Monday, June 30, 2008

Book Review

Just finished reading Nothing to Lose, by Lee Child. If you haven't read any of the Lee Child books, I highly recommend them. All of the books involve the same character, kind of a one man A-Team who drifts thru life one town at a time helping those in need.

Anyway, this book wasn't my favorite of his, but it was still a good read. No dilly dallying at the beginning, it jumps right into the plot and action. Action throughout makes it a fun page turner and as always, I'm already looking forward to his next book.

Rumor has it they're making one of his previous books into a movie, but I really can't picture who'd play the main character. Although his books can read like movies from time to time. Like I said, if you haven't read of of his book, I highly recommend them.

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Can I Have Your Attention Please!

Everyone, eyes front please! Down in front, sitting Indian..errr Native American style so everyone can fit. The wife and I have some big big big big big news! No, Sarah isn't pregnant.. but its awfully close. We've decided to adopt!!! Long story short, the home brew method wasn't working, so we're going shopping now.

We've been thinking and talking about this for quite a while. Before we even got married, we had decided that this was something we wanted to do eventually. Mother Nature has just sped up the process for us. So we're still at the beginning of the process, where we're submitting our application to the agency we've selected this week. We've decided to go the domestic route, as you get a better family medical history and we want a newborn, which is tough to get from an international adoption. From here, we have a four or so week period where they do a couple of home visits and the requisite back ground checks on both Sarah and I.

Basically we need to put together a profile for the birth mothers to view. Essentially it consists of a blurb about each of us and about us together, along with info on the families we come from. We also include some pictures of us, doing activities we enjoy or places we love (i.e. us at Acadia National Park or hanging out with friends).

We also get to fill in certain criteria that we want the birth mother to fulfill. Meaning, we can pick the ethnicity (which we're not doing. We don't care about color or sex or anything like that, just want a healthy baby), or we can exclude a woman with a family history of mental illness or anything along those lines. The selection process is pretty in depth so that you can be as specific or as vague as you want. Sarah and I are going to be specific on certain things (certain issues with the family or the mother while pregnant) but as far as most adoptive parents go, we've been told we're on the less picky side. Like I said, healthy is the biggest thing with us.

Next, the birth mother literally flips thru a binder/internet at prospective parents and picks them. After we've been selected we can then decide if we want to go forward or pass. The agency we're going with told us that after the initial four week period, the average time to wait is about six months. We have a couple advantages in that we're both educated, have good jobs, we're very young (comparatively, most adoptive parents are close to 10 years older than us), we're exceptionally good looking, and come from very stable families.

We get picked sometime around the seventh month of pregnancy, so we don't have a whole lot of time to get our stuff together after that. When our birth mother goes into labor we get a phone call telling us and we drive/hop on a plane to wherever she is. We then pick the baby up from the hospital and have to stay in that state for 'X' amount of time (it differs from state to state, but it'll be 4-7 days most likely) It takes time for all the paperwork, etc to go through.

They say 50% of adoptions fall thru, mostly because the mother gives birth then changes her mind, which is very understandable.

Now each state is different. An adoption can not be finalized until after the mom gives birth, and depending on the state, she has between 1 and 3 days to reneg on the agreement. Meaning, we could be in a hotel room waiting for the legal paperwork to go thru, with the baby, and we could get a call saying the mom changed her mind. It doesn't happen often, but it can happen. And before the adoption is finalized, we'll also need to come to an agreement with the birth mother regarding future correspondence (if she even wants any) Most likely, we'll be open to a yearly letter with pictures to her, that goes thru the adoption agency (so she won't know our last names/address). But like I said, it's a mutual agreement between us and her.

Now here's where we enlist your help. Adoption through an agency can get very expensive. Private adoption is much much cheaper. So basically I'm asking you this… if you know anyone out here, a friend of a friend of a friend's daughter or whatever, who is pregnant but doesn't want to keep the child, feel free to pass along our story (no last names please). I know it's highly unlikely, but its worth a shot.

Also, as you can tell since I'm posting this on a little thing called the World Wide Web, not the J Web, this is not a secret. They say you're supposed to tell anyone and everyone (especially priests/ministers/rabbi's whomever) about it because you never know if a private adoption will work out. I know finding out about this news via our website isn't the best, but our families are just so big and there are just too many people to tell in person, so I'm sorry about that :)

I probably forgot to say something here, so feel free to ask any questions if you have any. The wife and I are more than willing to answer them. Also, our parents know most of the answers too, so you can ask them if you don't want to ask us.

Occasionally, I'll post updates, but we really don't anticipate any for the next four or so weeks. But when we know what's going on, you'll know.

Being a parent is something I've always wanted. I learned from the best so I figure I'll be pretty darn good at it too. So this will cost us a little more than the natural way, but to us it's 100% worth it, and we're just so excited! This tiny little baby will need a good and loving home and we think we have the perfect place for it. Heck, we have three extra bedrooms, we might as well fill them right!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Any Interest?

Two things...
First off, we bought a vanity for the bathroom a while back. Didn't measure right and it doesn't fit and of course the store was going out of business so we can't return it. I can't seem to get the picture to come up, but if you go to the Home Depot website and type in the sku..258851.. then it'll bring you to it. We also have the matching mirror. Total cost in the store $275, but if anyone out there is interested, make us an offer. I need to get the darn thing out of the dining room! (vanity has been out of the box once and the mirror box hasn't been opened yet)

Ok, next item. A buddy brought this to my attention recently, and I think I'm going to give it a go...check it out.. I'm starting tomorrow night, so we'll see what happens. Right now, I can only do like 25 push ups before my arms get too tired. How sad is that?! At one point in my life, I was in pretty darn good shape, but that time is not now (high school, 4% body fat. now.. i don't want to talk about it). Hopefully by the end of the program I'll be able to pump out the 100 straight not problem.

Good news, the new downstairs toilet went in completely problem free. We were originally going to wait until we redid the kitchen/2nd bath before putting in the new toilet, but because I really didn't want to return another one, we saved it from the upstairs debacle and decided to install it downstairs. Looks great, no leaks, perfect.

And lastly, soccer fans, you need to check out this video. How many times have you tried to pull this off and it never works! And speaking of soccer, anyone else catch the Germany/Turkey game today? I, like a lot of other people, tried to watch it, but lightning hit the international feeds tv tower earlier in the day so the signal kept going out. And of course, the last two goals, which were scored in the last 10 minutes of play, weren't seen by anyone outside the local feed. Ooh well, that's what Sportscenter is for, right?

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

FREEDOM!!!

Well, not really, but the wife is down in Boston for the night, she has to be in the office for work tomorrow, so I get the house all to myself. So you'd figure I'd drink lots of beer, have a big ole steak or a pizza for dinner and hang around and watch tv/play video games all night right? Well, sorta. I did have a couple of beers (JW Dundee's Honey Brown. it really doesn't get much better), but I had a salad for dinner. Lame, I know. Work was done around the house (we have visitors coming this weekend), but a lot of tv is being watched also...
Ok first off, did we ever post pictures of the plants the wife planted in the front of the house? Well here are some I took today...
As you can see, she really did a great job. I added some more mulch this evening though. The little plants next to the wall will grow and eventually drape over the wall. The bushes will grow to about three feet hopefully, filling that space right up. And she even planted some vines along the porch that'll hopefully one day climb up the front of the porch. The lights only kinda sorta work. It seems that they work when they feel like it, but not a minute sooner. They're the solar powered ones, and that area gets tons of sunlight. Maybe if we had spent more than $40 for eight of them, they might work better.

So I had a dentist appointment today. I figured I'd be an adult and go before something started hurting right. Bad idea. I don't eat candy. I don't drink juice. I don't drink soda. I consume minimal amounts of sugar, yet the dentist always always always finds 103 things wrong. At least this time they didn't try to lecture me, they were actually very nice about it.

I still got it... had a young lady driving next to me wave and say hi... yep.. chicks still dig me...

Anyone else watch WipeOut tonight on ABC? Fun stuff. Very entertaining. Then again, they are appealing to the lowest common denominator of tv viewers, which I of course am. As long as they mix up the obstacle course from time to time, I'll continue to watch. People getting hit in the groin, bouncing off things and generally making an ass of themselves is always funny to me. Now I just need to figure out how I get on the show.

Still sad that we're not getting, and still unable to find.. Kenny Chesney tickets for the July concert. Oh well.

Did you see this study that was done recently? I thought it was a pretty interesting read...

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Randomness

  • How amazing is this. Tiger Woods is so good that even his caddy is in the top ten on the PGA money list.
  • I bought my mother a set of golf clubs, but they were too big for her, so the wife has decided to keep them. I think if she's patient and takes a couple of lessons she could actually be pretty good. We'll see though.
  • You know there's nothing good on tv when I'm sitting here at 8:30 on Sunday night watching Star Wars: The Phantom Menace on Spike... and it's not even in HD.
  • So I'm listening to the radio the other, a country station of course, and this new song comes on that I've never heard. I'm thinking to myself, boy this sounds a lot like Hootie and the Blowfish. Low and behold, it kinda was... Hootie, minus the Blowfish. Darius Rucker is releasing a new country album and I gotta say that the first song off the cd is actually really good.
  • I feel like I married a 13 year old, circa 1991. Everytime the wife gets a hold of the radio in the car, out pops the ipod and I get to listen to the new New Kids song Summertime. Now it's stuck in my head, and has been for the past three days. Not good times
  • Might have a bit of news to talk about Tuesday/Wednesday. We'll see how the week goes though, check back then.
  • So after a Boston sports team wins a championship (which happens on a fairly regular basis at this point) I go buy all the magazines, posters, dvd's, bobbleheads... anything that's about that team really. So I've gotta go buy the new Sports Illustrated and all that. But if anyone out there sees anything fun, let me know ok. We don't have the biggest selection up here, so I'd appreciate the extra sets of eyes out there.
  • I recently picked up an Entertainment Weekly subscription. I've had one in the past, but after a favorite writer of mine moved from TvGuide over to EW, I figured I'd pick it up again. So now we get EW, Esquire, This Old House and Real Simple (I have no idea what this is, its the wife's).
  • So we got to spend some time this weekend with my friends eighteen month old. She's such a happy little girl, bouncing around the house, talking up a storm... and the best part. She can totally say my name. Not the easiest name in the world for a kid to pronounce, but she's got it down, and even knows it me haha.

Weekend Report

Very good weekend all around, which didn't exactly start off pleasantly. We were supposed to leave for Boston Friday night, but I got stuck at work until about 9, so that didn't work out. Thankfully, I have the best wife ever though. Neither of us had had dinner at that point, so she let me pick our destination. The 99. Can't go wrong there. Upon walking in, I was really in the mood for a salad, but instead settled for the mini bbq pulled pork burgers and the honey bbq tenders, which for my buck are simply the best around. Of course, this was topped off with a blueberry mojito for the wife (complete with sugar cane) and a beer so big I could have moved two of my tenants into it. Good times.

Saturday we made the drive to Boston, where we hung out with some friends for a bit before I left for the American Craft Beer Festival in downtown Boston. I went with three friends and had a fantastic time. Normally in this space I would write about all the beers I tried, but I didn't bring a pen and paper and well... I had lots of beer so the memory isn't exactly the best. We did however, have a great time, so now I need to convince the guys to head to Denver for the next festival.

After beer, we met up with the wives and some more friends for dinner and a movie. Get Smart was the flick of choice and I actually thought it was really funny. Funnier than expected too... and yes, I know I'm too young to really remember the tv show, but I know the concept etc., and really enjoyed it.

Today we hit gramma and papa's for a bit then headed home. All in all, a very good weekend and we're looking forward to the next one, as the mother in law and a friend are coming to visit.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Did You Miss Me?

Yep, I'm back, which means now you can effectively kill 10 minutes of your day at work, while simultaneously being bored and wondering why I'm not more witty.

So I've been pretty busy lately, actually really busy. I was down in Boston Sunday thru Wednesday for a training class for work. I spent the days being bored and the nights showing a buddy I work with (who also had to take the class) around Boston. Sunday night we stayed in the hotel bar where Phil and Sue met up with us and we drank $6 Bud Light drafts while watching the first half of the Celtics game. A $16 hamburger and three beers later, I called it a night and watched the rest of the game in my room.

Monday night we walked around Fanuiel Hall and ate at The Beantown Pub, which is one of my favorite Boston bars. Good food, attentive waitress' and it's off the beaten path as far as tourists attractions go.

Tuesday night we walked down Boylston/Newbury streets, over to Fenway Park and ate at the Cask N' Flaggon. I gotta say, they really cleaned it up since the last time I was over there and it was actually pretty nice. Food was good, bar service was good, it was a nice surprise. And of course Tuesday night I sat in my hotel room and watched the Celtics game. What a game! Everything that needs to be said about the series and the Celtics has been said, but I will add this...I'm sooo glad the playoff are over so I can finally go to bed at a normal hour! I'm a creature of habit, and my habit is to be in bed by 10:30 every night. During the playoffs, I wasn't in bed until at least midnight after the games, which made for a cranky J.

Figures though... I work for the Celtics and they're absolutely horrible. The wife and I decide to move to Maine, so no more Celtics, and what happens? They make all sorts of great trades, everything pans out and they win it all! To think.. if I had stayed I could have had a ring! Well maybe not a ring, but some sort of playoff bonus...

Going to the American Craft Beer Fest this weekend. Should be a really great time too. I'm going with a couple of buddies and meeting up with the wives afterwards. I'm just hoping that I'm able to function after 3.5 hours of drinking 3 oz beers..I'm guessing most likely not, but who knows, maybe I'll pick up a tolerance between now and then.

I promise I'll write more starting next week, not that you were all worried or anything. But I do realize that some of you depend on this blog! I know you need my help in killing those gruesome eight hours you're at your desk in your cubicle (or if you're cool like me, your office).

Oh and I forgot to mention that our new toilet finally came in!!! We finally have a toilet on the second floor again. So that bathroom is basically all down, we just need to finish up the shower. It would have been done sooner, but the toilet situation really killed us. Pictures will be posted next week when we have more time..

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Longest Post Ever

I was going to try to do a running diary, but I can't type that fast and I don't have nearly enough one liners to throw in there, so this will have to do.

First Quarter:
Celtics start off very very very cold. Is Doc wearing a purple suit? Way to wear the colors of the opposing team coach. This isn't good at all. The Lakers aren't missing tonight!
Two fouls on KG, not a good sign this early in the night. I think the Lakers missed one shot the entire quarter. And it helps some that they shot 15 free throws in the first quarter. Again, not a good sign. Horrible Celtic defense, home refs and an aggressive team equals lots of fouls. Celtics really need to get into the game here. Rondo on the bench and House in the game. I like House, but he's stone cold right now, I think I'd rather have Rondo in there pushing the ball, making the LA defense work. Also not a fan of Doc's substitutions right now. When taking KG out, you need more offense, which means Powe, not Brown.
Celtics down 35-14.

Second Quarter:
KG's back in the game, can't afford to foul early. I love the "I didn't foul him" look by the Lakers. Palms up, kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar look on his face. Cassell and House are both playing a lot. This scares me. Is Rondo's ankle really that bad? A "Boston Sucks" chant just broke out. Really LA, that's the best you could come up with? All those writers out there and that's it? Very disappointed in you.
Gotta keep going to KG in the post, No one can stop him down there.
Will Smith being interviewed. How can you be a Laker fan when you're from Philly? I'm sure his fellow Philidelphians are loving this. Watch out for flying batteries next time you go home big guy. Did you notice the extremely annoyed look on Jada's face? Like, "I'm famous too, I'm someone! Interview me too!"
Get Cassell out. Where the heck is Rondo? And what's with all the jumpers!
Say good night to Doc. No way he doesn't get a second tech tonight and gets tossed.
This NBA commercial with the split screen of Larry and Magic is creepy. Larry is not looking good at all. Looks like he just woke up after a four day bender with Jamal Tinsley and Steven Jackson.
Btw, anyone else hear that Hancock and The Hulk have movies coming out? I really did not know that. It's a good thing they show the commercial every three minutes. (speaking of which, flicking thru the channels the other day and American Gladiators was doing a Hulk promotion. One of the gladiators was actually painted green. Not a good look. This made me want to see the movie even less than I did before)
Everyone knows Kobe is a dink, the announcers talking him up isn't going to change anything.
Doesn't' seem to be the usual amount of celebs in the crowd tonight. Maybe there was a chance of showers, and they were afraid to leave the house. Maybe they realized that they haven't been seen on TMZ in a while so they had to get out on the town.
Celtics down 57-40 at the half. This is not looking good at all...

Third Quarter:
Celtics need to pass the ball better, feed the post and play solid defense. I've switched seats, changed clothes and kicked the cats off the couch. Gotta change all our mojo here at the Morrissey Mansion.
Pierce needs to D up on Kobe like he did with LeBron except Kobe is a much better shooter.
Not good to see Perkins go to the locker room. He's got a bad shoulder. My guess is its disloated again.
Lead back to twenty. Lakers are hitting their shots, gotta give them credit. Celtics aren't playing the best of defense and are still getting murdered on the boards. Someone needs to man up and go get the ball. This really is the ultimate Jekyl and Hyde team in the playoffs.
Too many 3's not enough rebounding.
Pierce is finally starting to play now. Defense feeds the offense. which it's doing right now, with the lead down to eleven. C's need to get it down to 10, tops, by the end of the quarter if they want to have a chance in the fourth. What's going on here? Not a single ad for the Hulk or Hancock this quarter? Apparently even the execs at ABC got sick of the commercials.
HOLY SH*T!!! Are you kidding me, a two point game going into the fourth. Folks, we have ourselves a ballgame!

Fourth Quarter:
Tough D, block out the crowd and take the ball to the hoop. Doc can't keep KG on the bench to start the quarter.
Ever notice how creepy Phil Jackson is around Michelle Tafoya? Sorta like that old sketchy guy hitting on the 21 year old at the bar.
Nine minutes into the fourth and KG is still on the bench. There is no resting in the playoffs! you can rest in a week! Get him back into the game Doc
Too much jogging up the court. Missing too many easy shots
And yes, I do want to see The Love Guru. Judge me if you wish, but I think it looks pretty darn funny. The wife just wants to see it for the Justin Timberlake scene.
This is the ultimate in heart attack game. Celtics can't seem to put a consistent stretch together.
We have our first Hancock commercial of the second half! Sure I kinda want to see it, but you don't have to shove it down my throat.
Cat just sat on my feet, which is nice cuz my feet are cold. She's purring though so my feet are now warm while getting a slight massage.
First lead of the game with four minuets left!!!
De-Fense!! De-Fense!! De-Fense!!
And yes, i love me some exclamation points.
Three point lead with three thirteen left!!
Up FIVE with two ten left!!!
Another Hancock commercial! Trying to get them all in before the game ends apparently.
God, the commercial breaks are soooo long.
Good job by ABC showing the announcers and not the game. Just missed that entire play.
UP three with two left!
Up four with one forty four left!
Ball will be in Kobe's hands every single time down the court.
Up two with one thirty left!
Posey huge three from the corner! Up five with one thirteen left!
Up three with one left!
Timeout.. forty six seconds left. This is fantastic, what a finish, what a game!
Pierce sinks two, up five with forty six to go!
Up three with forty left!
Ray Allen, what a play! Huge lefty layup. Up five with sixteen left!
Timeout Lakers. Side note: ever notice Glen Davis always has a dumbass look on his face, mouth always open just kinda looking around.
Game over! Celtics win 97-91!!!
WOW WOW WOW WOW
They Played one of the worst halves of basketball all season the first half, and one of the best in the second half. Eddie House with a huge game, just forcing the Lakers to cover him keeping them from double teaming the post, etc. Great defense by Pierce on Kobe. Posey came up huge with some big points off the bench.
What a comeback, down twenty in the third quarter to come back to win. WOW WOW WOW. After watching that first half, I was steaming mad, couldn't believe how poorly they were playing. I'm sooooo glad I stayed up to watch the entire game. All those people who went to bed early.. how could you!?!?!?!?!?

Text messages sent: 26
Text messages received: 19
Sorry Phil and Eileen, hope I didn't run your bill up too much.
And if this doesn't make any sense to you, you probably didn't watch the game, and I'm effin tired. It's after midnight, time for bed. I have to get up early to go to my exclamation rehab meeting...

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Good News, Bad News

The good news... we finally found a toilet we think will fit in our bathroom. The bad news... it won't arrive for a month. Which means for the next month, we'll have to continue to use the bathroom on the first floor. Not the end of the world, but definitely a pain in the arse. And a big thanks to Lowes for helping us find a toilet that should fit. The salesperson there called all the manufacturers to get the specific dimensions for us. Meanwhile the salesperson at Home Depot wasn't going to do that and they were going to charge us a 15% restocking fee if we needed to return it.

This is for the ladies... for all you girls who were just the right age in the late eighties/early nineties and just couldn't help yourselves from swooning over Jordan and Joey.

So the wife and I went for a nice walk after work today. It's a mile or so to downtown, so we walked down there and sat at an outdoor table at one of the local watering holes. After a couple of drinks, some onion rings and some soda bread with honey butter, we made the trek back home. I think this might have to become part of our walks. Maybe once a week, take a walk downtown and sit outside with a drink. It was nice just sitting there hanging out and people watching. And a bunch of the restaurants/bars have outdoor seating so we can mix it up and try new places.

Ok everyone, the summer is basically here which means you should come visit us! Heck, we live in Vacationland...it says so right on the license plate. With the exception of a couple of weekends, we don't have any plans for the summer so you're welcome to come up whenever is convenient for you. Wait.. maybe you should wait a couple of weeks.. until we have a toilet in the upstairs bedroom.

The wife has me watching this Ghost Hunters show on SciFi. She's been watching the show for years, but I've only gotten into it recently. I gotta say, there's been a couple of times when it freaks you out. There are some things that happen that are totally unexplainable... very cool stuff. Give it a try some night, maybe watch a couple of episodes. The misses really wants me to contact them to get them to come up here. Everyone seems to think that my building (where I work) is haunted, and she wants them to investigate. Personally, I think she just wants to be on tv.

Tough game last night for the Celtics. They didn't play well at all, and still almost walked out with a win. At times, it seemed like they were running in sand, like they had lead in their shoes. Even though they lost, its a good sign that they could play that poorly and still almost get a win. And I, of course, am going to stick to my original prediction of the Celtics in six.

Monday, June 9, 2008

I just saw one of the most disturbing things ever. We're watching Dirty Jobs and they just umm "fixed" a horse. Maybe a better way of putting it would be "emasculated in a permanent way". I can't believe I just saw that. I'm a married man so I may be metaphorically castrated, but I can't imagine it really happening! Thank god I'm not a horse...

So we're in the market for a futon. If anyone out there is looking to get rid of one, let us know. We might be able to come to some sort of fiduciary agreement.

The local sports radio station keeps advertising the Celtics broadcasts for the Finals. "The Celtics play here" is their tag line. Which is funny, cuz up until the Finals the Red Sox game would be on, when that ended they'd then join the C's game already in progress. Nice huh. Regular season baseball trumps basketball postseason.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Happenings

Fun weekend all around. We didn't do much Friday night, basically just hung in as we knew Saturday was going to be a long day. Friday night we did try to install our latest toilet purchase though and this would be toilet number three. And guess what! It didn't fit either... We have a baseboard heater that runs behind the toilet and that's really proving to be a problem. Sure, it helps keep the bathroom all nice and roasty toasty in the winter, but it's proving to be a real pain in the arse. The way toilets are designed now, there's just no room for anything under the back. I think I finally found the one we'll need to get, but again, we'll have to special order it.

Saturday was spent driving down to Boston for a wedding and then going to the wedding. We were supposed to help a couple of friends move, but we didn't make it down in time. The wedding itself though was a blast. Outdoor ceremony, at the Lyman Estate in Waltham. There wasn't a tent over the ceremony so we all baked in the sun. Luckily it was a pretty quick ceremony so I only lost a couple of pounds of sweat.

The reception was seven feet away, again outdoors, but under a tent. To say it was hot would be an understatement. Holy Crap, I can't remember the last time I sweat that much. The wife and I danced the night away (well, she danced, I just kind of did whatever it is I do on the dance floor) with some of her best friends. It was really a great great time, which was a little surprising because usually I don't like bands at weddings, but the past two I've been to have been a blast. I would also like to commend the lovely couple on their beer selection at the reception. It was an open bar and they had some very good sangria (made on the spot), JW Dundees Honey Brown, Sam Adams, Harpoon IPA, Stella Artois and a chocolate stout that I didn't catch the name of (and many wines, but I didn't have any of those).
Gordan and Anne during their first dance. It was choreographed and they did a great job! He and his mom had their dance to Rubby Ducky(you know, from Sesame Street), the instrumental version. The wife and I about half way thru the night. I managed to keep my jacket on from the ceremony thru dinner but once I sat down to eat off it came. The tie stayed on thru about half the dancing, but it was really just too hot. Unlike 90% of the other men there, I planned ahead and wore a white shirt as I knew it was going to be hot and didn't want the sweat to show thru the shirt. Gross right, well even grosser if you're one of the million guys there in a blue shirt.
Afterwards we hit the afterparty, but the $6 Bud Light drafts at the Newton Marriott turned us off and we headed home.

Sunday we hit the road and drove home, and I played some golf with my uncle. We play pretty much every week now, but I'm kind of getting frustrated at my lack of progress. I'm getting better, but its only in pieces of my game. I can't seem to put together one solid game. One game my putter will be on fire and the next its cold as ice. I think my biggest issue, and anyone that really knows me knows this to be true, is my lack of concentration when I really need it. I tend to rush thru my swing or my putting too often.

So this week we'll continue our search for an upstairs toilet, among other projects we need to finish up. It's also supposed to be really warm up here so we'll finally get to go on our walks every night after work. After sitting in my office all day, and the wife in the house all day, we really need to get outside after work just for a change of scenery ya know. It'll also help get rid of the beer gut I'm currently lugging around.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Game One

Just a quick post before the Celtics game tonight..

Question: Is Batman a superhero?

No super powers, take away his utility belt and he's just some punk trying to make a name for himself from Kobra Kai. One could make the case that he was nothing but a vigilante.

Personally I was always a big Batman fan for that very reason, he had no powers so I had a better chance of becoming him than Spiderman. The chances of me getting bit by a radioactive spider (gotta love the 1950's, everything that came out of that era was radioactive) are pretty much slim to none and slim just left the building.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

I Hate Eileen

Well, not hate, I actually care a great deal about her as she's one of my very good friends(and our first non family visitor!), but right this minute I strongly dislike her. You see, Eileen was smart enough to get one of those 12 pack of tickets the Celtics offered this year. And in doing that, she was able to get first dibs on playoff tickets, which means she's been to a couple of playoff games this year and she's GOING TO GAME ONE TOMORROW NIGHT!!! I have never in my life been more jealous of someone I know personally. I can't imagine how cool it would be to be there tomorrow night. That building is going to be alive. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to watch the game from my lucky chair then.

It's been raining the past couple of days up here, but I simply can't bring myself to use an umbrella. Something about it just doesn't feel "manly" to me. Granted, I'm not exactly the most manly guy ever, but still. I feel like I should just get wet and deal with it. Stupid I know, but umbrella's just aren't cool to me.

So I'm listening to the radio today and during a news break, the dj and news reporter started chitchatting about something. The reporter, who is in her early 20's, says that she has never been out of Maine, never been on a plane and has never been in a cab. That just blows my mind. Never out of the state? Huh? You have to go out of your way for that to happen. I can understand never riding in a cab because if you don't live in a city you really have no reason to take one, aside from the occasional too drunk to drive night. And never in a plane? Again, its 2008, not 1958...

You know whats the worst thing ever? When you're really busy at work, and you basically forget to go to the bathroom. So all of a sudden it hits you that you really have to go. So you quickly walk to the bathroom, but when you walk in the ummm "signature" left by the previous occupant is very obvious. So obvious in fact that it's like walking into a brick wall. Then you've gotta go quickly so that if someone else comes in while you're in there, they won't think that the "signature" belongs to you. At my job, this happens like every other day.

Vigilante justice.. Maine style..

Can't wait for the Celtics game tomorrow night. I think that it'll be a great series, but my money is on the C's in six. I really think that if they can contain Kobe and shut down Gasol (which KG has a history of doing) that things will end in the Celtic's favor. The key to the series is Pierce, if he can keep playing well I think that the Lakers won't be able to stop him along with Garnett. Plus, there's the whole Kobe/Ray Allen feud which has been going on for years. And for some reason Allen plays out of his mind verse him, so we'll see... If nothing else, we'll get to see some great opening montages.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Randomness

  • So the wife and I have been playing a lot of Super Nintendo lately. Last night, I played a half hour or so of Super Mario before she came to bed, then we switched to Super Mario Two. It's funny, I can play my xbox360 with its 15 different buttons to hit no problem, but when it comes to using three buttons it took me forever to get it down. It's like after all these years of video game playing, my fingers won't work that slowly anymore. Still though, I forgot how much fun those games were. The funny part is, I haven't played these games in a million years, but I still remember where to jump, where to duck, which pipes you can go down and all that. It's like all my fingers remember what to do before my brain does;
  • Ever wonder why most green bottle beer are gross? Heineken, no thanks. Molson, euh if I have to I guess I will. Rolling Rock, gross. Phil, I think you should do a study on this;
  • In talking with our neighbors yesterday, one of them mentioned doing a sketchy bar crawl sometime this summer. There are a couple of bars around that are just super sketchy, like the most towny of towny bars, including the local strip club (located next to a pawn shop and a church of course). I think this is a fantastic idea, especially since I realized that Judy's (taking sketchiness to a whole new level) has 75 cent Busch on tap. Yes you read that right, 75 cents. How awesome is that! You could go in there with $15 and that would last the entire night.. easily...
  • Anyone else see this on cnn.com? It's a long video, but I think the good stuff is like 2-3 minutes in. He claims this alien was outside his window, then in his house. The shot from inside catching the peeping ET could be real, but the shot of the alien in his house just looks like a doll. Nice try buddy. Plus, if it was an alien, why would it waste it's time hiding in the bushes watching this guy?
  • So the Celtics clinched over the weekend, yet the finals don't begin until Thursday. Hasn't anyone told the NBA that we live in a society where people don't have attention spans anymore. Luckily for them, two large market, iconic teams are playing, otherwise the ratings might have been abysmal;
  • Finally got the bathroom vanity/sink in. Toilet still isn't arriving until next week though. Oh well, I've definitely learned that projects just never go as easily as planned.

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Weekend Happenings

So good weekend and frustrating weekend all in one.

We started off with a trip to Acadia/Bar Harbor for the day. We've been doing a lot of work around the house lately, so we just needed to get out of Dodge and recharge the batteries so to speak. We find that Bar Harbor is a great place to do just that.

We started off by driving up to the top of Cadillac Mountain. Spectacular views from there, on a clear day you can practically see France.
I'm not sure who that guy is, but daaaaaamn is he good looking or what?
She hates having her picture taken, and is never ready for it. That's part of the reason I love taking pictures. One of these days we're going to get a real nice camera, maybe that'll help.
This is down on the aptly named Sand Beach. Yeah, we're real original up here in Maine. It's really pretty but it was so windy we didn't stay too long. I was afraid that my lovely wife was going to take flight at one point.

Ok, so you want to know how the bathroom is coming along I'm assuming. I really don't want to talk about it, but if my loyal readers want to know, I'll give it to them...
Floor.. done. Wife did an amazing job and it looks fantastic. Walls are all painted too, no more blue! Toilet.. purchased...however, did you know that not all toilets are the same distance from the wall? I sure didn't. Apparently standard is a 12 inch rough in. That's 12 inches from the wall. Yeah, ours, 10 inches. Which we didn't realize until after we tried to put in the new toilet. Good news, now we don't have to buy a new toilet for the downstairs bathroom. Bad news, all those hours of my life wasted staring at the toilets at Lowes are all for naught. You can't buy a 10 inch rough in toilet, it has to be special ordered, and of course it costs more. Boy, I'm loving this home improvement thing. So needless to say we won't have a toilet in our upstairs bathroom until a week from Tuesday. Up and down two flights of stairs to pee, man we're going to be in tip top shape soon.

Went to the video game store to buy a new xbox game. (Grand Theft Auto for those of you that care) So as I'm paying, the guy asks to see my ID because you have to be 18 to buy it and apparently I don't look 18. So I give him my ID, he looks at it and hands it back.. but immediately asks to see it again. Looks at it again, starts laughing and reaches into the counter drawer and pulls out my old license! About 4 weeks ago I noticed that I lost my license, couldn't find it anywhere so I had to get a new one (it probably just fell out of my wallet when I pulled out a credit card or something). Apparently so little juvenile delinquent tried to use it to buy a video game! Now there's a kid that'll never have a girlfriend. Doesn't use it for beer, or cigarettes, or to see an R rated movie, nope this kid tries to buy a video game. So I now have two licenses after spending a whopping $5 to buy my replacement.

Sorry Dad, Shaw's is out. We're switching our allegiances from Shaw's to Hannaford. The new Hannaford is so big, so clean and much cheaper. Plus, their alcohol/wine/beer section is better as is their prepared foods section.

A big thank you to my buddy Mike for helping me out with a plumbing issue I was having. His solution took two seconds to remedy my issue and everything is working great now.

Went over and hung out with our neighbors for a bit this evening. It was nice finally really meeting them, as previously all we've done is the distance wave and a quick hello. They live in the two family across the street and seem really nice. The guys are big beer aficionado's like myself, so that was pretty cool.

And finally, does anyone wanna take a guess at what this is??
It's been hanging out in our yard lately. This morning I saw it running from under our back porch to under our neighbors porch. It had a bunch of sticks and stuff in its mouth, so I think it's building a nest or something. Apparently this is the smaller of the rodents, as the wife has seen a bigger version of it chasing a local cat through our yard. It's also snacking on the wife's garden, so we've gotta get some sort of fence to keep it out. Its the size of a large cat, so I'm thinking its a gopher or something. I think I might need to invest in a .22 to rid our yard of the situation...