

Friday night was spent out with Liz and Rick. Liz and Sarah wandered around the mall, while Rick and I hung out at the new Met Steakhouse/bar in the mall. The bar area where we were sitting watching the Celtics game was open to the mall corridor, so it had a very airporty feel to it, but it was a pretty cool place to have an appetizer and a couple of beers. The weird lumberjack sitting next to me (trucker sox hat, early 90's style flannel shirt, and long johns sticking out from the ends of his sleeves) kept trying to jump into our conversation which was a little odd. But then again, he was also sipping a shot of vodka, while drinking a bud light and emailing/texting on his Blackberry, so whatever...

Saturday, the end. We finally headed home. I love being in Boston seeing everyone, but there's something to be said for being home. We're always rushing around trying to squeeze in as many visits as we can do in a short amount of time (because we really miss seeing everyone), so going home we can just relax. Now if people came to visit us, we wouldn't always have to run around all the time... I'm just saying... ;) We stopped in Freeport to return a couple of items we bought earlier in the week and to hit Starbucks. I ordered my drink with soy of course (stupid lactose intolerance) and when it was done, Sarah (being smarter than I am) told me to double check that they used soy and not milk. I said, nah, they must have, there's an 's' for soy on the cup. Approximately 2 hours lately, and thankfully home by then, I came to the unfortunate conclusion that they did indeed use milk and not soy. I now have a mortal enemy in that barrister and have learned an important lesson, always double check to make sure they used soy... Anyway, when we were about a mile from our exit, my new favorite uncle called and asked if we wanted to go shooting. So of course we floored it home, got some warm clothes, said hi to the cats and headed over to his house. My two uncles, Sarah, my cousin D and I loaded up the trucks and headed down to the pit for some clay shooting... My lovely wife in her stylin' vest (don't want any hunters getting confused). She didn't hit any of the clay pigeons... but then again it was darn cold out and its a little tougher to shoot when you can't feel your fingers. She was pretty comfortable with the gun though (12 gauge shotgun I believe), so now we need to find a gun club to join.
I on the other hand, am very comfortable shooting (all those years of Nintendo Duck Hunt and Big Buck Hunter paying off finally!) I maybe hit three or four targets, so obviously I'm not that comfortable yet. And apparently they all like Sarah a lot more than me, as she got the orange vest and I didn't. Its a lot of fun though, so thanks Uncles B & D for inviting us out. Nothing like shooting off some shotguns to feel like you're back in Maine..

So Thanksgiving was great, great catching up with everyone and seeing how much the little ones have grown up, but its great to be home again too. Next trip, Christmas which we don't have the specifics down for yet. Ok, off to Uncle's B & M's for dinner. Sorry for the long post, hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgivings as much as we did.

Sarah's Birthday...continued

So we left and headed shopping Tuesday afternoon. We arrived in Freeport around 5, checked in (Hereseeket Inn) and settled in. The Inn was quite nice, big tub for Sarah, fireplace in all the rooms. We decided to go to LL Bean first to return one of the gifts I got her for her birthday.For all of you thinking otherwise, this sign is on all the doors entering LL Bean. So everyone thats packing, keep that in mind.
Also, for the big guys out there, LL Bean apparently has boots in your size...

After returning the gift, we roamed the store so Sarah could visit with the couple of items she was trying to choose between. (I find something i want, and buy it. Sarah finds something, finds something else, then finds something else and goes back to visit each item to decide which she wants more. Sometimes this is a 15 minute process, usually though its an hour or two process, sometimes days...)
Dinner was good, a restaurant/tavern next to LL Bean. Sarah got haddock with a cream sauce, and I had a tremendous pile of fried stuff. (haddock, clams, scallops and shrimp along with fries. thankfully for desert, they offered a defibrillator sorbet) Sarah got a gimlit, which was very heavy on the vodka, and I had two beers. One of which I've had before, a Gritty's Halloween ale. Out of the bottle, it was excellent, out of the tap, not so much. I think the problem was though that my glass was from the end of the keg, so it wasn't so good. The Sebago Red I had was my first time having one. Very tasty, almost like a Killians lite. I'd give a 6.5.
Moving right along, Wednesday we went shopping, and boy did we ever shop. We hit pretty much every store in Freeport. I bought a couple of sweaters and some khakis (apparently i like j crew and Banana Republic clothes, snobby huh) and Sarah bought a sweater (which she asked me, "is this too Kermit green?" My response was no, but if you even have to ask that question, it might just be) and some other small items (I wasn't really paying attention to be honest) My question is this, how do guys were flat front pants? Every single time I tried on a pair, they were too small. I don't care how out of style pleats are, I'm sticking with them!
Yankee candle was on the agenda too. I hate that store. Waaaaay too many smells coming together and forming one HORRIBLE smell. The people that work there must have no sense of smell at all.
So after Freeport, we figured we'd hit Kittery as well. Basically the same stores, but lots more too. Lots more people too, which is no good. We bought a bunch more things, nothing all that exciting really. Although Sarah bought a really nice suede jacket a Wilson's for like $30. She always seems to have very good luck in that store.
Upon arriving in Boston, we were going to go visit Maya and Kim, but because of the unplanned stop in Kittery and the traffic we just headed to Sarah's parents house for dinner. Her brother is in town, so after dinner the three of us headed to a local bar to hang out for a while. Did a lot of catching up and watching of the Celtics game. All in all a very fun evening.
Anyway, its Thanksgiving, so I should probably get off the computer and help Sarah peep potato's. (plus the 'shift' key on my mother-in-laws lap top doesn't work that well and its annoying me) Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Almost there...

Half day tomorrow, then no work for the rest of the week.. can't wait!
Usual crazy insane Monday at work, followed by me getting in the car, starting to pull out of the lot and hearing a funny noise. So I stopped the car, got out, and saw that I did indeed have a flat tire. After struggling for about twenty minutes to get the lug nuts off (apparently Superman works for Honda putting lug nuts on. Those things had no interest in coming off), including me pushing, pulling and jumping up and down on the tire iron, they finally came loose. But of course it wasn't over, the tire was "stuck"on. So for another 15 or so minutes I used the tire iron to pry the tire off the car. When it eventually popped loose, there I went, ass over tea kettle across the parking lot. Funny as hell, just too bad no one was there to witness it...
Sarah broke a glass tonight. Claims she didn't touch it, that it just "jumped" off the table. She's only allowed to use plastic drinking receptacles from now on. I'd appreciate it if you all helped me out with this, and in the future make sure she doesn't have a glass, only plastic :)
A Papa John's just opened up down the street from us. This means that this weekend I'll have a Papa John's review for you.
Celtics finally lost last night. We all knew (well I shouldn't say we, as I know some of you out there couldn't care less) that it would happen eventually. They're a fun team to watch this year though. When they're on their game, they're pretty much unstoppable. Always making the extra pass for the open shot or rotating correctly on defense. Thankfully I have a very understanding wife who doesn't mind (although I know she does) when I flick during commercials to the game.
Tomorrow we're off to Freeport for some outlet shopping. Not so much me, as I'm not a big shopper and always get buyers remorse when I purchase something, but for Sarah. Its like Christmas for her. So many outlets, so little time.
And for those of you who don't watch Hero's, I strongly recommend that you do so. And for anyone that does, let me know.. I need someone to discuss it with! (my own wife doesn't even watch)
So my brother-in-law is coming back to Boston for Thanksgiving. Maybe I'll get him to bring his stedi-cam up to Maine and we can put an actual tour of the house on the blog for everyone. (he's a cameraman out in Los Angeles)

Amazing Race

Not much to report on this week. Kind of a less than stellar episode. It seemed like they tried to manufacture the drama. Next week looks great though.
The teams traveled from Amsterdam to Africa, where we learned that sketchy cab drivers are found throughout the world, not just in Boston. We also learned the the blonds are complete ignorant idiots, making all sorts of inappropriate comments about the people and sights in Africa.
When are the contestants going to learn that screaming at an animal to perform a task simply doesn't work. The past couple of tasks have involved animals and the teams that shout and beg the poor animals seem to end up at the end, while the teams that are nice and respectful finish quickly. Aside from Phil's weird drenched hair at the elimination mat, there's not much else to report on. Team Sisters is on their way home now. Doesn't really bother me, as they didn't get a whole lot of face time so we hardly got to know them.
And you'll notice, my top three are still at the top of the game..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Didn't I do a wonderful job on the cake? Well that's not entirely true. I baked it, the misses really wanted to frost it, so she did cuz who am I to tell her what to do and what not to do on her birthday right? Yellow cake, chocolate frosting. Good stuff. All the Maine relatives came by to help celebrate with us, which was just great. I gotta say, we got really lucky with these particular uncle's and their families up here. They really welcomed us right in...
So the day started out with Sarah opening up the gifts I gave her (new bathrobe, which she'll return while we're in LL Bean Tuesday, a radio that her iPod plugs into so she can listen to it while working, and of course scratch tickets, which she won $30 off!) She seemed to really like the radio which was good, but the bathrobe wasn't as nice as I thought it was going to be, so she'll return it and get something better. Then we went to Nicky's for breakfast. During breakfast, her phone rang and it was my uncle and his family singing Happy Birthday! No hello, nothing, just started right in with the singing. A trip to Target and the grocery store, and home to relax for the day. Really the perfect Sunday.

So on an amusing note, Sarah and I talked about going to NY for the weekend (this weekend) a while ago, but decided to save the money and not go. And its a good thing we did because not only are the Broadway stagehands on strike (we would have seen a show), but Serendipity 3 we shut down due to health code violations. (Serendipity is the place with the really really really great frozen hot chocolate. Don't think I'll be going there anytime soon though.)
Overall, a very good weekend. Heading to Freeport for the night Tuesday, then to Boston for the rest of the week. See you soon...

Random Weekend Thoughts

• Snow... before Thanksgiving... Its not much, but its definitely there...
  (btw, notice the beautifully stained porch. yeah, I did that. good job by me huh)
• Tomorrow is m'lady's birthday. Hopefully she'll like the gifts I got her. If she likes them, great. If she returns them to buy something she likes, I'm cool with that too haha
• So I got my hair cut today. Time for a little too much sharing.. I have dry skin. No matter what kind of shampoo I use, it doesn't matter, still really dry. So why is it that barbers feel the need to always use black "capes" or "smock" or whatever they're called, when cutting your hair. If they used white or some other white color, I wouldn't have to look down and see all the little specks of white. I think they do it just to embarrass me.
• Spent most of the day at work today. And the parts I wasn't at work were spent playing video games and watching tv. A good Saturday, minus the work part, in my book.
• Bought a new video game. Call of Duty 4. Awesome stuff.
• Chinese food for dinner tonight. This is our second time getting it from this place, and both times it has been quite yummy. I think they're now the official chinese restaurant of this branch of the Maine Morrissey family.
• Product review: King of Shaves shaving gel. I used it for a couple of years maybe 5-6 years ago, then got away from it, but I'm back using it now. Great great stuff. Gives you an exceptionally close shave, and its a gel, not a foam, so its better for your skin and you can see your face while you're shaving.
• Beer review: Shipyard Prelude. Dark amber in color, available only in November/December. Not as flavorful as I would have liked in a winter beer. Dull would describe it best. It didn't taste bad, but there was nothing calling me back either. Overall, I'd give it a 5 on the jayscale. The website describes it as "rich and nutty with a hoppy finish." Well I missed all those flavors. I'd drink it if presented to me, but I probably wouldn't buy another 6 pack. (although I might try it on tap, as most beers taste different on tap)
  

The First Snow

Although I leave most of the blogging to Jay, I did feel it was important to share that I am currently watching the first snow of the season, big fat flakes, too! And it's not even Thanksgiving yet!
Happy Friday!

THURSDAY!!

Second favorite night of the week, tv wise. Earl, 30 Rock, The Office and Scrubs. Four of the top six sitcoms on tv in one night. (How I Met Your Mother and Two and a Half Men being the other two).
Anyway, so I went to the store tonight to pick up some chicken for dinner (mmm fried chicken and french fries.. heart attack waiting to happen). When I went to the check out line, I counted my items (8) and got into the 10 items or less lane. The people in front of me obviously didn't count their items, they have 17 (I counted for them). And of course one of their items didn't have a price on it, so one of the bagger kids had to run to the isle to find out what it was. Then of course they paid in cash, wasting more time digging around for the money, then taking time to place all the change just right in her little purse. What makes someone think its ok to go into the 10 items or less isle with more than 10 items??? She was wearing glasses, and people that can read sometimes wear glasses, so I don't think she just missed the sign. They blatantly disobeyed store policy! Sure, I can see if you happen to have 11 items, that's ok, it'll let it slide once. But 17?!?!?! Do you think you're better than the rest of us? Do you think that you don't have to pay attention to the rules of society and the grocery store? I hate people like that. They were probably anarchists or something anyway.
I think we either need to start wearing larger sized shoes, or put the cat on a diet.. you decide...

I'm going to go with option B, put the cat on a diet.

In other news, one of the gifts I purchased the other night online for my lovely wife's birthday showed up today. Good news, it came before her birthday. Bad news, she now knows I got her something from LL Bean. That's ok, she'll probably return it anyway, which makes it convenient that we're going to the LL Bean outlet in Freeport next week. The second gift hasn't arrived yet, but I bought it on amazon, so she won't have a clue what it is.

One last thing. Does anyone have an old fake Christmas tree that they no longer use? We're looking for one to put on the front porch this holiday season. They're really expensive at Target and Home Depot, so I figured I'd see if anyone had an old one they don't use anymore. We'll be in Boston next week for Thanksgiving if you'd like us to take it off your hands...

Half Way There...

I had a bad day at work today...
Please, ignore the bald spot. (wow, I never realized it was so big. Its slowly creeping its way across my entire scalp!)
Yes, that's a 40...and yes, thats a Domino's pizza on the table...
But because its about work, I can't tell you about it because I don't talk about work here. I will say, that on the way to pick up the Domino's I stopped at Rite Aid. The girls working the counter thought it was hysterical that I was buying a whatchamacallit and a 40 of The Beast. In retrospect, I think its hysterical too. The best part is though, the 40 of Milwaukee's Best Ice cost $1.29. Granted it tastes like crap, but that's besides the point. Ohh, and it gets -10 on the jayscale. It was also my first time purchasing a 40 of anything. I gotta admit, it felt a little wrong. I actually felt the need to tell the girl at the counter that it was for a joke. Sad huh.
If you haven't been watching the Celtics tonight, boo to you. They're up by 2 at the half, and they're not playing that well at all. That's a good sign. Something we haven't seen around these parts in close to twenty years now. I really really really need to get to a game or seven this year...
Wednesday nights..not much on. Although I do recommend Pushing Daisy's. I'm not totally caught up, as we have the past couple episodes recorded, but it is quite entertaining. Almost cartoony, yet not too much over the top.

Rolling Along

• Top 10 toys to avoid list came out today. Gotta love it. Last year, wooden blocks were on the list. C'mon people! When did people become some paranoid/overprotective. Sure, magnets that can be easily swallowed are bad ideas for toys, but an expanding plastic sword? Its not going to hurt anyone. Let the kids be kids. Its just another example of the wussification of America. First they outlaw dodgeball (commie b*stards), then they stop keeping score in kids games (sure, winning and losing isn't part of real life, keeping living in your bubble people), now they put common sense toys on this "bad" list. Ooh well..
• If you haven't been watching the Celtics this year, you're really missing out. They're playing excellent, unselfish basketball. Making the extra pass for the easy open shot, communicating on defense and playing all around great fundamentals.
• Anyone else see this story? Its the one about how the Clinton campaign planted questions at a Q&A the other day. Now I'm sure this has happened in the past, and it'll probably happen in the future, to all candidates, but how in the heck did they think that it wouldn't get out. Of course the kid is going to run to CNN, or tell a friend who'll tell a friend who'll tell a friend, or better yet, it'll get posted on someones MySpace page, where it'll eventually make its way into the hands of a news agency/paper. If you're afraid of what people will ask you, don't hold Q&A's or better yet, if you've got that much to be afraid of or to hide, don't run for president.
• I recently passed the 1,000 page views mark. So thank you, to everyone that is so bored at their job that they read my ramblings to kill 5 minutes, so they won't have to work. I appreciate it (that's not sarcasm either).
• We also got news that a friend might be coming up. Not sure when the visit might occur, but he made me promise not to mention him on the blog. So Tom, don't worry I won't mention you on the blog buddy and the wife and I are both exciting to have you visit, even if we have to guilt you into it :)
• Anyone else sick of the Bee Movie ads on NBC? You can't watch a show on that network without them thrusting this movie in your face. A friend of mine saw it, and she said its not really for kids.. at all. All the jokes are adult jokes that kids won't get. Can't say that I'm really dying to see it though..
• Nancy.. flicking thru the channels I came across Rear Window on A&E tonight. If you only had real cable, you would have been able to watch it. (not that I did, but at least the option was there) Apparently A&E is on a real Hitchcock kick. They've been showing his movies an awful lot lately, not that that's a bad thing. Its actually a very good thing. We watched The Birds just last weekend. I think North by Northwest was my favorite..

Start of yet another week

So, usual busy crazy day at work.. then the fun begins. Tonight was one of those nights where I actually really realized that I am now in Maine, and here's why. I decide to go hit a couple of stores to buy my lovely wife some birthday presents. First store, Target, not so much for the gift, but for cat food, juice and a new xbox game. (plus at Target, who knows, there's always the possibility of finding the perfect gift there) Cat food, check. Juice, check. Xbox game, no check. Yep, they were out of the game I wanted. When I leave the store, there's a guy just standing in the middle of the parking lot, looking all disheveled, wearing an eye patch, just staring/watching everyone leave the store. Creepy. Not saying that that wouldn't happen in MA, but it felt very Maine. (maybe it was the subfreezing temperature, or all the ME license plates that influenced my thinking at the time.) Off to the next store. Circuit City. They too are out of the xbox game I want. Frustration starting to set in. Off to store numbers 3 and 4 for m'lady's gift. Nada and zipo. No luck. Next stop, the mall. There's one particular store I'm looking for, but of course the closest one is Augusta. Problem. Augusta is far, and I'm really lazy, not a combination suited for productivity. So I resign myself to shopping the best way I know how. On the internet. You see, back in Boston I had my 3-4 "go to" stores I would shop in to buy the wife gifts. Well those stores don't exist up here, so it has totally thrown me off my game. I need to adapt, survival of the fittest right? (again, thank god for the internet) On the way home, I call call the wife and she asks me to pick up McDonald's, and I offer to get her an Orange Julius, since I'm already in the mall. I get delayed buying her smoothy due to the newbie behind the counter flirting with the 16 year old in line in front of me, then by him flirting with his 17 year old boss. (I'm of course guessing on the ages, as I didn't actually ask any of them for ID) Upon successfully purchasing Sarah's pomegranate smoothie, I head to McDonald's. Because I'm feeling lazy, I use the drive-thru (I never use the drive thu, cuz like Joe Pesci says, you get effed at the drive-thru!) Of course after I pay, they tell me my order will be another 5 minutes so can I please pull over and wait. (apparently ordering snack wraps is a rarity and they had to cook them from scratch) I misunderstand the girl in the window, and thinking she's trying to get me to take a survey or something (she asked me if I had 5 extra minutes to spare) and tell her no, I don't have 5 spare minutes and would like my food now. Yep, I was that guy. Rude at the drive thru. She then clarifies, and I apologize hoping to avoid getting my food spit in. Seven minutes later, my food arrives, I check it for items I didn't purchase (i.e. spit) and drive off. So basically, I just had one of those nights. I absolutely love living in Maine, but this was the first time that not having all the conveniences of Boston that I'm used to having really frustrated me. I learned a lesson though. Amazon.com is your friend.
On a lighter note, a Papa John's is opening up down the street. I've never had it, but have been seeing the commercials for years. Anyone ever have it? Is it any good? It's owned by the same guy that used to own Pizza Hut, and Pizza Hut, although known for its breakthrough's in pizza technology, is not really known for its quality in pizza.
Also watched two of the best shows on tv tonight, How I Met Your Mother and Heroes. Can't go wrong with either, and I highly recommend them both.
How often do you think CNN and others pull stunts like this?
And for you cat lovers...yes, there are three of them there, piled on top of the wife who's studying (and threatened me with bodily harm if she was in the picture) They normally don't all get along quite that well, but its effing cold out and not quite as cold, but chilly nonetheless, in our house. So they need to huddle together for warmth.

The Amazing Race, Week 2

Very entertaining episode tonight..Lets see, the teams started in Ireland and had to catch a flight to Amsterdam. Right off the bat though, I got annoyed. I hate when teams leave in the middle of the night and have to wait for their flights to leave in the morning. What's the point of coming in first, if it provides no benefit due to a train schedule or a flight time? Plus, watching teams sit around an airport of train station isn't exactly riveting tv. So anyway, all the teams eventually arrived in Amsterdam and had to perform one of two tasks. Searching thru thousands of bicycles in order to find 2 specific ones or lift 5 items of furniture, via rope and pulley to a 4th floor apartment. I would have chosen the lifting, but that's just me. Most teams did and those that could figure out the knots finished quickly, those that didn't bickered and eventually finished. I see nothing wrong with the occasionally snipping at each other because when you get frustrated, that happens. Some of these teams are constantly at one anothers throat though. How in the heck can you date when you're like that? I suppose if it works for you, then who am I to judge, but still... Just knowing that the camera is on me, would be enough to get me to shut up, plus, I'm kinda afraid of Sarah, so I'd be afraid she'd kick my arse if I talked to her like that.
After finishing here, the teams had to vault across a small stream/canal to get their next clue. Some teams had no problems here, others took forever and a day to accomplish the task. Team Daddy Issues really gave us a glimpse into their lives here. The father is really not a nice guy, he's constantly disparaging his daughter and not giving her the benefit of the doubt. She seems pretty nice, but he's just a dink. We also saw a little too much of Grandpa. He got all wet and muddy from his multiple attempts to cross the stream, so he decided the best course of action was to take off all his clothes and try to make it. Umm, where's that little fuzzy censoring box when you need.
Kate and Pat, the married ministers came in last though, so it was their time to leave. They seemed really nice, and treated each other very well, but we hardly got to know them. Better luck next time ladies. In the previews, next weeks episode looks fantastic...

The Weekend

So this weekend the in-laws came up to visit, for the second time. Great time was had by all, or at least they led me to believe that they had fun.
Friday I got back around 5 from Boston, and they were already here. So we hung out, caught up and eventually had dinner which was a chicken pot pie the little lady made. Part of the fun of hanging out with the parents/in-laws is the after dinner conversation. Whether its my parents or Sarah's parents, we always have a great time. Lots of good stories and lots of laughing.
After dinner, in order to celebrate some good news (Sarah's dad is going to teach in Venice for a semester, spring '09), we cracked a bottle of champagne. And believe it or not, the tv wasn't on the entire evening. I think that's a first for me..
Saturday, I went to work for a couple of hours so Sarah took her parents to see the UMaine campus. When they got back, we went to Nicky's Diner for lunch. The best part about diner's, breakfast all day. Their food is actually really good. (we had everything from pancakes to a buffalo meat burger) It seems that when we have guests, we take them to Nicky's for a meal. After lunch, we headed to Home Depot, yep that's right, Home Depot. Sarah and I have been putting off winterizing the house, so we figured nows as good of a time as any. FIL(father-in-law) and I headed off to find window locks while Sarah and her mom looked at the paint selections (I've never understood how people can spend so much time staring at the colors. You see something you like, you go with it. That's how I roll) After some winterizing and a screening of The Birds we headed out to dinner.
Dinner was at a neat little restaurant called Christor's. Its this cool little irish bar/restaurant in downtown Bangor. They have a good menu (everybodys favorites to selections for the daring), and a large beer selection (10 beers on tap, maybe another 50 in bottle). After some more good food/drink and conversation we headed home. It was freezing that night too, like 27 degrees freezing. I don't think I'm ready for winter at this point, but I really don't have a choice huh. The cold is definitely here and here to stay. (one of Sarah's flower pots outside is currently frozen solid)
Sunday was spent on the couch, raking lots and lots of leaves and painting some the windows in the "library". Pretty productive day all around. Funny line of the day, as I'm watching football and a Peyton Manning commercial comes on, my lovely wife says, "When does he have time to play football? Does he sell everything? He's in every commercial!" Very astute observation from someone who never watches football, yet knows exactly who Manning is due to the plethora of commercials he's in.
Stayed tuned for my Amazing Race write up later this evening..
New beer tasted:
Weyerbacher Double Simcoe IPA. Really good stuff. 9%apv, very very hoppy. Overall, I'd give it a 8 on the jayscale. Went down smooth, dark amber in color. It was served to me in a brandy snifter type glass, which thru me off, but we figured it was because of the high alcohol content. I'd highly recommend it.
DogFish Head Festina Peche. As my lovely wife said, "it tastes like they crossed a Clearly Canadian and beer." The first thing you taste is the peach. Didn't really have any of the characteristics of a beer, except that they both have alcohol (4.5%apv). It almost felt like a cider going down. Overall, its a once in a blue moon kinda drink, so I'd give it a 6. Not horrible, but I wouldn't have more than one at a time.

Dumb People

So there was a battle this morning in class. Apparently people sat in seats that different people had sat in yesterday. Unbeknownst to me, this is a big no no. Although, to the best of my recollection, no one called "same seats" after leaving class Wednesday. Personally, I adhere to the "shuffle your feet, lose your seat" mantra, but that's just me. The people that were mad, are probably the same people who rush to get on an airplane. Unless you fly Southwest, everyone has assigned seats, so there's no need to rush or push to the front of the line, yet some people still do. Its not like someones going to steal your seat if you don't get there fast enough!
So during class, someone mentioned that their company screwed up and didn't pay the bill to the hotel like there were supposed to. So they made the joke that she'd be "working the corners" to make a little extra money tonight. A Combat Zone comment was made, saying how its basically gone now. Well anyway, someone said, "yeah, there's only one place left over there, and its classy. Its right near the registry (in Chinatown). It's a something Gentleman's Club." Umm... could you be referring to Centerfolds? Not exactly classy... but this girl, in her infinite wisdom thought that gentleman's club meant classy.
And one more thing. Would it kill you to turn your cell phone off in class? Seriously, how difficult is it not to be rude? Check the messages during the break or whatever, just don't let it ring while the teacher is teaching..
Back to Maine tomorrow, can't wait!
-09

Back in MA

Good evening folks, we're coming to you LIVE from my little brother's spare bedroom! Well maybe not so much little brother anymore, as he's taller than me, as is my other little brother, so hows about I go with younger from now on.
So I'm in Boston for a training class this week. Man, have I missed the city. The random homeless people talking to themselves, the fresh smell of dried pee in the train station and the hustle and bustle of thousands of people rushing to work in the morning. Can't beat it... wait a second.. yes you can, its called Maine!
While here, instead of putting me up in a hotel, my cheap company said, "you can just stay with family right?" Luckily my brother and his wonderful girlfriend have been kind enough to let me stay with them. I'm very impressed with their house, they've (and by they've I mean Jessie) really done a great job decorating and furnishing the place. They also have a new puppy, she's only 4 months old and still trying to figure out the world. She's very cute, but she's going to be HUGE someday (Burmese mountain dog i think). They've also got one of the most comfortable guest beds around. Sorry wifey, we might have to ditch your parents and start staying here when we come down :)
Ok, back to my HUD training class. Tedious stuff really, so I won't bore you with the details. I have noticed, however, that I seem to work in a very female dominated field. There's around 60 people in the class, and maybe 7-8 guys. I observed this when I worked at my last job too. Most property managers tend to be female. I've thought about it, and I'm not really sure why either. Might be just one of those things. The class is very casual, which makes it slightly less painless. Its a course on the HUD handbook for low income housing, and people keep asking "why" something is, trying to make sense of a HUD rule or somehow trying to find the logic in it. People... its a government agency. There is no why and there certainly isn't any logic involved. It is what it is, and there's nothing you can do to change it, so don't even worry about it. Have you ever noticed though, that its always the stupid people who feel the need to shout out the answers. They're never right, but for some reason they think they know everything and need to let everyone else know that they know everything. In a setting like this though, I just keep my head down, do my work, and hopefully pass the test Friday with flying colors.
Alrighty, bed time. I still haven't adjusted to this daylight savings thing...

The Amazing Race

Ok, before I get to my long winded Amazing Race handicapping, I need some advice from my faithful readers. The misses birthday is coming up, so I need some ideas!!!! I'm sure I'll think of something to get her, but an idea or two wouldn't hurt. And yes, that picture does contain all four cats and the wife. Creepy huh
Ok, on to the Amazing Race. This post will be a little longer, as I'm going to break down the teams, the episode, and my odds of winning.
The Teams:

1. Kynt & Vyzsin - Goth couple. They work really well together, but their appearance might hurt them when they're looking for help in a foreign country. My prediction, 5-1 chance of winning. (aka, Team Goth)
2. Jennifer & Nathan - white young blond couple. They complain a lot, she doesn't seem to want to put in the effort necessary to win. He's kind of a dink and yelled at her a couple of times. Teams that fight a lot don't tend to do all that well. 18-1 chance (Team Bitchy)
3. Ronald & Christina - Asian father and daughter. They're both very nice, almost too nice. I can't see them doing that well due to a lack of team speed/strength. Plus, father/daughter teams tend to get voted out in the middle of the pack. 20-1 (Team Daddy Issues)
4. Shana & Jennifer - blond girls. Not nearly as fun to cheer for as last years blonds. These two want to "flirt they way thru the race". Well that's not how you win, bubye ladies, 15-1 (Team Peroxide)
5. Azaria & Hendekea - black siblings. Very nice to each other, work well together, smart and athletic. Baring any unforeseen issues, I see them going far, 3-1 (Team Siblings)
6. Lorena & Jason - white young brunette couple. He's an arse, she spent the entire episode whining about everything. Sorry guys, its not in the cards, 22-1 (Team BooHoo)
7. Ari & Staella - best friends, girl and gay guy. Couldn't tell their voices apart, that's annoying. Too much yelling and bitching, not a chance guys, sorry, 50-1 (Team Bubye)
8. Marianna & Julia - brunette latin sisters. Not a fan of these two for some reason, not sure why. They weren't on the first episode that much, so it was tough to get a feel for them. They seem to work well together though, 12-1 (Team Hermana)
9. Rachel & TK - white couple, he has the long hair. Communicated well, lots of smiling, I have a good feeling about these two, 4-1 (Team Hippy)
10. Nicholas & Donald - grandfather and grandson. I like them, kid was carrying both backpacks, good strategy. However, one needs to be smart and in very good shape to win, sorry guys, 40-1 (Team Grampa)
11. Kate & Pat - Married ministers. Didn't show much of them this episode either. Don't have a good feeling as, once again, the younger, more in-shape couples tend to have the advantage, 25-1 (Team Unitarian)

So my final 3 would be Rachel & TK, Kynt & Vyxsin, and Azaria & Henderkea. Not sure who I want to win yet though, I need to watch one more episode before I decide. Right now, my gut is telling me the siblings, Azaria & Henderkea are the smart money..

Here's what I don't get though, the first couple of episodes (or legs of the race) the goal is simple, Don't Come In Last! Who cares about the smaller prizes, you've got to think "big picture". Do your thing, align yourself with a strong team and go go go. These people all stress out about coming in 7th or whatever. Not a concern this early. Keep the fighting to a minimum and fly in under the radar. Tonight's episode started off perfectly, with everyone beeping their horns at Team Grampa. What's the rush, you're all in line, no one can move! After getting lost on the way to the airport, the teams had to fly to Ireland, where the 2nd flight to leave landed before the first (I love when that happens). Upon landing, the first stolen taxi of the season occurred (stealing another teams taxi is a Race staple). The tandem bikes in the mud up the hill had potential for hilarity, but nothing came of it. Although seeing people on tandem bikes is always funny, just not hilarious. After biking across a small inlet on a high wire, the teams had to load up a donkey and lead it down the hillside. You could tell right away who the animal people were though, as yelling at an animal to do as you say, never works. In fact, the opposite usually happens. Some donkey's trotted, others refused to move. Although its amazing no one got kicked, as lots of teams got behind the borough and pushed. That's asking for a hoof to the groin. Which, although hysterical to me, its not so much to the person being kicked.(it would, however, leave the door open for them to maybe win on America's Funniest Home Video's) After a somewhat boring conclusion, Team Siblings came in first, with Team Goth, and Team Hippy coming in 2nd and 3th respectively.

I think it'll be another good season, it's got the potential at least. Feel free to throw in your two cents. And on a related note, who wants to put in an application with me?!?!? The wife doesn't want to, so I need a partner! Matt? Steve? Phil? Sue? (sorry mom, you and your little itsy bitsy legs would just slow me down, plus, we'd kill each other haha)

Weekend Report

So lets see.. Friday we went and got the new tv. I couldn't be more happy with it either. We just hung out Friday, watched some tv, nothing all that exciting.
Saturday we left for Boston. Upon our arrival, we went straight to DSW so the wife could get her shoe fix. Needless to say, we both left with a new pair of shoes. (she made me buy them, I swear!) After leaving, we realized that we didn't sign Maya's birthday card, and we didn't have a pen in the car, so we stopped at an ATM and used the pen in the vestibule. Good thinking on my part, if I do say so myself.
That afternoon was little Maya's first birthday party. Lots of people, lots and lots of babies. Everywhere you looked, babies! It was fun though, I got to meet my friend Jimmy and Stacey's new baby, Emma, who's the sweetest little thing ever. She's very quiet and didn't mind being held by everyone at all...

The party itself was fun, as we got to see all our friends that we don't get to see that often.
After the party, we headed over to Lori and Rob's to meet their new baby girl, Julia. Again, our friends got lucky, and had the sweetest little girl. The second I held her, she immediately curled up into a ball in my arms and fell right asleep...

(obviously, neither of these pictures is me holding the baby. The wife holds, I snap the pic, its just the way it is)

That night, we headed over to Phil and Sue's for a late dinner and the BC game. Had a really good time hanging out and talking, not to mention the fabulous spaghetti and meatball dinner we were treated to. When we hang out, its usually Phil, Sue and I drinking, and Sarah watching. Nothing changed Saturday. Although whenever I try a new beer now, I make the wife try it too, as she's much better than I am at describing the flavors. Speaking of which, I tried a new beer, 420 IPA out of Denver. They call it 420 because they allegedly failed 419 times to get the flavor right.. well I'm here to tell you that they should have kept trying. Just not a good beer at all. I'd give it a 2 on the jayscale. Otherwise though, we had a good time hanging out and catching up.

Sunday, we stopped over my parents house to say hi before heading home. Its great sitting down and catching up. A lot got said in the short hour we were there (Sarah, my mom and I can all talk with the best of them, my father picks his spots to throw out the one liners), but its fun and always great to see them. After, we headed back home to Maine and once again I made record time. When I got home, Sarah settled in for a evening of homework, while I went to the Sea Dog to meet up with my uncle and some of his friends to watch the Patriots game. Great time. Their Pumpkin ale is really very good. Great flavor, darker amber color, not too much of an after bite taste, overall a sold 8 on the jayscale. The game itself was very good, and fun to watch as we basically had the bar to ourselves. There were a couple of other people there, and by couple, I actually mean two. It was nice though, as we didn't have to worry about making too much noise or bugging out people. There was one girl, sitting by herself decked out in Colts gear, who was really into the game. She got quieter and quieter as the game went on though. (that might also have been because a sketchy dude in a suit (who wears a suit on a Sunday in Maine?) was hitting on her). Great game and great beer, the perfect night. A umm lovely older lady was kind enough to buy us a round of drinks too. My uncle was wearing a Boston Firefighters t-shirt, and the lady's uncle was part of the BFD before retiring. I also think she was kinda hitting on my uncle. Which was kinda creepy as she wasn't exactly a catch. Don't worry Uncle D, you still got it though. (Aunt S, you have nothing to worry about, ever! hahaha)

We didn't get to watch the Amazing Race last night, but we will tonight, so later this evening I'll handicap the field and post it. For anyone else out there who watches it, feel free to post and throw in your two cents too.

I'm heading to Boston tomorrow for the rest of the week for work. So I'll be posting on location.

Friiiiday

Heading to Boston either tonight or tomorrow, haven't decided when yet...
Got my tv fixed, or should I say replaced. So I have a brand new tv! The screen is the same size, but the tv itself is smaller (last tv was 15 inches deep, this one is closer to 10). Since its a new tv, the picture is clearer, can't wait for the Pats game Sunday.
And to the other NBA fan out there, don't forget, tonight is opening night for the Celtics. Should be a good game with the Wizards in town.
And a big congratulations to my cousins husband (cousin in law?) David for passing the bar. He just got the news, so now he gets to be a real grown up for the rest of his life...
Finally , in a very disturbing turn of events, the tv writers have voted to strike! I'm not a big fan of reality tv (besides the Amazing Race, which starts Sunday), so this could be bad for me.

Great News!

For those of you who are eagerly awaiting an update on my tv situation, here it is...
I'm getting a new tv. They don't have anyone to fix it, so I get to switch it out for a new one. Nice huh. The transaction will take place tomorrow, I'm psyched.
Another huge congrats to Lori and Rob and their new baby. This wknd, the misses and I finally get to meet their baby and my buddy Jimmy & Stacey's newborn. Can't wait!
If you have a couple of free minutes, check out this clip of Jonathan Papelbon on Letterman last night. Its pretty funny. And don't forget, Manny is on the Tonight Show Friday night. That should be the highest of high comedy.
And for my fellow beer lovers, a friend recently traveled to San Diego and while there he tried a bunch of new beers. So I figured I'd cut and paste his thoughts for everyone else..

Beer Reviews: Basically, it's beer it's all good. 5 is a Hall of Famer(Harpoon Winter Warmer), 0 is either poisonous, non alcoholic or pretty much something where you'd rather say "Actually I am driving tonight"instead of drinking it.

• STONE Pale Ale, Escondido, CA (http://www.stonebrew.com/tasting/pale/) : 2 I've been on a big Pale Ale kick lately (Dale's Pale Ale is my newfavorite beer) so I was excited to try this one. The bitter aftertaste really knocks this one down. It started off great but ended badly.
• Karl Strauss Octoberfest, San Diego, CA http://www.karlstrauss.com/PAGES/Beer/Our_Beer/OKT.htm): 1 Starts off with a great caramel flavor but ends with a honey aftertaste. I hate honey so this is why it's a "1", it came very close to being a "0"
• Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale, Honolulu, HI(http://www.konabrewingco.com/beers/firerock): 3.5 Very similar to a Sam Octoberfest, but with a real hoppy finish.
• Green Flash West Coast IPA, San Diego, CA(http://www.greenflashbrew.com/taproom.html): 3 This is more of an IPA lite. Very little hops and a lot more fruity.Check out the website. These dudes give me hope I can start my own brewery as in the careers section it says " we always need temporary labor on bottling days"
• Fat Tire Amber Ale, Fort Collins, CO (http://newbelgium.com/beers_ft.php) : 3.5 This is a more chocolaty Sam Adams with less bite at the end which I find more enjoyable.
• Drop Top Amber Ale, Portland, OR (http://www.widmer.com/beer_droptop.aspx): 1 This seemed like a flat Sam Adams. Could be we just got a bad pitcher, but the flatness was very unappealing. The taste was decent but.....seriously some hops would have been good in this beer.
• Karl Strauss Stargazer IPA, San Diego, CA(http://www.karlstrauss.com/PAGES/Beer/Our_Beer/STAR.htm): 4 A smooth less hoppy IPA similar to Sierra Nevada, but slightly less hops and better tasting.
• Coronado Golden, Coronado, CA(http://www.coronadobrewingcompany.com/our-beers/): 3 Very light beer. Perfect for the summer.