And On To 2009 We Go..

Happy New Year everyone!!!!

No Playoffs This Year

As my friend Phil so eloquently put it, "only Brett Favre has the ability to disappoint two fan bases at the same time." Well said my friend...

I'm Back

So needless to say, we had a fantastic time time while down in Boston for Christmas. We got to see a lot of family and some friends and of course had a lot of great food. Instead of boring everyone with all the little details, I'll just post some pictures and we'll go from there...

This is my brother and his fiance Christmas morning at my parents house. That giant smile on his face is because he's about to open the Wii my parents gave them. Wii makes me smile too...

My other younger brother opening up one of the many sweatshirts he got...

Have you ever seen someone this happy to get a level? Granted it's a really cool level, but still. I think Dad needs to get out more..

Mom and Dad opening the GPS we gave them. As you can see, they apparently took this gift very seriously haha...

The wife opening up her gift from me. I pulled a "Georgia" on her (Georgia is my cousins grandmother up here. she wraps all her gifts to you the same way. a box in a box in a box, etc, all of which are wrapped up nicely) and she seemed to like everything I got her, which included this cool cup cake decorating book. She loves decorating cakes and what not. I guess that helps explain my gut....

The wife again, with Tommy my cousins baby and my godson. What a cute kid huh..


And of course me with Tommy. As you can see, he's a very happy baby...
My parents gave us a video camera for Christmas too, so someday when I figure it out, there might be a new element added to the blog, movies...

Merry Christmas

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas! to everyone out there...

I'll be back Sunday with a full post, lots of pictures, and all that.

Have a happy and safe holiday everyone...

The Weekend

So it was a busy and productive yet uneventful weekend up here. We didn't really get any snow Friday, but we're getting slammed now (16-18 inches by the time its done tomorrow they're saying)

Saturday night we went over my uncles house for some pizza and to hang out. We won't get to see them on Christmas so it was nice spending some time with them now. Figures though, the minute we get real snow (which mean snow mobiling), I'm not going to be around to enjoy it. Stupid holiday getting in the way of fun :)

We got all our wrapping and shopping done which is nice. And we just have a little more baking to finish up. My lovely wife spent pretty much the entire day in the kitchen baking cookies (choc chip and sugar) and various shapes of gingerbread cookies. Good times.

As you can see, Sarah looks positively enthralled to be doing this...

This picture I just thought was cool. The xmas lights are lined up on the retaining wall in front of our house. The snow has piled up on the wall, and all you can see is the light trying to shine thru. Neat huh...

Quiet Week

Not much to report on really. The wife is down in Boston, last night and tonight, coming home tomorrow night, for work so it's been pretty quiet up here. Crazy busy at work, but who isn't this time of year, right.

Finished all my major xmas shopping and wrapping which is nice too. I just need to buy some stocking stuffers for the wife, so if anyone has any ideas, feel free to share...

We did get three or so inches of snow today. I really don't mind shoveling that much, expect I find I'm kind of neurotic about it. I can't just shovel out enough space on the drive way for our two cars, I need to shovel the entire drive way (it's about five cars long probably). My thinking is what if someone comes by? It's a pain to park in the street and have to walk around all the snow to get to the sidewalk. What if someone comes to visit overnight? They're going to need room to park their car right? This way, if it snows again, I won't have to shovel the new snow plus the old snow. I have issues, I know...

As you can tell, I'm just a little bored...man I need some Maine friends haha...

Ice, Food and Videotape

Well, not really videos, more like digital camera short videos... more on that later..


I'm assuming everyone has seen this video already, but I thought I'd post it anyway. Notice the Presidents ninja like reaction, quickly ducking the thrown shoe. Pretty impressive actually..


So that ice storm that came in Friday...pretty nasty stuff. Luckily we didn't lose power, but my uncle did lose his cable, which is sorta like losing power cuz what are you supposed to do without cable?


It left about an inch of ice everywhere. As you can see in the following clips, our driveway is more like a skating rink at this point..

But not to be outdone..

(btw, no idea why the came in sideways. when i watch them on my computer they're the correct way)

We also did a lot of cooking this weekend. I tried making calzones.. let's see, I made a meatball and mozzarella, a steak and cheese, and a sausage and pepperoni one. I didn't use enough filling in the steak and cheese, but that's easily fixed. Otherwise they came out pretty darn tasty. We also made a sheppards pie, but we need to tinker with that recipe some more..

And lastly.. for the past six months or so I've been getting this person calling me on my cell phone. Obviously it's a wrong number, but the people on the other end don't speak english, so they don't understand me when I yell at them that it's the wrong number. They call at all hours of the day/night, and don't just call once. The other day they called 18 times. So I called Verizon and it turns out they can't block the number because it's international. It turns out, the number is from Somalia. So if anyone has any suggestions on how to get them to stop calling, please feel free to let me know.

Is It The Weekend Yet?

• Right now it's icing out. Not snowing, not raining, icing. This is not a good thing. I just hope that the ice doesn't take down any power lines. I can't live without electricity. No tv? No computer? No cooking? I'd have to like read a book, or talk to my wife or something crazy like that..
• So yesterday at about 5:15pm, I dropped off some stuff for work along with a NetFlix dvd at the post office. This morning at 7:10am I get an email from NetFlix stating that they've received my dvd and they'll be mailing out the new one today and I can expect to get it tomorrow. How fantastic is that? The post office is so fast up here...
• The wife and I have finally discovered the Food Network and now we're fully addicted. The nice part is, we get tons of ideas for dinners, etc, the bad part is that when I'm laying in bed at 10:30 at night and they're at a diner in Phily eating a steak and cheese... well .. I then want a steak and cheese..mmmmm
• Speaking of food... last night we (the wife finds the recipe and i cook it) made a chicken stir fry. Everything from scratch, the sauce, everything. Very very tasty. And tonight I made a sheppards pie. Again, surprisingly good. The best part is, I learn how to make these dishes and can then expand/tinker with them to get them to how we like them.

Diamonds For Jesus?

• So I've started drinking coffee...decaf... mostly because I don't drink caffeine at all so when I do it gives me headaches and makes me dizzy. The problem is this though. Dunkin Donuts does not carry either soy milk or nondairy creamers. At first I thought it was a Maine thing, so I emailed them only to find out that it's a company wide thing. That just doesn't make sense to me. Do they think that the lactose intolerant among us don't drink coffee? Starbucks is further away and so much more expensive, but Dunkins has left me with no choice. I have started brewing the occasional cup at home and adding my own lactaid or whatever, but it's just not the same...
• Tuesday I woke up and it was 8 degrees. Wednesday I woke up and it was 56 degrees. Gotta love living in New England...
• Have you ever noticed that if you wake up at like three in the morning and can't fall back asleep, time tends to move extraordinarily slow. But if you wake up ten minutes before your alarm is set to go off, time seems to move extraordinarily fast...
• So there's an ad playing on the radio up here. Some jewelery store (not sure if it's national or local chain), trying to get people to come in and buy diamonds for Xmas. Well their ad states the following, "we believe that God put the most precious stones near those who need the money most. So every cent made from purchasing these diamonds goes right to the impoverished person that found it." Ummm what? They're calling them "fair trade diamonds". So instead of just giving them a better life, Jesus buried these stones in the earth so these people could find them and eventually, maybe make money off it? Riiiiiiiight...talk about a sleazy marketing ploy..

Somebody Has A Case Of The Tuesdays...

Well besides the normal year end craziness that accompanies my job, I awoke this morning to find another surprise. So I went outside this morning to let the car warm up for a few minutes before heading to work. Sensible, right? It was like 8 degrees out so it only makes sense. Ten minutes later, I move the wife's car out of the driveway so I can get my car out, and leave for work. About a hundred yards down the street, I notice something doesn't feel quite right with the car, but I do recognize the sound it's making. That's because it's the same noise it made last week except on the other side of the car. ANOTHER FRICKIN FLAT TIRE!!! Are you kidding me! I have had exactly one flat tire in my 15 years of driving prior to moving to Maine. In the past 15 months I've had THREE! And all of them have occurred in the winter. Nothing like changing a tire in the frigid cold.

Weekend Report

So lets see. Friday night was pretty tame. The wife and I made our own pizza's for dinner (me pepperoni, her pesto with artichokes) and surprisingly enough they didn't turn out half bad. The bad half came though when she made me watch 27 Dresses. Just a horrible movie. The main character isn't likable at all and her sister is ever worse. I kept waiting for the main guy in the movie, who was also in X-Men, to whip off his sunglasses and kill everyone (or at least me) with his laser beam eyes. Alas.. I wasn't that lucky...

Saturday was spent mostly just hanging around the house, which was nice. After an afternoon trip to the bookstore, we went to the parade the city was having. It went right thru downtown and consisted mostly of big rigs pulling flat beds full of nativity scenes, kids dancing and singing, and random people waving to the crowd. It was one of those nights that makes you appreciate small town life ya know. And we got lucky, it was in the low 30's, but no wind at all, so it was actually pretty nice out.

Sunday we went and did a couple of quick errands before settling in for the afternoon. Me in front of my tv for football and the wife in front of hers and the fireplace for Harry Potter. Great day really...

I did learn something very alarming about my lovely wife though. Apparently she had no idea that the drummer from Def Lepard only has one arm! How is this possible? I thought everyone knew this! Who hasn't seen the VH1 Behind the Music about them.. "everyone was riding high, then tragedy struck..." (typical BTM line, right) Great stuff really. How did this come up you ask? Well we were watching a show called Crossroads, where they take a country act and pair them with someone completely different. In this case it was Def Lepard and Taylor Swift and surprisingly enough the music was actually really good.

Can you believe it's already the second week of December? Before you know it, it'll be New Years, then 2009.. Only 3 more weeks till Christmas...

Is It The Weekend Yet?

Longest week ever...

Anyway.. so back in the day, whenever I'd leave a store or wherever and there was one of those bell ringers from the Salvation Army outside, I'd always drop a couple of bucks into the bucket. The past couple of years though, I've completely stopped carrying money, I use my credit/debit cards for everything (unless of course I'm going to a bar, then I have cash on me. then again, when I leave the bar i usually don't have any money left). So now whenever I leave a store and the bell ringer is outside, I always feel super guilty. I feel like I should pretend to talk on my cell phone as I walk out, or look in the other direction pretending I don't ever see or hear them. Does this make me a bad person...

So the wife and I are watching House the other day. Right in the middle of the show, in mid sentence, the show cuts out and the commercials start. All local commercials, maybe 4-5 in total ran. After they were done, it cut back to the show (still in progress) and eventually to the next commercial break. During the break, the FOX symbol appeared on the television and just changed color for a couple of minutes. See, some dumbass down at the local affiliate hit the wrong button and showed the commercials at the wrong time, making us miss like three minutes of our show.. not cool at all...

And it's official... Divas, our local neighborhood bikini bar has closed. On the way to work the other day everything looked normal. On the way home all the signage was gone and for the first time the curtains were open and you could actually see inside. I would say it's a sad day when a bar closes, but I never went, so it's not so sad for me...

If you need a good laugh , I strongly suggest you check this out...

Forgot to mention.. we watched Baby Mama the other day (it was the wife's turn to pick the movie). I wanted to like it cuz I really love Tina Fey, but it just wasn't good. There was like 2 funny lines in the entire movie, very disappointing..

Can you believe it's December already? Doesn't it feel like Y2K was just the other day, and now it's almost 2009. Holy crap...

Quick Update

So we got a bit of good news today. Both our home study and profile have been approved so we're pretty much good to go. We hit Staples tonight to get our profile all printed up on fancy paper, in color, with a cool binder thingy holding it all together. What we needed to do was, to make ten copies and tomorrow I'll mail them to the adoption agency in Portland. Once they receive them (the mail takes one day here in Maine, so they'll get it Thursday), we'll officially be in circulation.

So that means no more paperwork...just lots and lots and lots of waiting to get picked. Basically whenever the phone rings, my first thought is going to be "is this the call?". Everyone involved in the process has told us that chances are we won't have to wait too long due to our age and openness (in regards to the sex/ethnicity of the baby). Hearing that is nice, but it's going to make it that much tougher if it doesn't happen sooner rather than later. And what is soon anyway? Two months? Four months? Six months? We've waited this long, so what's a bit longer right? Plus, it's all worth it in the end...

Turkey Day and Weekend Recap

So I won't bore you with all the details, but needless to say we had a great Thanksgiving. The in-laws and brother in law came up to enjoy the feast, and what a feast it was. I made the turkey, and didn't mess it up. In fact it was actually very good. Took about four hours, two upside down, two right side up, and I basted it with butter every half hour or so. The wife made pretty much everything else. Carrots (i made), sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and home made cranberry sauce. Perfection really..

Friday night we had the family over for dessert. We had Morrissey hermits (similar to real hermits only not really and better), and the wife made ginger snaps and chocolate fondue. We also had the rest of the apple and pumpkin pies from the night before. I think after all the eating we've done this weekend I need to join a gym...

Saturday we put up the Christmas lights outside. We have a couple of additions from last year. Lights on the railings, three reindeer who's heads all move, lights around the bottom of the wall and six little light up snow men below the porch railing. I figure I'll add a little more each year. Next year I want something for the porch roof...

Pretty nice huh..

Apparently the imaginary friend of the 2 year old across the street lives in our house and he's just thrilled that his friend put all these lights up for him. It's funny, cuz my imaginary friend lives in his house.. weird huh..

We also finally got the gas fireplace working. The old one was unfixable, so we had to buy a new insert. Now most intelligent people would call a professional to install the insert... not me though. It actually kicks off a fair amount of heat, but it all rises right to the ceiling and out of the room. So today I took the ceiling fan out of the family room (which we never used) and switched it with the plain light we had in the office. Now when you turn on the fireplace, you just need to turn the ceiling fan on low and it'll push that warm air right back down...

Good weekend all around. And I'm already looking forward to the next one. Can you believe it's already December..

Happy Anniversary!

Yep, today is our fourth wedding anniversary. Can you believe it? Four years.. who would have thought she would have put up with me for this long huh...

Four years ago tonight, we were all at that fancy pants restaurant with the naked lady statues, enjoying a few adult beverages dancing the night away. Whenever I think about that night it brings a big ole smile to my face. It really was the best night of my life.. The one thing that really sticks with me though, is a piece of advice my brother gave me about ten minutes before the ceremony started. It's advice that is so wise, everyone should stop and take note...he said to me, "don't lock your knees when you're standing up there, keep them bent. if you lock them, you have a better chance of fainting, it restricts the blood flow." Now on your wedding day, is there better advice to receive? I think not... so thanks Matt...

Seriously though, without my lovely wife though, my life would be like a Kenny Chesnesy song.... I'd be on an island somewhere in the Caribbean, no woman in my life, just my friends, drink in my hand... Wait, that actually doesn't sound so bad..

So congrats to us Sarah, and here's to another four long years! I love you babe..

Tuesdayness

Boooo.. ABC canceling Pushing Daiseys
Yay... ABC announcing the start date for Scrubs! (Jan 6th)

A ranking recently came out naming Bangor the 8th safest city in the country. It's funny though, there are a lot of people up here who still think there are "bad" sections of the city. I wouldn't use the word bad.. maybe less good, but definitely not bad. Not once since I moved up here have I felt unsafe.

I don't know about all you out there, but I sure can't wait for some turkey Thursday. My only concern is that I'm cooking the turkey and I've never cooked one before. I really don't want to screw this up...

You've Gotta Respect The Turkey

So, Saturday, our neighbors went from Halloween to Christmas. They still had some of their Halloween decorations up outside their house. Scarecrow, pumpkins, things like that. I go to the store, come back a couple of hours later and suddenly the house is all decked out in Christmas lights. Now that's not cool. The obviously have no respect for the bestest holiday of them all, Thanksgiving...

When is it ok though, to decorate the house for Christmas. I want to get out there and put my lights up etc, as soon as possible, but I don't know when it's socially acceptable. The day after Thanksgiving? The first of December? When exactly?

Woke up this morning, drove half way down the street when I realized there was a funny noise coming from under my car. Pulled over, opened the door, and what did I see? Yep, a flat tire. Are you kidding me? So I turned around and left the car at home and took the fully functioning car to work.

Attempting to get the new gas fire place to work, but it doesn't want to. It's pretty simple really. Hook up gas line, ignite. Doesn't seem to want to work though. Gas line is hooked up, there's gas in the tank outside, so I don't know why it isn't working, but it's 10:15 at night so I'm not going to worry about it anymore tonight.. Maybe tomorrow I'll fix it..

Weekend

Friday night was kind of tame. Chinese food and watched War, Inc. with John Cusack thru NetFlix (using the xbox360, you can stream movies from NetFlix, thus eliminating the wait time for the dvd to arrive in the mail. not all the movies are available this way yet though). The movie was just off... like it's supposed to be a satire on the current Middle East situation (war, occupation of a country etc) but it just wasn't well written or well done at all..

Saturday morning we woke up and found this...

Didn't know it was supposed to snow, but apparently it did. It didn't really stick to the grass, but it did to the street. I'd say it was easily a half of an inch..

Saturday we didn't do squat though. Just one of those days were we hung out and did nothing all day. A great day really... Although Saturday night we hit a (relatively) new restaurant with my uncles. It's a South American restaurant, but then menu also had some American dishes on it. It was actually very good. Apps were great, dinners were great (and they offered them in 1/2 portions for the small stomached among us), desert was tasty and we even had a very good bottle of wine (a syrah). A touch on the expensive side, but that definitely wouldn't stop me from going back.. And I guess on Tuesday's they have tango dancers, which means I'll be going to check this out some Tuesday...

Today was spent at Lowes, then the supermarket picking up all we need to cook Thanksgiving dinner Thursday. Mmmmm turkey...

And of course the afternoon was spent in my chair watching the Celtics and Patriots games. Perfect day really.. followed by a roast beef dinner at my uncles house. Really, does life get any better...

Oh and I forgot to post this picture earlier in the week. I couldn't find a pan shaped like the number 3, so this is the best I could do for the wife's birthday..

Anyway, nice short week ahead of us, with the brother in law flying in Wednesday night and the wife's parents arriving early Thursday afternoon sometime for the weekend... Can't wait.. Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. No pressure of gifts and all that, just family, football, food and drinks...

Ramblings..

• So we went to the store tonight.. had to get some new khakis. For some reason, I seem to wear through them really fast. A pair will last me six months or so before a hole appears somewhere or another. Anyway, while there, the wife made me buy some new underwear. Now like any guy, I avoid this as the ones I have do the trick and it's almost Christmas which means Santa will bring some for me. Plus, buying new underwear always makes me feel like less of of man. All these gym rat guys bulging out all over the place on the package... then there's me. The 5'8" irish kid with the beer gut...riiiight cuz by wearing their product, I'll look just like them...
• Yankee pitcher Mike Mussina announced today that he's going to retire. On the surface, it's not that big of a deal to 99% of the world right. The discussion of the day though is, is he a Hall of Famer. 270 career wins, which is 32nd all time. 3rd most wins all time for a pitcher who went to college (Clemens and Randy Johnson are 1-2).
  I say he doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame though. Hall of really good, sure. But the best of the best, I don't think so. Not once did I go to a Sox/Yankees or Sox/Orioles (his former team) game thinking, "man, I can't wait to see Mussina pitch today". His stats are impressive, and somewhat due to durability and longevity, but he was never a pitcher that you feared. You knew it would be a tough win, sure, but he was never one of those guys who just blew you away. Clemens (roids or not), Johnson, Maddux, Pedro... those guys you all feared. I'd put Mussina in the Tom Glavine (who will probably get in due to his 300 wins)/Dave Stewart/Jack Morris class. Above average, and when on his game very very good, but just not quite Hall of Fame level...
  In my opinion, the Hall of Fame should be for the best of the best of their era. Mussina was very good, just not the best...
• Thankfully, tomorrow is Friday. No major plans for the weekend either. I think we might actually start working on the nursery, which is good, cuz who knows how soon we'll need it. Although the one thing we have to do is to go shopping for Thanksgiving provisions. The wife and I are cooking dinner this year for the first time, so it should be interesting...
• Winter's here. It's been in the teens when I go to work in the morning and it hasn't been getting out of the 30's lately. I don't really mind the cold, as long as there's snow to go along with it. Sure, snow means lots of shoveling for me, but it also means snowmobiles...
• Off to get in my daily exercise...(also known as playing Wii)

Reason Number 12,321,987,324...

Why I pray I don't have a daughter...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Happy birthday to you...
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Sarah....
Happy birthday to you!!!

Happy birthday baby....

The End Of An Era

Today... November 17, 2008 represents the end of an era. My lovely wife, turns 30 tomorrow.. Say goodbye to your youth darlin', and welcome to being old..

On a lighter note.. a couple of months ago, our neighbor's kid came a knockin' at our door. Turns out the little tyke is a boy scout and he was selling stuff door to door to raise money. We really couldn't say no, so we picked the cheapest item in the catalog. And yesterday, our $17 tin of chocolate covered popcorn arrived. Now don't get me wrong, chocolate covered popcorn is pretty darn good, but $17 good? I think not... Next year when he shows up, we're hitting the lights and hiding...

So during the baseball playoffs, TBS showed (and still continue to show) a million and one ads for Frank TV. Yesterday afternoon I caught an episode. Didn't laugh once.. horrible stuff... I think they spent the entire funny budget on the ads, and forgot to order the jokes...

Target & I are breaking up

Target had a serious pricing oops last night, they listed two different Britax Marathon car seats at $42.99 and $59.99 causing a rush of parents and parents-to-be to place orders online. These are normally $279 items. Now, while I understand that maybe Target can't honor all the orders they accepted, but they can and should had acknowledged their mistake. Or even told their customer service people how to answer questions about the pricing snafu. They instead had customer service answering questions about the pricing with answers that varied from, "That is the correct price." to "Only the odd number orders will be honored." :-/

Target's way of dealing with the mistake was to delete all the orders that were placed at the advertised price and not actually alert the customers who ordered that they would not be receiving their order. Poor business practices, Target, very poor. I have already sent them a sternly worded email, that I am so sure will impact them greatly. What's the point of emailing a confirmation of the purchase when it isn't worth squat??

Weekend

So not much to really report on this weekend. I didn't get my satellite tv (as mentioned below), which is very sad. Just kind of a blah couple of days, ya know.

On a more amusing note... you know how a lot of athletes grow their "playoff" beards. Meaning they don't shave until they've lost and are then out of the playoffs.. well I'm doing something similar. I'm rockin the baby beard. We have no idea when we're going to get placed with a birthmother/baby, which stinks. So I figure to amuse myself, I'll grow out my beard. Plus, it gives me an excuse to see what I'll look like, as I've never grown any real facial hair before. Right now I'm on day 5, so it's still early on. I encourage all you gentlemen out there to follow suit and grow beards along with me. The day we get placed, is the day I'll shave...

The End Of The World?

Well, maybe not.. but close to it...

I can't get satellite tv. Apparently our neighbors trees are blocking the path of the signal. We could get standard definition and no local channels if we want, but I can get with rabbit ears. The guys said that the HD satellite is low on the horizon, so there's not much he can do. Our house is huge too, it's really tall, and it still didn't matter cuz of our backyard neighbors tress..

This makes me really sad. Now I have to continue to deal with Time Warner who is my new mortal enemy. Ooh well... whatcha gonna do, right?

Odds And Ends

• So I didn't get to watch the Patriots game the other night. I had to listen to it on the radio. Just like they did in olden times. The nice part was, that the local radio station was giving away a tin of popcorn during the game. So that was pretty sweet...
• Ahhh the power of a four year old...
• A buddy sent me this article. It's 100 things every man should be able to do. So far, I can do or have used 64 of the items. I still have a ways to go before I become a man huh..
• The nice man is coming in a half hour to install my new satellite dish. Very exciting stuff. More channels for less money and I never have to deal with the meat heads over at Time Warner again...
• Three days left until my wife becomes old....

I Hate Maine

Well, no, I really don't, but I totally could if I wanted to. Tomorrow nights Patriots game... yeah it won't be on local tv up here which means I won't be able to watch it unless I go to a bar. Can you believe that? Stupid NFL Network... they're called the NEW ENGLAND Patriots, not the Boston Patriots! Even though I'm almost in Canada, I'm still in New England, therefore I should get the game...

So Boston.com had this picture gallery today of people trying to break world records. This here, is one I could totally shatter if I put my mind to it. They watched 57 movies in 123 hours and 10 minutes. If there was a world record out there for me to break, this is it...

Can you believe it, it actually snowed yesterday. Ok, not really. But there was white stuff falling from the sky briefly. Get those snowmobiles ready!

I thought this was a pretty cool story on ESPN.com. It's about his little league field being torn down and made into an apartment building. Every time I drive to my parents house and drive past my little league field it brings back great memories. I think that was about the time I peaked athletically too...

So the New Jersey Nets are running a pretty cool promotion. If you send in your resume, they'll look it over to see if you fit what they're looking for, they'll pass it along to their business partners and they'll give you four tickets to a specific game. Pretty nice huh.

And finally... I did it, yep I finally did it. I got a satellite dish. Starting Saturday (after they install everything of course), I'll be a former cable customer. I'm actually pretty excited about it. I'm getting three times as many HD channels, pretty much the same amount of standard definition channels I get now with cable, and a drv for four tv's all for $20 less a month than I pay for cable and no money up front. So no more dealing with Time Warner Cable. I'm a happy happy man...

Quick Update And Then Some..

So we had the social worker by the house today. She showed us the rough draft of our home visit and everything seems to be in order. In the next couple of days, she'll send it to her boss for approval and we'll officially get the MAPS stamp of approval. So not only do we think we're fit to be parents, this agency does too, which is a nice feeling.

Next we'll present the agency with our profile, they'll make some or should I say, suggest some changes. Once that's done, we're in circulation. Its like the light at the end of the first tunnel is sooooo close now. All the research we did in deciding to adopt, all the work we put into picking the right agency, all the paperwork that it took to get this far... it'll all be done soon, and then the real waiting begins... finally...

A big happy birthday to the Maine Corps! On this day in 1775 a resolution was drafted in a tavern in Philadelphia signifying the beginning of the few and the proud. Remember, there are no ex marines, only former marines...

I heard a great joke the other day. How many Alanon members does it take to screw in a light bulb? None...they just lovingly let it go and watch it screw itself...hahaha.. c'mon, that's funny. And if you know me it's even funnier!

Great win by the Celtics tonight. They played like crap most of the night, settling for way too many jump shots, but the defense and Paul Pierce ended up carrying them into and thru the fourth quarter against a very good Toronto team. They're offense has yet to really click this year, which worries me some, but it's still really early. Did you know that by the end of November the Celtics will have already played 20% of their schedule. How insane is that??

So we've been using the crock pot some lately. Easy to use, fill it with the ingredients and walk away for four or so hours.. nice right. The wife made (yes, apparently she can cook) a yummy beef stew the other day (somewhere my mother is rolling her eyes. i never ate that as a kid, and i have no idea why. all the ingredients are so tasty), so we tried a pork roast today. The roast came out fine, it was just the weirdo sauce we made with it that wasn't so good. Let's just say it involved french dressing, cranberry sauce and onions. Not things that you would normally put together...

I've hit a rut of boringness lately, so I apologize to my few loyal readers out there. I'm sure something interesting and hopefully funny will happen to me sooner or later...

Quick Update and Links

• So I just thought I'd give everyone an update on the adoption front. We're a week away (according to our social worker) from being officially approved. The wife and I figured we'd get a jump on things and start the profile, but it's not as easy as one might think. I can write/talk with the best of them, but when it comes to writing about myself, I suddenly clam up. Weird huh? Especially since I'm such an amazingly talented, funny, compassionate, athletic guy. You'd think with all that in my corner, I'd be able to hammer out a couple paragraphs, but apparently not. Thankfully, the wife and I decided to work in conjunction on this one, so she'll write some, then I'll write some, we'll throw a couple of pictures in there and we'll be good to go. So it's looking like in the next two or three weeks we'll be "in circulation" as they say. Then the real waiting begins...
• So this made the front page of the local newspaper the other day. Lots and lots of big events to cover up here obviously...
• Homer Simpson would be proud. And yes, I need this...
• Could this be one of the best catches ever? And it took place in a high school game!
• I'm sooo thankful that 30 Rock is back...

Done!

So we just got back from voting and it went very smoothly. No lines along with multiple check in lines to speed things up made it quite easy. The voting was done via scan tron forms (you know, fill in the blank spot with the black marker). The only thing I didn't like was the guy staring at my ballot as I put it into the machine.

So now the waiting begins. Thankfully Discovery is showing a couple Dirty Jobs episodes we haven't seen yet so we'll have something to flick to during all that election coverage...

Vote!

• So tomorrow is the big day. I know a lot of people up here have already cast their vote, but for the rest of us, tomorrow is the day where we get to go stand in line, read confusing referendum questions and cast a vote for the next president of the United States. Most of you already know my politics, so I don't really need to rehash them, but I will say this. I'm an Obama guy, but I don't think he'll be as liberal as he's made out to be. Although at the same time, I don't think McCain will be as conservative. If McCain wins, I won't be moving to Canada, but that's mostly cuz I want to move south of where I am now, not north, somewhere warmer. There's a Senate race up that's going to be pretty close. The incumbent is a Republican (very middle of the road i guess though) and the challenger is a former state rep. Problem is, the sound of her voice is like nails on a chalkboard, and he reminds me of the creepy guy down the end of the block who stares at you a little too long when he says hi. What really bothers me though, is people who always vote republican or always vote democrat just because they think they're supposed to be one or the other. What, you can't look at both candidates and make an educated decision? You have to vote one way or the other just to keep the party line? No good I say. My parents gave me the half a brain I have and I intend to use it once every couple of years or so and tomorrow is the big day!
• Saw a couple of great license plates the other day. Ivbnbd & FRZN4. Maine is the king state of personalized plates. Seriously, they're everywhere. Next time you come up, just pay attention on the drive...
• Watched Die Hard With A Vengance on TBS the other. I'm a big big fan of those movies. Anyway, when the movie is on basic cable, they obviously have to edit out the bad words right. My favorite one... m*therf***er became melon farmer. How hysterical is that? If that's not an insult, I don't know what is...
• I love Oreo's. There I said it, it's out in the open. Problem is, I'm lactose intolerant, therefore I can't eat them with involving a mad dash to the little boys room. Thank god for Paul Newman though. His Newman-O's have no dairy in them! They're not as good as Oreo's, but they'll do the trick. A couple of those bad boys and some lactaid.. mm mm goood...
• Another show recommendation. Life On Mars. Harvey Keitel's character has become one of my favorite on all of tv. It's a BBC show that was recently redid for tv over here and it's about a cop who gets hit by a car and ends up in 1973. The idea is that he's in a coma or something and living all this in his subconscious (from time to time you can hear the respirator he's hooked up to, or someone talking to him at his bedside). If you're looking for a new show, I highly recommend it. Although I don't see how they can extend the premise for 2-3-4-5 years, but hey, it's still an entertaining cop show. And the best part? The fantastic/horrible 70's wardrobes...

Halloween And Then Some

Halloween... a great holiday, isn't it? As a matter of fact, I think there should be MORE costume parties! Everyone loves getting dressed up, so why not...

Last year, the wife and I got 4 groups of trick or treaters.. very disappointing. This year? Way too many to count! Lots and lots of kids in some great costumes (like six different kids dressed as Spider Man, innumerable princesses and a bunch of animals, i.e. alligator, cow etc). We got our first group around 5:30 and ended up turning out the light around 8:30 or so. We didn't feel like dealing with the older kids who don't bother to get dressed up but still expect candy. I don't care how old you are, if you put in the effort of getting dressed, you'll get candy, simple as that. Not costume = no candy. The funniest is watching the expressions on the real little kids.. who are like.. "whoa whoa whoa.. hold on a second, I come to your house, ring the doorbell, and you give me candy? This is the best thing ever!"

And of course, the wife and I got into the act and decided to get dressed up ourselves.. why not right...

I went with the pirate costume, a classic really (and a great excuse to say aaarrrrrrrr alot). And the wife went all undead bride.. very nice huh.

This is interpretation of the classic pirate/bride of Frankenstein prom picture...

And because I love him oh so much, but not enough to go out of my to not embarrass him, I present you with a picture of my brother.. aka Jackie Moon..

Ahhh the wonders of a camera phone....

On to the rest of the weekend... Saturday was a get stuff done around the house day followed by a couple of drinks with my aunt and uncle at our local water hole... Bugaboo Creek (as you can tell there's a very limited selection up here, but their Moose Juice is to die for, and yes I just used the phrase to die for and I'm not a 15 year old girl in 1986)

Sunday, raked leaves for a couple of hours, put away all the patio furniture, organized the shed, got a hair cut and went grocery shopping all before 1pm. Whenever I rake/shovel, I like to put on my iPod, it just helps pass the time... yet every time I wear it, the wife feels the need to start multiple conversations with me. I guess it's payback for all the times I've interrupted her while she's reading. The rest of the afternoon involved football, napping and blogging... the way a Sunday should be.

Halloween Eve

Or, something like that. Anyone getting dressed up for the occasion? The wife and I are thinking we might, just to give out candy. Gives me an excuse to dress like a pirate basically...

Have you ever noticed that John McCain uses air quotes a lot? My friend Phil uses air quotes a lot too, mostly when he's inebriated, but McCain's use of the air quotes makes Phil look like an amateur...

So I'm watching news/Sportscenter showing all the Phillies fans celebrating after the World Series win, and I had a question. When exactly did it become the thing to do, to run up to any camera you can find and yell "woooooooooooo", or something to that effect? No matter the situation, this is what people do and I have no idea why. Is it because they're not smart enough to think of anything better to say or do? You see a lot of the pinkie and index finger up while the other fingers are in a fist gesture too. Did all these people go to the University of Texas? I think we need to start a new trend. Although I really have no idea what that would be...

And finally.. the perfect excuse to get into law enforcement...

Randomness

• Anyone else out there watch House tonight? Yeah... only my worst fear, right there on tv for me. Woman adopts baby, only to have the birth mother decide that she doesn't want to give it up. Are you kidding me? So now I'm supposed to go home and stare at the completed nursery hoping to get picked again. Riiiiight. Once again, you biologicals have it easy...
• Celtics opened the season up tonight!!! The ring ceremony was very understated, apparently they'd didn't consult the Red Sox on how to overdue it. I can't dive headfirst into the season though. I need to slowly wade in, getting deeper and deeper as the year progresses. For now, I'll flick back and forth from real tv to the games, but soon that'll change and I'll end up watching the entire game with the occasional flip to real tv...
• Caught Good Will Hunting on tv over the weekend. I haven't see that movie in forever, and I almost forgot just how good it is. Although half the fun of the movie is recognizing all the local Boston landmarks...
• So before the internet, how did people function? Every baby related question I have, the answer is there. It's such a wonderful thing. I have a question about a stroller, no problem, super easy to read up on it, etc. I don't need to bug all my friends with these questions, which I'm sure they appreciate...
• All you soccer fans out there will appreciate this. I've played/watched my entire life, and I've never seen anything like it...
• And lastly... if you're not watching Chuck, you need to start doing so. Every episode is funny, with lots of action and a little bit of romance thrown in there. Seriously though, Monday nights, check it out, you won't be disappointed...

Weekend Report

So this weekend we had some friends up! We've had like visitors galore lately, with more coming up in November, it's fantastic! So what did we do you ask? Well I guess I'll tell you..

Our guests, Jimmy, Stacey and their daughter Emma arrived Friday night just as I was coming home with the lobsters. Perfect timing by them I'd say. Dinner was a meal of lobster, steak and some orange mushy substance one year old Emma was eating (which I later tried and found it quite tasty), I think she preferred the mashed potato's and lobster though.

Saturday, we hit Nicky's for breakfast...mmmm diner food... followed by Jimmy and I playing a quick nine holes of golf with my uncle. Here, you can see the proper way to hit a golf ball...

And here, you can see the way I hit a golf ball (which is not the right way to do it)


I'm not going to bother to tell you what I shot, but those of you that know Jimmy and I know that Jim blew my uncle and I out of the water.. (and in case you can't tell, our new camera has a video function on it and i just can't help myself. i'm taking pictures and videos of everything now. i'm in dad preparatory mode)

That afternoon, we hit a local farm, which opens up every fall. They have all the animals out to see and feed and every year they build a maze in their corn field. Last year it was a sheep (you entered in the sheep's mouth and came out it's umm other end, no joke), this year it was a tractor. Mazes are always fun, except for the groups of ten year olds sprinting around trying to get out and get lost at the same time...

This is Jim and Emma feeding the goats... The second the goats heard your quarter enter the food dispenser there, they'd coming running for the fence..

And last night, to top off the weekend, was spent gorging ourselves on Chinese food. Lobsters one night, Chinese the next. That's a pretty darn good weekend if I do say so myself.

Next weekend though, we have no plans at all. Which is sad and fantastic all at the same time. Got lots to catch up on around the house though, and we're planning on starting the nursery one of these days.

Halloween Decorating

So we decided to do a little Halloween decorating outside the house. It's not much, but it's a start. I figure on November 1st, we'll be back at Target buying everything Halloween related at 50%. That way, next year we can really deck the house out..

First, feel free to mock our quick half ass attempt at a scarecrow... It's not very scary, but I'm not really sure what to do to make it more scary..
Here you can see the outside of the house. We have a couple of ghosts hanging from the porch and some lit up fake pumpkins and skulls on the stairs...

Gotta have the two foot spider weaving it's web right?

And here again are the stairs. Bets on whether or not someone trips on the middle light?

This is only a warm up to Christmas by the way... I can't wait for that.

Mmmmmmm Tacos

So because a base was stolen in the World Series game last night, everyone gets a free taco! Taco Bell was running a promotion where if a base was stolen in game one, they'd give a free taco to anyone in America. And who doesn't love free tacos???

Ramblings

• Anyone out there see this story? Every neighborhood had one of these ladies. Ours actually had two. Mrs. Tanny lived in the house next door to us. She was so old, that not only did she bug us when we were kids, she was also around (and old then too) to torment my uncles when they were kids (they grew up in the same house i did). She used to bring a lawn chair out and sit on her lawn, just waiting for a ball to cross the property line. She must have been 103 years old, but when that ball hit her lawn....man...all you heard was the swoosh of air moving; she was so fast we never actually saw her move! (she also had three boston terriers, one would die, she'd buy another, etc, all named Joy. Or as we called them Joy1, Joy2 and Joy3) Then we had the Tellecks. These people sucked. Two old ladies, single, living with their very old mother. I honestly believe that they would sit in the window and wait for us to come play wiffle ball in front of the house. They would never come out and confront us though, but they would call the police on us. Nice huh. I remember one time a motorcycl cop showed up, around eight at night, it was dark, wearing sunglasses...that was weird..
• Big big weekend coming up. We have more visitors coming which is fantastic on two levels. First, it's always great to see friends (and especially they're one year old daughter) and it means the wife will actually allow me to turn the heat on. The other morning, I actually had to drive to work with my windows down cuz they were so frosted I couldn't see out and refused to use my scraper (it was actually 20 degrees when I left the house). Boy oh boy do I love Maine. The weather guys have actually been using the "s" word a lot lately for western Maine...
• How about this article? Ebert has one of the best jobs ever, reviewing movies, and he's too lazy to do that right. It says that in one instance he watched 8 minutes of a movie before writing his review. Are you kidding me? Think about it, if he works a normal eight hour day, he can watch at least four movies no problem. Ok maybe three, with time in there to write the reviews. I think they should fire him and hire me...
• For all of you men out there who have been searching for a code to live by, I give you this. How great is that? I just might have to buy it...
• So we're in an "economic crisis" right? I have a solution on how to balance the budget. It's very simple actually. If everyone gives $10, that's about three trillion dollars, and there you go. Think of it as passing the hat, we'd just need a really big hat. I had a friend once, who while at a party, had his car towed. He didn't have enough money to get the car out of the impound lot, so he passed the hat at the party, and bingo, he had enough cash. Same idea, just on a bigger scale...
• Real? Or fake? (mind out of the gutter please. that would be on my other blog, the morrisseychroniclesafterdark.com)
• Made a very tasty meatloaf dinner last night. Baked potato's, corn and foccacio break to go with it. Of course, I used the secret Morrissey recipe. You see, one of the first times Sarah ate dinner at my parents house, my mom made meatloaf. Now this is a good thing, cuz she makes a darn good meatloaf, but there's something a little different about it. On top, she pours a can of vegetable soup. I usually ate around that part. But on this particular night, my mother was out of regular veggie soup, so she had to use alphabet vegetable soup. The wife loved it, so now I'm not allowed to make a meatloaf without it. I suppose that'll come in handy when we have kids. Kids love alphabet soup right?

Links And Then Some

• A day...sad or not.. is coming soon . The only thing I'll miss is seeing the strippers huddled outside in their trench coats smoking. The sight of that always makes me feel better about my life...
• I've seen these guys a million times driving around Boston, and thought this was a pretty good article about them. I never knew that they moved anything other than piano's though. Although I suppose it's just common sense that they would...
• Did anyone see this video from the weekend of college football? I've never seen anything like this before. The ref actually moves in to make the hit. He makes no effort at all to get out of the way, and in fact it actually looks like he's trying to make the tackle...
• Something amazing has happened. My lactose intolerance-ness seems to have made an exception. I made the mistake of going food shopping the other day while hungry, always a bad idea cuz you end up buying too much junk food. In my case I bought some Little Debbie Swiss Cake rolls. One would think that the cream filling would kill me, but by the grace of god, it hasn't. I haven't been this joyous since the day I first discovered blogging..
• So the Red Sox lost last night, as you all know now. Sure I'm disappointed, but they had an excellent season and they lost to the better team. Tampa Bay had the deeper bench and the better pitching which are two of the main ingredients to winning. The good part is though, that I finally get to go to bed at a normal hour. These 8pm start times were killing me...
• Only eight more days until the Celtics season opener...

It's All Over

Well the Rays just beat the Sox...I gotta say though, this isn't one of those crushing defeats that will stay with you the rest of your life. The Rays were simply a better team, and it showed. Really, all series long the Sox couldn't seem to string together a couple of hits to get an inning going. (offseason need: bench players who hit better than 240 and less white guys) (that last part is sarcasm btw)

Two things though: first, someday, someone is going to get killed in one of those celebratory pigpiles..
second, I hate seeing all these Rays fans cheering and celebrating and taunting the Red Sox players. These people never showed up during the regular season! The team can celebrate, their seven fans can celebrate, but all you other people who jumped on the bangwagon have no right to.

Party and Parenting

Friday night we drove down to Boston for my brother's engagement party. Had a really great time, got to hang out with both my brothers which is one of my favorite past times. It's funny though, I think of myself as a pretty humorous guy, although I know a lot you probably don't. But I'll tell you, my brothers and my father are hilarious. They have a knack for telling a story that'll turn the most mundane thing into something that barely touches reality... great stuff.. My brother got really lucky too, his fiance is just a wonderful girl. Boy better not screw it up...

Saturday we had our adoption parenting class. Wow... Going in, I thought it was going to be about parenting in general, but I was completely wrong. The class was all about what it takes to raise an adopted child. Now on the surface, you might think that it's not all that different from a biological child, right? Well yes and no. Kids are kids are kids; you do your darnedest to raise them the best that you can and hope for the best. But with an adopted child, there's a whole slew of additional issues.

From the beginning, our plan is to be very upfront with future baby. We have no intention of hiding the fact that he is adopted. This is what all the "experts" say is the best thing to do, and both Sarah and I agree. But just because they know that they're adopted doesn't mean it's any easier. As the child gets older and more cognizant of their surroundings and of their place in the world (where they're going, where they've been, etc), the issues of "why didn't my biological mom want me?" and things like that can be very difficult to deal with...and as parents, its obviously our role to help them deal with these issues.

There are a lot of new rules around the verbiage of adoption too. For instance, it used to be that a parent "gave up" their child for adoption. Nope, not anymore. Now it's the parent(s) "had an adoption plan". You might think it's a little too politically correct, but you have to remember how incredibly emotional the whole situation is for everyone involved. Think about it, us getting a baby, happy times to the extreme. The fact that some girl has to deal with an unwanted/planned pregnancy for 9 months, not happy times. The class highlighted many issues like this and we also discussed transracial adoption. Surprisingly enough, the wife and I along with one other couple were the only ones open to it. It'll add more issues as the child gets older (not with us or our family, but with the outside world), but to us, a baby is a baby no matter what color or where they're from or whatever and I think we're pretty well prepared to deal with the potential issues. Sure some people might give you a funny look in the grocery store, but to be honest I couldn't care less. That child is a Morrissey the second he's put into our arms. If anyone has any issues with that eff 'em! :)

I've never understood when someone says that they're "emotional drained". That's not something I've ever felt before I guess. But this class was heavy.. ninety percent of the issues discussed, Sarah and I had already talked about with each other (which helps enormously) but for those other things we hadn't though of, its just one more thing to ponder and to some extent, let it weigh on us. All you biologicals out there have it easy! You just have to worry about feeding, and changing and all that stuff... you don't have half the issues we'll have! So for the first time in my life, I was just emotionally spent after the class. The wife and I talked for the first half hour or so of the ride home (we were in Portsmouth, NH for the class) then rode the rest of the way in virtual silence. We were both just so exhausted from the whole thing that we really couldn't muster up the energy to discuss what we just learned.

Overall, I'm really glad they made us take the class. It just makes everything that much more real, and helped put a lot of things into perspective. I learned that thanks to the insane researching abilities of my lovely wife, she and I are ahead of the curve. We seemed to have more knowledge on the entire process than some of the other people. Going into the class, you all know how excited I was about adopting and the whole process. And thankfully, the class did nothing but raise that excitement up a couple of notches. Realizing that there are so many resources out there to help, and that we have one less major issue to deal with than a lot of other people (family/friend support. you'd be surprised to find out how many people out there still think of it as taboo) makes it a lot easier. So far, the toughest part has been the wait, and that's only going to get harder...

Our next step is to compete a profile for potential birth mothers to view. It's essentially a brochure about the wife and I. The woman running our class had a couple of examples with her (one couple used shutterfly and actually produced a hard cover book. the others were all just on nice paper with color photos and whatnot), and that helped a lot. You guys all know I'm a great talker, I'm just not very good at talking about myself, so this could prove to be a little challenging. Also, finding the perfect 10-15 pictures that really sum up the wife and I might prove to be a little difficult. So at this point, we'll start doing drafts, which will then be ok'd by our social worker and then we'll be "put into circulation" as they say...

post script:
btw, did you notice (which is just did) that i kept referring to future baby as he/him? do you think i want a boy? :)

Doh! Yay!

And no.. I didn’t stay up to watch the end of the Sox game. I went to bed in the 7th after checking out the seven-nuthin score…

And yes.. I will never go to bed early again during a Sox playoff game. I’m sooo kicking
myself for not staying up

Anyone out there make it through to the end?

McCain on Letterman

Anyone catch McCain on Letterman last night? (might be able to find it on Hulu.com) Of course I can’t stay awake that late, so thanks to the wonder of technology, we recorded it and I watched it before work this morning. Funny, awkward, tense, light, all at the same time. Letterman wasn’t afraid to call him out on some stuff, and McCain gave some pretty good responses. Although someone’s gotta get McCain a better joke writers because most of his went over like a lead balloon.. just no reaction from the crowd at all…

So the wife and I have the parenting class for the adoption this weekend. I’m hoping to learn a few things, but we’ll see. I’m hoping that they go over CPR or things of that nature, because that’s always a good thing to know..

If you get the chance, check out the WEEI webpage and listen to the Curt Schilling interview with Dennis and Callahan this morning. HILARIOUS stuff…

Is It The Weekend Yet?

• My day started with spreadsheets and ended with a clogged sink. Which is worse really?
• Anyone else out there going to watch the debate tonight? I'm sure it'll be as boring as the past couple, but I'll still tune in.
• Got a chance to listen to the new Kenny Chesney cd a couple of times. It's got a really laid back sound, very "island" like, meaning it's the type of music you listen to while chillin on the beach with a beer/drink in your hand and a backup close by. One song is done with Dave Matthews, and just by listening you can tell Matthews wrote it. It sounds just like all his other stuff, good song though. I bought the deluxe version which has a couple of extra songs on it, and I'm glad I did. A couple of the live versions are from the concert a bunch of us went to last year at Gillette stadium. If you listen closely, I'm pretty sure you can hear us singing along with the other 65,000 people there. I think my favorite song though is "Ten with a Two", meaning I went to bed with a ten and woke up with a two... "I aint never gone to bed with an ugly woman but I sure have woken up with a few." Seriously, do lyrics get any better? But c'mon who among us hasn't been there? You meet a girl at a bar, it's dark, they turn the lights on for last call, you see her and suddenly sober up and have to leave immediately...
• I'm still getting 20-25 hits a day on the site, so I just wanted to say thank you to everyone out there who still reads my rambling, mumbling, bumbling, sometimes incoherent writings. One would think that after all this time, my writing would be better, but apparently not huh...
• We hit Target last night, so I bought Forgetting Sarah Marshall. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It's a guaranteed laugh..

Wednesday! Or Better Yet Tuesday

So I spent all day today thinking it was Wednesday. It's only Tuesday. There's really nothing worse than that. Those days when you think it's Wednesday and it's really Tuesday, that's a good thing... my way, not so much..

WEEI, the Boston sports talk radio station, has made it's way up here. It's a good thing for me, cuz now I don't have to listen to the local guys all the time talk about high school sports and UMaine...

Everyone run to iTunes! The new Kenny Chesney cd came out today. I downloaded it, but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. After I get a chance tomorrow, I'll be sure to post a quick review, because I know you're all waiting breathlessly for it...

Anyone out there catch this article? On first glance, it sounds like a great idea, but how the heck would it get paid for? It definitely sounds like one of those ideas straight out of the Jetsons though. Next, your flying car will fold up into a briefcase while your robot maid cooks you dinner...

Ever watch Inside The Actors Studio? I do from time to time, usually when there's nothing else on or someone I think is interesting is on. Yesterday was one of those days... nothing else was on. The guest was Christian Slater, and it was actually pretty entertaining. You forget home many movies he was in, while doing the amounts of drugs he was doing. Kind of impressive actually, in a twisted sort of way...

This does not bode well for we Irish folk...

And no, I'm not going to even comment, talk about, discuss, mention or at this point think about the Red Sox...

What A Weekend

So we had some friends come up this weekend, to say we had a blast would be an understatement...

The weekend started off with Phil and Sue arriving late Friday afternoon. We gave them the customary tour of the house, after which we decided to go out and get a drink (it was happy hour, 5 o'clock) and a couple of appetizers. Normally I'd list all the new beers we tried this weekend, but frankly I forgot to write them down, so I'll leave that to Phil. After drinks and apps, we decided to head home for some dinner and Wii. Before home, we stopped at my favorite beer store and we picked up a nice sample of beers.


Ten minutes into his first Wii go round, it was already decided that Phil and Sue would be picking one up on the way home...I have video of them playing, but in fear of embarrassing retaliation, I won't post it.


Saturday we took our guests on a tour of our lovely city. Soon after those exciting seven minutes were up, our second round of guests arrived. Upon the arrival of Eileen and Erin, we hopped back in the car and went to Acadia for the afternoon. We really got lucky and had the perfect weather for a day of hiking/leaf peeping. Not a cloud in the sky, temps in the low 60's... perfection really...


Here's the gang on top of Cadillac Mountain...
It really has to be one of the most beautiful places around. Looking down the mountain at all the different colors in the trees was really a beautiful sight.
After an afternoon of leaf peeping, it was time for more drinks.. so we hit the Sea Dog Brewery for more beers, more apps, and of course so Big Buck Hunter! (the practice would prove useful later)
The rest of the night was spent hanging out at our house (enjoying some tasty chicken pot pie) and watching the Red Sox lose (well some of us watched, others didn't make it thru the entire game and went to bed after the 10th inning. yes, i'm guilty of this)


But going to bed early would prove to be most beneficial, as I needed to be on my game Sunday morning. You see... Sunday morning we took the city kids shootin'. My uncle was nice enough to take us out for some target practice and all it cost me was $8 in clay pigeons (90 for $8, what a bargain huh)

I gotta say, the friends were all pretty darn good shots. I was quite impressed. Me, I'm a natural of course...
So right before we left, my cousin decided to have some fun. He brought with him a recently purchased watermelon... and well.. lets just say that this watermelon wasn't long for this world.

Before...
During... and after... (please excuse the wife's shakey camera work)

All in all, it was really an amazing weekend. So great to see a bunch of our friends...and even better that we convinced them to come up. We had so much fun, I don't think it'll be all that hard to convince them to come back up sometime.

Ramblings

So I know most of you out there either already know which way I lean, or have no interest in hearing my incoherent semi-educated political ramblings, so I’ll keep this brief…

If I have to hear John McCain say “my friends..” one more time… he sounds like half my residents! Not remembering anyone’s name, so he just calls everyone his friend.

Another one of my favorites.. “I have a track record for reaching across the isle..” Umm, so you want props for doing your job? You want us to give you credit for not being a sheep and voting party lines every single time? I don’t think so guys..

How about this one.. “I know how to fix it, I know how to get the job done” without ever saying how he’ll fix it or how he’ll get the job done! How dumb does he think we are?

On the other side, Obama has a tendency of talking too much and his message gets lots in all the rhetoric, but at least he has a message.

So we saw Anne Hathaway last week, rehearsing for the SNL episode she was hosting. I’ve never been a big fan of hers, as most of her movies are about princesses and things like that really don’t interest me. I gotta say though, I’m a fan now. She was so much prettier in person than I thought she would be…

We’ve got three, maybe as many as five friends visiting this weekend! How fantastic is that?!? Luckily, we’re supposed to have wonderful weather, so we won’t be cooped up in the house the entire time. We’ll have plenty of time to go check out the peak foliage up here! (btw, that was sarcasm, I never understood why looking at leaves was so interesting. Sure, I notice them while out and about, but all it does is remind me that it’s going to continue to get colder. Which is good and bad. Bad because no one likes it to get dark at four o’clock in the afternoon and to pay all those rising heating costs, but good cuz it means I’m that much closer to snow mobile season!)

Has anyone out there heard of Hulu.com ? And if so, why didn’t you tell me about it sooner? I just found it the other day, and it’s got some pretty good stuff on it.

Ok, Red Sox/Rays starts tomorrow night, who you got? I’m going to say Sox in six. The Rays have been playing out of their minds this year, but at some point it all has to catch up with them right? I’m not a huge believer in the “experience” argument, but I think in this case, a cold, loud Fenway Park in October, it might come into play. Unlike most fans, I’ve got faith in Matsusaka, so as long as Beckett isn’t hurt I think we’ll be ok. The Sox won the last series without a lot of their best hitters hitting , so even if one of those guys snaps out of it, they should be fine. The Rays have a very good pitching staff, both the starters and bullpen, so I think the Sox will have to figure out a way to manufacture more runs, as opposed to relying on the three run homer. I really don’t foresee a high scoring series, more likely games of 4-3 or 3-1, scores like that.

Live From New York

Well, it's not exactly live, but we are in New York, and SNL was rehersing right down the hall... We filmed while on the NBC tour in New York. Basically, we were the only people in the tour that spoke english, so we had no choice. Gotta say though, it was pretty cool to do..

Quick Link

I little humor for a Tuesday morning...you'll need sound...

End Of The Homestudy

So we just finished with part three of the home study, where the social worker interviews Sarah and I at the same time. It's funny, I left with a worse feeling than I did when I was interviewed one on one, and the wife left with a better feeling. Not that I'm worried about failing or anything, because that's not going to happen... I just can't seem to put my finger on what bugged me. We were kind of pushed in the direction of changing some of answers from the previous written questionnaire, so maybe that's it, I'm not sure...

But the best part is, it's done! Which means in four to six weeks (hopefully sooner cuz we all know how not good i am at waiting), she'll turn in her written report, it'll get ok'd by us and the agency, we'll submit our profile, and we'll officially be on the waiting list. Drives me crazy how drawn out the process is, but hey, that's just the way these things work. I used to work for a government agency, I should know.

On a lighter note, if you missed the SNL skit the other night (Biden/Palin debate) I highly recommend you check it out here. Very very very funny...