Case Of The Mondays..

Yes, I do in fact have a case of the Mondays, but then again I have them most days of the week (except for Saturday's and Sunday's of course)
So I went to the Celtics game last night. Great time. Went with Dad and my two brothers. Fantastic time, horrible game. Well, not horrible, but the starters hardly played and the Heat trotted out a D League team.
Anyone else catch How I Met Your Mother tonight? They ended with Neil Patrick Harris sitting at his computer, blogging, Doogie style. Highest of high comedy. Another reason why this is one of the best sitcoms on tv.
It looks like my beer ingredients will be arriving tomorrow. Which means I get to brew this weekend. I figured I'd start simple and go with an IPA. I wanted to test out the quality of the ingredients too, before I got something more involved (read: expensive).
Exhausted. I feel like I've been living in the car lately with all the driving that we've been doing. Going to bed. Will be more awake and chipper later in the week.

The Weekend...Or At Least The First Half

So we decided to do our usual Friday activity last night, dinner and a movie, but this time we kicked it old school, going all 19th century style! Dinner at our local Public House and a night at the theater. The local Bangor community theater troupe put on a production of Little Shop of Horrors. Now, I haven't seen the movie since it first came out way back in 1986or so I didn't exactly remember all the specifics of the plot and whatnot. I gotta say, I was thoroughly impressed with the show. The theater was tiny, probably 1/2 the size of my old high school auditorium, the band played a little too loud at times so you couldn't always hear the singing, but the price was right ($15 or $30 for tix, we chose the $30 tix) for 5th row center seats. The snobby wife didn't enjoy it as much as I did, me thinks her posh Newton upbringing skewed her idea on community theater. I think she was expecting better production values or something out of the Globe Theater or straight off Broadway. I on the other hand, can't wait to see whats playing next.
While we were at dinner, at my favorite local pub Cristor's, we got to talking with the bartender. Cristor's used to have an upstairs and a downstairs, but they recently closed the downstairs for renovation. Apparently, they're changing things up a little. They're turning downstairs into a martini bar. I can't wait. Upstairs will still be the pub with beer etc, and downstairs will specialize in martini's and wine. Pretty much the same menu will be available at both sites. The new restaurant is scheduled to open in a couple weeks, and you know we'll be there to try it out.
Today, we decided to make the trek 50 miles south to the Fairfield Antiques Mall. Its basically a ginormous antiques store. We aren't really looking for one thing in particular, but we do have a bunch of things on our list that we wouldn't mind buying if we found exactly what we're looking for (bedside tables, living room side table,etc) After two hours plus in the store (it really is huge) we finally left, purchasing only six books. Four were history books from the 1800's ( I collect them) and the other two were first edition 1919 Bobbsey Twins books the wife picked up. Good stuff all around.
On the way home, we hit Target (not a weekend goes by that we're not there. It's like our Mecca) and one of the local furniture stores which is having a big sale. I've decided I'm not allowed to go in furniture stores anymore because I always walk out ticked that I can't buy my recliners I want. Ahhh the elusive recliner, its the white whale to my Ahab. Always just out of my reach, destined to never enter my house.
Tonight, we're just staying in, watching a movie or some old recorded tv we need to catch up on (New Amsterdam and Reaper specifically) and tomorrow night I'm going to the Celtics game with Dad and my two brothers. Can't wait. They're playing a horrible team, but it'll be fun just to go to a game this year. This is the first year in a while that I haven't been to multiple games. Stupid commute. I'm thinking about next year, maybe finding someone to split a 12 game package or something like that with. We'll see...

Almost There...

I spent most of the day thinking it was Friday. Isn't that the worst? Now tomorrow will feel like an extra day of work.
So last night was a night of extended family fun! We started out by heading to dinner in the next town over. Umm the food.. not so good. Don't think I'll be heading back there anytime soon. I got the hickory bacon burger, which was supposed to be a burger with bacon and bbq sauce. Well it was a burger, and there was bacon, but the bbq sauce was served separately in little individual (like the ones you get at mcdonalds when you get chicken nuggets) bbq sauce containers. Weird.
After dinner is when the night got fun. BOWLING! Who doesn't love bowling. After a spirited debate over whats better, big balls or little balls (insert joke here), we decided to go the candlepin route. First bowling alley we went, packed... second one, packed... third one, packed.. apparently bowling is the thing to do up here on Wednesday nights. We must have missed that memo. So we decided to go back and try the first place again. Ended up getting two lanes (next to each other, all the way down the end so there were only people on one side of us so we didn't have to share the seats. I hate sharing the seats), one of which had the bumpers in the gutters, so we just left them in there and bowled the night away. I've never bowled so fast in my life. For some reason everyone was rushing thru the strings. It was like cardio bowling. Needless to say, I, of course, won.
I think that the bowling alley was actually stuck in some sort of time warp though. I felt as if we stepped back into 1985. Old video arcade games (original Tron, Galaga, Ms. Pacman and Scramble, along with a Guns n' Roses pinball machine), original 1980's carpet and original shoes I think too. Everyone seemed to have a great time, but now I need to convince the wife to find a league to join.
Anyone else catch that Celtics game last night? Great great game. They seemed to start out a little slow, not playing a whole lot of defense in the first half. But in the second half they really turned it on and just blew out the Suns. That leaves New Orleans as the only team they haven't beat yet this year, and they'll be in town tomorrow I believe. Should be a great game.
So we were supposed to have visitors this weekend, but they are unable to make it. I was really looking forward to hanging out with them, but at the same time we've been so busy the past couple of weekends that it'll be nice to just hang out and relax. Although I am going to the Celtics game Sunday, that still leaves Friday and Saturday to catch up on some sleep and stuff around the house. I'm really hoping that my brewing ingredients show up so I can make some beer!

Is It Spring Yet?

Apparently not, as it was 13 degrees out when I left the house this morning..

• So the Today show had a really interesting segment this morning on germs/autoimmune disease. Apparently there is a new study out that states that the reason that so many people/kids get sick and have more allergies than ever before is twofold. First is the amount of toxins in the air. All those factories pumping out all that bad stuff. Second is the influx of hand sanitizer. The sanitizer kills all the germs, which isn't a good thing. Not being exposed to germs doesn't allow one to build up a resistance to them. Makes sense to me. I've used hand sanitizer exactly once in my life (and that was like three weeks ago after going into a nasty apartment) and I get sick very rarely. Maybe once a year I use a sick day cuz I'm actually too sick to go to work.
  
• This is a great article. "yeah um when we landed we were under heavy sniper fire so we had to run for cover." or you got off the plane, met the welcoming committee, conversed with a child and walked over to your waiting car. Either or, they're pretty much the same right?
  
• A recent University of Tennessee study showed that guys people are happiest in a relationship when the woman is more attractive than the man. In my case, I'd say that's spot on!
  
• And last, but certainly not least... the latest and greatest in restaurant technology.

Guess Who?

• Ok, the picture quality isn't the best (1988 cheapo Mom camera + old scanner = grainy picture), but let's see who can guess who's in this picture. I'll give you a hint, that looker in the awesome shorts and Milton t-shirt would be me, after that, you're on your own. The guy in the knee high socks, pink polo shirt with the popped color, stylin' huh...

• When I was younger (10 and 11) my parents sent me to this baseball camp in New Jersey. (my mom's friend was sending her son, a huge Yankees fan, so I got to go too) The first four days was the "father and son" portion of camp, after that the dads would leave and we'd spend the next week or so playing baseball etc. Part of the package was getting your own baseball card. This one was from my first year there, me and dad..
  Dad and I shared a card, gotta love how we somehow managed to balance the hat on our heads huh.
  Here's the back of the card. 4'10" and 92 pounds of pure muscle baby.. (that's me, not dad)
• When I find one of the cards from my second year at the camp, I'll put that up too. That one is just me, no dad. Apparently I got too cool in a years time to have my father in the picture with me. The camp was great, lots of Yankee and Met "greats" hanging around, acting as instructors, along with a couple current players milling about. I remember being completely confused by a cheese steak, not knowing what the heck that was (umm hello, New Jersey, its called a steak and cheese!) loving the sliding drills (huge slip and slide type thing), learning I never wanted to be a catcher (one inning caught, more pitches bouncing off me rather than being caught and sweating like crazy in the equipment) and the allure of the girls tennis camp sharing dorms with us. Good times.
• So the wife and I were talking today, and she pointed out how the phrase "being the bigger person" really didn't make much sense if taken literally. I agree. Why would you want to be the bigger person? That just leads to problems. If you're bigger like fatter, chances are you have high blood pressure, you're not in very good shape, can't find clothes that fit easily. none of these things are good. Or if you're bigger like taller, that has its hazards too. Constantly hitting your head on low hanging chandeliers, ducking thru every doorway, pants that are never long enough making it look like you're eagerly anticipating a flood at all times. No fun at all...
• On ESPN.com, before the tournament started, you could enter your bracket online for prizes. Out of the 3.6 million brackets submitted, only 2, yes 2 people have all 16 teams left correct. That's amazing isn't it?
• This is a fantastic idea! A lacrosse team in Denver is outdrawing the Avalanche and the Nuggets, and here's how... Apparently catering to the lowest common denominator works. Works for me at least..
• Great clip of a hockey fight here. Around the 1:25 mark it gets really good..
• Kids + snow + tv reporter = hilarity
• Tried some new beers: 1. Newton's Folly - its a cider. Wasn't good, very watered down, tasted like juice. Don't bother trying it. The wife bought it last time we were at Trader Joe's. 2. Pennichuck Firehouse Red Ale - Good stuff. I'm a fan of the red ales though, so I'm a little biased. The other reviewers of this beer didn't like it all that much, but I did. It's definitely something I'd try again. 3. Harbor Lighthouse Ale - Local Maine brew. Very tasty I thought. Something I would definitely try again, and I would certainly like to try it from the tap. If anyone would like to try it let me know, I'll bring some down my next trip.

How Fast is Too Fast?

Tip O'Neil Tunnel to our front door... three hours eight minutes. Too fast?
Anyway, rest of the weekend was great. I spent Saturday on the couch at my parents house watching basketball games and the History Channel with dad. We weren't actually on the couch together,(that would just be weird) but were both in the living room at the same time. More to the point though, I watched the tv while he dozed in his chair.
That night, the wife, mom, dad, brother S and I hung out, ate some very tasty chinese food and played some domino's. Of course, I was the victor. I'm pretty much unbeatable, which is really quite amazing since I hardly ever pay attention to the table and it takes me way too long to add my points at the end of the game. Playing domino's with the family has got to be one of my favorite things to do now. Just hanging out, joking around, having fun, can't go wrong there. We also went through a bunch of the old family pictures, which was pretty funny. Seeing those pictures of Christmas' gone by though makes me wish I still had all those cool toys. To think that they all just got thrown out or buried in my friend Mike's sandbox never to be seen again. Star Wars, GI Joe, He-Man, Centurions, all gone... so sad.
Easter was fun today too. We had a fantastically yummy brunch at the in-laws(spiral ham, quiche, popovers mmmm popovers) followed by a quick stop in at my grandparents and the drive home.
I also brought back with me all of our beer brewing equipment. So sometime in the next month or so, stay tuned for the zany adventures as I try to brew some beer on my own (I was never allowed to be in charge of the directions when we brewed in the past. I guess you could say that I don't really have an eye for detail).
Alrighty.. bed time.. hope everyone out there had a nice Easter or just a nice weekend in general. Should be a good week for us. My cousin is visiting so we'll have make sure to catch up with her soon too.

Weekend Plan

So we made the drive down yesterday, stopped twice but one of those stops was for Chik-fil-a. If you've never had it, I highly recommend you head to the Burlington Mall and get some soon. The bestest chicken sandwiches in the whole wide world. Seriously. And they have these fantastic waffle fries too. You really can't go wrong. Although while there, the wife and I did have a little "national geographic"moment. We were fortunate enough to observe the modern teenager in its native habitat, the mall. Really fascinating stuff. Fifteen year old girls dressed like hookers. Boys trying their best to look cool and fashionable when they really just looked ridiculous. Thankfully because we're old, we were able to completely blend in to our surroundings without the teens noticing. Amazing to watch the pack mentality, the one leader at the head of the group, leading the pack through the mall, the others following, constantly looking around for someone cooler to say hi to.
The wife and I were talking about it though, and neither of us really remembered going to the mall in such large groups. I remember going with two or three other people but that's it, and it wasn't all that often. We both agreed that we spent a lot more time hanging out at someones house, rather than wandering the food court in search of nourishment and coolness.
Not much on the schedule today. Gonna pack my arse on the couch at the parents house and watch some basketball while the wife goes shopping with her mom. Dinner with the parents tonight, brunch with the in-laws tomorrow (mmmm brunch) and quality time with the grandparents tomorrow afternoon.
My cousin E is in town from CA this week (by in town, I mean in ME) so we can't wait to see her and hang out. I got to know her, her sister and her parents really well when I lived out in CA, so it'll be great to catch up.
Anyway, have a great Easter..

Hump Day!

• So today, the wife and I sent each other the same link at the exact same time. We weren't even discussing LOST (the aforementioned link was a story about a character on the show). We both just happened to stumble upon it at the same time this afternoon. I found it, emailed it to her and 2 seconds later when I checked my inbox there was an email from her with the very same link. Its like we have some sort of connection or something...
• So I go to the gym today. I run my mile and a half and head over to the rowing machine. There I am, sitting there rowing away trying not to make funny faces, pretending that the machine isn't kicking my arse, and this guy walks by. Maybe 60-65, tall, very thin, bald head with the ring of hair around the sides of his head. He was wearing a very abnormal headband of sorts. It appeared to be a common kitchen sponge, cut in two the long way (leaving two long thin sponges) with a thick rubber band holding it to his head. The sponges were being held against his forehead. I'm assuming that they were there to keep the sweat out of his face, by why not just wear a hat or an ordinary headband. Completely bizarre. I had to put my head down to keep from laughing as he swaggered across the gym.
• Started watching that new show on FOX, New Amsterdam. Pretty good. We've only watched the pilot episode so far, and it usually takes a show a couple of episodes to really hit its stride. We figure we'll catch up on the rest of the episodes soon, but so far so good. (NYC detective who was made to be immortal after saving the life of a Indian (sorry Native American) woman back in the 1700's)
• Tomorrow. Thursday. Also known as my most favoritest sports day of the year. All those college basketball games, I can't wait. Haven't figured out what I'm going to do about work yet, but I'm thinking I'll go in early, skip lunch and leave early to see as many games as possible. Although now that I think about it, LOST is on tomorrow night, so there's going to have to be some serious clicker manipulation going on. If you don't hear from me for a couple of days, its because the wife got fed up with my constant flicking and finally beat me to death with said remote. Friday it'll be easier to watch the games, although we'll be in the car most of the night.
• So I'm looking to buy this book. This guy, Mike Holmes, is fantastic. Canadian contractor who goes in and fixes other people's screw-ups. (6pm on DIY network if you get it) Problem is, it says I can only preorder the book, but it also states the the book came out March 1st. Umm, why does one have to preorder a book that has already been released? Before ordering, I'd also like to read a little about the book, but can't find a summary of it anywhere. Apparently, our Molson drinking neighbors to the north haven't figured out the printing press or calender yet.
• Dinner tonight... baked haddock with breadcrumbs, thyme, garlic, pepper and lemon with rice and a side of spiced up shrimp. I gotta say, I'm getting pretty good at this cooking thing. Nothing all that fancy, but building up the repertoire slowly.
• Impressive win by the Celtics last night. You gotta figure, an older veteran team, 2nd night of back to back night games, coming off a huge close win against the best of the best, had no shot at winning. But with Houston's win streak, you just knew the C's would be coming to play. Great defensive game (yes, I stayed up till midnight or so watching the game) with minimal mistakes. This team can score, but its strength is definitely its tenacious defense, which will carry them far into the playoffs... hopefully.

Thoughts From A Forever Wandering Mind

This will be a quick post, as the Celtics game is on and I'm writing this during halftime.. stupid western conference trip with games being on late at night..

• I've discovered the rowing machine at the gym. Good stuff. I feel like I get a much better work out than any of the other machines.
• Tried some of the new Doritos's the other day. Unbeknownst to me, there's like 150 different flavors out there now, and I tried the Sizzlin' Picante, and let me tell you boy were they sizzlin'. Pretty tasty, just a bit on the too spicy side (for chips at least).
• Spring is coming! Spring is coming! Or at least I hope it is. The Penobscott River is no longer frozen solid. The cats are shedding like crazy. My aunt's horses are losing layers of hair. That's gotta mean that the warm weather is coming right? Although I probably just jinxed it by saying that, and we'll get like a foot of snow tomorrow.
• Anyone have any recommendations on a good razor? I need to switch mine and try something new. I'm using the Gillette Mach 3 (the green one) now. I'm thinking about making the switch to an electric razor, but last time I had one (college) the shave wasn't close enough. Any suggestions?
• Great reads, here and here. Very sad, but still something I think is worth the ten minutes it takes to read them.
• I'm reading The City of Falling Angels now. Its by the same guy who wrote Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Good book so far. Its about an opera house in Venice that burns down and the events following. There will be a full review when I finish up..

Weekend Report

Good weekend this weekend. We had some friends, Mike, Kim and baby Maya up for the weekend, and besides Kim being allergic to our cats (sorry!), I'd say it was a rousing success. They arrived Friday evening and after giving them a tour of our amazing house we all sat down for a yummy chicken pot pie dinner (seriously, thanks again Lisa for the recipe, the wife and I absolutely love it and make it all the time). Didn't do much after dinner, played with Maya and hung out and caught up with Mike and Kim. Fun night all around.
Saturday we a great day. We started out by hitting Nicky's for breakfast, which is a favorite of ours. Then we made our way over to my aunt and uncles house to see the barn/horses. Thankfully my aunt and cousin were home so they let us poke around and we ended up hanging out for a while. Maya really seemed to like the barn too, which made the trip that much more worth it. I of course, forgot the camera, so I didn't take any pictures.
After a quick trip home for a nap (not just Maya) and lunch, we decided to give the Maine Discovery Museum a whirl. Its basically the area children's museum. Pretty interesting stuff, TONS of little kids running around and they had the heat on waaaay too high. Maya seemed to have fun though, which is good cuz that's why we went. I only took one picture, and it was with my phone, so excuse the quality. Each room had a different theme, and this room was the anatomy room...
Kinda creepy isn't it? I was just two seconds late in snapping the pic of the wife picking the giant head's nose. Kinda reminds one of the show Double Dare though, doesn't it?
After the museum we headed home, hung out for a bit then went to dinner at Cristor's, our favorite local place. Good food and drink all around, and off we went home.
Last night we watched Waitress, which was supposed to be really good, but was actually really bad. It was listed under comedy and really had no business being there. It's become a running joke with us and Mike & Kim that every time the four of us get a movie off OnDemand, it ends up royally sucking haha.
All in all it was a lot of fun seeing everyone this weekend, and we hope they had fun. Anything bad that they say ignore! hahaha. The rest of you guys who haven't visited, c'mon now, don't leave us hanging!
Randomness..

• You've gotta check out this video. Highest of comedy, and he completes the segment!
• Ever wonder why when a male teacher does bad things with one of his students, our first thought (and rightly so) is, "string him up!". But when a female teacher does bad things with one of her students, our first thought is, "is she hot?" (have you ever noticed how many of these things happen in Florida. Seems like every other occurrence)
• So like I said a couple of days ago, we moved up to the third floor recently. We ran cable up there this afternoon cuz we couldn't possibly not have a tv in the bedroom. When we ran it for the surround sound in the living room, it took like 3 hours (living room down into the basement). Today, it took us maybe 20 minutes, and that was running it from the third floor all the way down to the basement. Go figure.
• So I don't have my usual company NCAA pool to enter up at the new job, so if anyone is in one, would you mind letting me in? I like losing my $5 quickly and to strangers.
• And I'll leave you with this picture.. taken by the lovely wife... just something for all you Northrup's out there..
  

Have a great week, and we'll see you all soon (again) for Easter...

Almost There...

One more day till the weekend, fiiiinally. ANd we have guests coming so we'll actually turn on the heat! I can't wait to be warm again!!!
Did you know that before Thomas Edison invented the light bulb people slept an average of 10 hours per night. Now we sleep on average, 6.9 hours during the week and 7.5 hours on the weekend. Stupid inventor making us sleep less. Although I find if I sleep too much I'm more tired than if I haven't slept enough.
Friends coming this weekend, can't wait. No idea what we're going to do all weekend, but I'm sure we'll find something fun and exciting to do.
So I only work with like six other people, so we won't be running an office NCAA pool up here. But if anyone is in one and has room for one more, can you let me know? I'd love to sacrifice my money to the NCAA gods.
Anyone else watch LOST tonight? Another top tier episode. Slowly they're answering questions, yet at the same time they are presenting new ones. I love it... And showing the previous weeks episode prior to the new one is a great idea. I especially like the ticker at the bottom of the screen giving hints and filling in some of the blanks.

Moving On Up!

So like most things in our life, the wife and I made a big decision today on a whim. About 6:30 tonight, we decided to move our bedroom from the room it was in, which is designed to be the master, to the third floor. Don't really know why we decided to do that, but we did, and I gotta say I really like the setup, it feels like a much bigger space now.
For those of you that have seen the house, you know that the stairway from the 2nd to the 3rd floor is tight. I have no idea how we got our mattress up those stairs, but we did. Thankfully, we don't have a box spring, as there's no way in hell it was getting up there.

As you can see, the doorway is pretty tight. Getting the mattress up there was no easy task, but after 15 minutes of pushing and pulling and bending and stretching we finally got it up there.
We need a new light up there, so its not the brightest of pictures, but it looks pretty darn good, doesn't it?
Notice the thermometer behind the cat. Without the heat on, it was 65 degrees up there, which is even a little too warm for us. (both the misses and I like it chilly when we sleep)

So we've moved most of the furniture, and we'll finish the rest tomorrow. Now this allows us to really focus on and finish the former master bedroom. With nothing in the room and no real plans for it now, its basically a tabula rasa, a clean slate if you will. We can paint it however we'd like.

Ok, get the jokes ready... Claudia, you asked for it, so here it is, a picture of the new boots..

Pretty snazzy huh? Keep in mind you can't see the top part under the pant leg, so they basically look like shoes. They're comfortable, they're nice, and I like them so I don't care what you say hahaha...

Randomness

• You know what I can't wait for? This weekend. You want to know why? Because we have friends coming to visit. Sure it'll be nice to see them and hang out, but you know what the best part is? We'll actually turn the heat on!!! Normally, the temperature is between 58 and 62 in our house. The only time we turn it up any higher is when we have guests. So on behalf of my frozen fingers (they get really cold from all the typing I do) I beg of you, if you're thinking of coming up to visit, please do. Its tough constantly fighting off frostbite..
• Anyone else see this story? About the girl in the Clinton phone commercial. How she was 8 when the footage was shot, but she's 17 now and has actually been volunteering for the Obama camp for the past couple months. How great is that? Seriously, what are the chances on something like that happening. Clinton's gotta be saying, "you've gotta be effing kidding me" on this one..
• So my mother, in all her infinite kindness, got the great idea to get Celtics tickets for my father, my two brothers and myself. Great idea, seriously can't wait to go to the game in 3 weeks, I've been dying to go to one this year. They're playing the Miami Heat that game too. Although today, the Heat's announced that their star player, Dwayne Ward, will be missing the rest of the season due to injury. Now the Celtics would have rolled over the Heat anyway, but now its going to be like they're playing the freshmen, never mind the jv..
• One of my residents sat outside my office all day today making bird noises. I don't know if he was whistling or what, but it was like 3 hours of chirping. Seriously, I think I need a thicker door or some sort of tranquilizer dart gun...
• This is one of those stories that really rubs me the wrong way. This lady, a lawyer, is suing 6 casino's because she gambled away over a million dollars. She lost a cool million, and is suing for twenty million, makes sense right? She's saying that they should have stopped her and its their fault. Ummm person passing the buck and not taking responsibility for their own actions says what? Are you kidding me? So if you win a million at a casino, can they then sue you for taking their money? What if I go by 50 chain saws at home depot, can I then sue them for not stopping me? If this doesn't get tossed out of court immediately, I'll be very disappointed...
• Its good to be back in Maine. Way too many people down in Boston. For every one idiot up here, there's 20 down there. Too many people on the roads. Too many people in the stores. Speaking of stores, why is it that people feel the need to bring all six of their kids grocery shopping with them? Why not leave the kids home with dad while you go shopping or visa verse? They're yelling, they're screaming, they're running all over the place. Leave the kids at home lady!!! I never understood that, why do both parents need to go shopping together? Doesn't it make more sense for one parent to run out while the other stays home with junior? The wife and I don't even have kids and we NEVER go grocery shopping together. We're setting a precedent early! Planning ahead! But I digress...
• Good win by the Celtics tonight. They played like they were sleepwalking, but that's ok. At this point its about defining roles and getting the bench lots of playing time in order to rest the starters...
• So have you seen the show How I Met Your Mother? Funny sitcom on Monday nights on CBS. Anyway, apparently Britney Spears is taping an episode as a guest star. Why? Why would the producers/writers whomever, want her anywhere near the show. Its a funny, smart, entertaining show, why bring on this train wreck? Good job by her agents/handlers getting her on a legit show though. Might actually help restore some credibility to her wounded name.
• And finally... if you're having a bad day and really feel like punching someone in the head might make you feel better, then might I recommend you make a visit to this lady. Seriously, it's 2008 right? How does someone this incredibly stupid get elected to Congress? It's like her district gathered up their local village idiot and made her their rep. This really doesn't help the good people of Oklahoma much. Mom always said, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all...

Oh What A Wonderful Weekend

So lets see, Friday after finishing up at work, we headed down to Boston. After a quick stop at the Burlington Mall (the wife needed to go. she misses malls with two floors and more than 15 stores. its almost like she craves malls from time to time) we arrived at the in-laws house around 930 or so. Needless to say, nothing much fun and exciting was done the rest of the night.
Saturday was a big big day for us. Woke up, hit Brueggers for some breakfast (mmm bagels. we have yet to find a good bagel place up here) and hit the road to Ikea, another place the wife craves. Didn't buy much, thankfully, just a duvet cover. Now here's where the action starts. On the way from Ikea to Framingham (where we were meeting some friends) we almost died! Not to be overly dramatic or anything. So we're diving up 128 in the left hand lane going 70-75 mph. The car in front of us is 4 or so car lengths in front of us, and there's a car another 3-4 car lengths in front of them. The first car had a mattress and box spring tied to the roof. Well at least they were tied until they came flying off flipping through the air at us! Both pieces went right over the car in front of us, with the mattress landing in our lane and the box spring landing two lanes over. I slammed on the brakes, but couldn't swerve right as there was an suv in the next lane, which I would have hit, and a guard rail to my left. So without hitting the brakes too hard (thus keeping the car behind us from ramming into us) I swerved to the left slightly and the right side of the car ran right over the mattress, ripping it to shreds. It was awesome. Not a peep or the tiniest of screams came from the wife, just a "holy shi*t, look out!", but that's to be expected. Another car hit the box spring and it(the box spring) basically exploded. We kept on driving, but no one was hurt so it was ok.
After hanging out in Framingham for a bit, Mike, Rob and I headed down to Mohegan Sun to test our luck. Apparently I used up all my luck not dieing earlier though. Every penny I brought with me stayed with our native american friends at the casino. We started out watching Rob clean up at the blackjack table, then moved over to craps for a bit where Mike and I got put through the wringer. After a couple more drinks to boost the optimism, I decided to give blackjack a go, and did pretty well for myself, but then lost it all again at the craps table. I learned an important lesson yesterday,which was never gamble without Phil. Every time I hit a casino with my buddy Phil, I do really well. He couldn't make this trip and I came back penniless. I gotta say though, it was tons of fun just hanging out with Rob and Mike. Since we don't get to see each other all that often (what with the 250 miles seperating me and my friends) it was a blast, even the car ride to and from the casino was fun.
I also wore my new cowboy boots to the casino and received very little ridicule from Mike and Rob. I was honestly expecting to be made fun of a lot more, and frankly a little disappointed that they didn't. They're really really comfortable, look just like regular shoes and make me an inch taller, pretty much a win win win for me.
Today was spent hanging out with Liz and Rick, a quick pit stop at Trader Joe's for various food and alcoholic beverages and then over to Gramma's to celebrate her birthday. We would have liked to have spent more time there, but we had to hit the road to drive on back home.
All in all, a fantastic weekend, that went by way too fast. The worst part was though, as always, I forgot my camera so I have no new pics to post. I'll try to be more on the ball in the future, I promise. A big thanks to Breezy for feeding our cats while we were gone. Can't wait for next weekend as our friends Mike and Kim and their baby Maya are coming up. It'll be great to be able to show off the house and our little city to some more friends. This does however, put more pressure on the rest of our Boston friends to come visit now!

Happy Birthday!!!!!!

So its the weekend, finally. Got some big plans, get to see some friends I haven't had the chance to hang out with in a while. I really can't wait.
And before I forget, a biggest of big HAPPY BIRTHDAY's to my Gramma. I'm not going to say how old she's going to be, cuz that's just not right. But I will say that the woman is a saint and someone I've always looked up to. The most telling thing about her is how she welcomed my lovely wife right into our family and now the wife considers my Gramma her Gramma too. Happy Birthday Gramma :) Good luck down in Foxwoods and when you hit it big, don't forget who your favorite oldest grandson is...
So I made a new purchase, which I know I'm going to be ridiculed for, but that's ok. Anyone want to guess what I bought? Well you'll never guess, so I'll just tell you.... cowboy boots. Yep, I've wanted a pair for forever, but never had the testicular fortitude to buy a pair. Its really not socially acceptable in MA to wear them. But we've moved, we moved to a more tolerant state where it is ok to be who you are. They came Thursday, so I've only had them for a couple of days, but I gotta say, they're very comfortable and they look just like regular shoes. If I didn't tell you they were boots, you wouldn't have a clue.
Just a little public service message for everyone.. don't forget to set your clocks ahead an hour Saturday night/Sunday morning. Stupid daylight savings making me lose an hour of sleep. Its great cuz we get that "extra" hour of sun in the afternoon, but it makes it dark in the morning again, at least for a little while...
Anyway... looking forward to this weekend.. see some of you soon!

Better?

Ok, I had a couple complaints that the screen was too bright. Are these colors better?
So I've started going to the gym again. Haven't been in months, like 4 months to be precise. Presently, I'm at 165 lbs, so I'm only looking to lose 10 or so pounds. I don't necessarily want to lose that many, but lose the fat and turn some into muscle. I'm getting old though, don't know how easy that's gonna be. I told my buddy Rick that I started going again, and his response, "I didn't know there was a Curves up by you." Of course I had no comeback, cuz I never do.
Besides work and the Maine Morrissey's, my phone hasn't wrung since last Wednesday. So I guess since we moved out of MA everyone down there forgot about us huh. The sad part is, I really enjoy my ringtone, but I never get to hear it! (Retraction: Once again, I'm proven to be an idiot. My great friend Phil called me at 6:15pm yesterday and I forgot. So my statement should read that there was a weeks time between phone ringing occurances. Phil, my deepest and sincerest of apologies)
If you're not watching this Celtics game tonight, you're missing out. GREAT game. Back and forth, great defense, good ball movement, just a fantastic game to watch. If you didn't notice, Bill Russell is sitting in the seats right next to the Pistons bench. Nice job by the C's brass putting him there, I love it. (ok, Celtics game is over now) What a game! Perkins with 20 rebounds, Rondo playing an amazing game, knowing Cassell signed earlier in the day. Huge win with both Pierce and Ray Allen having quiet games. I gotta say though, Tommy Heinson is right, take it to the hole, stop settling for jump shots. That's the key for this team. And with tonight's win, the Celtics have officially clinched a playoff spot.
So we went to Lowes tonight, yes we love that place, and bought a plant. In the four or so years the wife and I have lived together we've never had real vegetation in the house. Hopefully we won't kill it.
Although Au Bon Pain is taking credit for it, the wife has been saying this for years, so its really her idea. And its a fantastic idea. She needs smaller portions, and so does my wallet. She NEVER finishes her meal. Well, ok that's an exaggeration. She has finished four meals since we've been together and three of those were lobster, so that doesn't really count because that's her most favoritest food in the whole wide world.

Pancakes Again!

• Yep, thats right, for the second night in a row, we had pancakes for dinner and they sooo hit the spot. Hopefully tomorrow we'll actually make some dinner for dinner.
• You HAVE to check out this video (scroll down to the first video). Its perhaps the best catch I've ever seen.
• So what do you think of the new blog format? Its not too tough on the eyes is it?
• For the firs time since we moved, the wife did a load of laundry for me. We've always done our own laundry, as she has too many things that can't go in the dryer, and if I wash her stuff, I'll forget and shrink everything. Then she'll have to go shopping, and that can get expensive for me quick, so its just easier this way. Anyway, so she does the laundry for me, but did she do it to be nice? Of course not. She did it for one reason, and one reason only... to hold it over my head. That's very wife like of her, don't you think?
• Interesting fact, before the war, oil was $36 a barrel... now its $102. Nice job guys. We took out a very bad guy yes (who ended up not being as bad as he made himself out to be, and which a single round from 500 yards away would have had the same effect though), but we've also lost way too much life and you've sent my gas prices through the roof. Thanks again.
• Good to see the Pats sign Randy Moss. With all the players they've lost so far, they really need to sign him to keep the offense potent and the fans at bay.
• Celtics just signed Sam Cassell too. If he doesn't mind coming off the bench and playing second fiddle to Rondo, then I love this signing. If he starts complaining at all about playing time, things could get very bad very quickly. Although for comedy sake alone its a great signing. A couple of weeks ago when the Celtics and Clippers played (his former team), my lovely wife pointed at the screen and yelled, "that guy looks like an alien". Which he totally does...
• I will be a happy happy man when tv technology has caught up with my needs. All tv should be broadcast in HD. For those of you who don't have HD tv's, catch up, live in the now!

Ok, time to go, one of my favorite shows is on, Cities of the Underworld, on the History Channel. Great great show, where they show the cities beneath the cities (mostly in Europe where cities have been built on top of themselves after war, etc.)

The Weekend

So lets see. Friday night we did our now usual night of a movie and some apps. Tonight it was my turn to pick the movie (we rotate to ensure fairness), which means I got to drag the wife to see Semi-Pro, the new Will Ferrell movie. Really funny movie, but not nearly as funny as I thought it would be. Will Ferrell plus the 1970's plus basketball should equal hilarity, but they missed the mark. Lots of funny one liners, but it felt like they were just inserted, there wasn't a whole lot of flow to it. The theater was like 75% full and we were the second oldest people there, by far. (there was a couple my parents age sitting next to us) We got all the jokes, the other old couple got all the jokes, but most of the kids didn't. Apparently the 70's references and subsequent jokes went right over their collective heads. A Jackson Five joke, a Pong reference, stuff like that, the kids didn't have a clue that it was supposed to be funny.
After the movie, we hit Chili's for some food and drinks. They have two happy hours (neither of which is actually an hour), one running from 4-6 and the other from 9 to close, so a lot of the apps were half price and my beer was only $2 which made it that much better. A couple drinks, mini burgers, spinach & artichoke dip and some sesame chicken later, we went home full and content.
Saturday was spent working on the bedroom again (sometimes I feel like we're never going to finish that room) and we helped my uncle pick up his new tv. He got a new 46 inch lcd and its a thing of beauty. Since it was snowing so much, we took our car to pick it up (he has a pick up truck, but there's no way I'm going to risk that tv getting wet!) Afterwards we went to lunch at a local Mexican place. The wife and I hadn't been there before, but my uncle had. It was actually really tasty, which was a nice surprise considering the the last Mexican place we tried was completely void of taste. And they do take out, which was a very nice surprise. That night was watched the Bourne Ultimatum on OnDemand, which I will never use again because the movie wasn't shown in widescreen. I have a nice big tv, and there's no point in watching a movie if I'm not going to take advantage of it. The movie itself was really good though, but then again I liked the previous two too, so my opinion may be slightly biased.

Today was a good day. We didn't leave the house until 5:30 or so. Some of the day was spent blasting my music singing away, some spent working on the bedroom (not me, just the wife), some spent napping in front of the tv. Good times, great way to spend a Sunday. We did however, decide to go grocery shopping this evening. Now usually, I go alone and buy enough to get us through the week, buying minimal snack food and mostly stuff for lunches and dinners. Tonight, the wife came with me and lets just say it was a different kind of shopping. Pro: I didn't have to carry all the groceries into the house myself. Con: we shopped like we were stoned. Part of the problem was we didn't have dinner before we went, so we shopped hungry. That's a definite no-no. We bought the most random stuff, topped off by making pancakes for dinner. Growing up, this was a regular occurrence in my family, but the wife always had formal meals, so its still a treat for her to have something like this for dinner. (my buddy mike used to love coming over for dinner when we were little, cuz his mom would always make a real legit meal for dinner(usually some sort of casserole, remember him eating lots of casseroles for some reason), whereas whenever my mom would work late we'd have either pancakes or goulash for dinner. I loved it when mom worked haha)
As I type this, we're watching America's Funniest Home Video's. Tonight's show is using all animal clips, which of course is right up our alley. The only thing funnier than watching the stupid things animals do, is watching someone get hit in the groin. Getting hit in the groin is ALWAYS funny, unless of course its me being hit in the groin, then its not so funny. I'm also drinking a Bacardi Mojito drink. Go ahead, judge me, but I gotta tell you, its really good.
Randomness:

• After every Celtics game, I pour over the box score. Am I the only one that still does this?I do the same thing with Red Sox games..
• Went to the ATM the other day and it charged me $3 to take out money. $3!?!? Are you kidding me, how about I just give you my first born instead!
• Busted out the Pancake Puff the other day. The wife made cake batter and used it to make cake puffs. Sooo good. The only problem is, I ate like 50 of them, which equaled 1/2 a cake. Straight to my thighs...
• Went to Starbucks Saturday morning to get coffee. Why is it that my coffee is never hot, its always luke warm. I stand there and watch them make it in front of me, so I know its fresh, but its never hot. I don't get it.
• We got about a foot of snow Saturday. Makes me happy cuz this will enable us to extend the snowmobiling season. Doesn't make me happy cuz I had to shovel.. three times. I find shoveling multiple times is easier than shoveling all at once at the end. There's not as much snow, obviously, so its not as heavy, which reduces the wear and tear on the back. I think one of these days I'm going to have to fake throw out my back to convince the wife to buy a snow blower. Just don't tell her I said that :)
• This article was interesting. Its all about how sex is becoming more and more popular in China, that people don't have to hide the fact that they're doing it anymore. Umm, there's like eleventy billion people in the country, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that there's a couple people doing the hibidy dibidy over there.
• Good win by the Celtics tonight. They seemed a little lackadaisical, but they always have trouble with the young athletic teams. It was just one of those games you have to fight through to get the win. They did a good job rebounding the ball which is crucial for this team to win. You can't afford to give hungry teams 2nd and 3rd chances off missed shots.
• I think I'm becoming obsessed with ring tones. I haven't purchased anything new lately, but I'm constantly searching through my phone for something new and hopefully amusing. I think I'm part 14 year old or something.