Finally! (see 2nd bullet)

• So I'm driving down the street the other day, and guess what I saw... Apparently the circus was in town and this guy was just hanging out in the parking lot.

Today at work, someone brought in baby ducks. I have no idea why, but they did. The wife was so excited for it, she came into see them. Never comes to see me, but comes right over, in the pouring rain no less, to see the ducks.

• Check it out! The dude in the commercial is my brother in law. Good stuff huh.


• So would somebody please explain to me why these super delegates exist? If we vote for our candidate of choice during primary season, why is it that these people exist just to turn the whole process on its head? So for quite a while now, it hasn't really mattered who the people vote for because the super delegates can vote for whomever they want, whether its the leader or not. Doesn't make much sense to me really.
• And what's up with this pastor guy. It's like he's going out of his way to help Obama lose. Most of his views are so far out there, I don't know how anyone can really take him seriously though. (US gov't invented AIDS to kill blacks.. riiiiiight)
• No good tv on tonight, so we watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I've always been a fan of the movie. Not the best of movies obviously, but entertaining, and that's what matters.
• Good dinner last night. Haddock baked with olive oil, garlic, thyme and some bread crumbs. Simple, but always tasty.

Weekend Report

So lets see.. Friday.. didn't do much really. We went during lunch, and found some stone that we liked at a local hardware store. The stuff we liked, they were discontinuing so they were looking to unload it. They gave us a third off, which was music to our ears. So this week, four pallets of stone will be delivered to our house and next weekend we'll have a retaining wall in front of our house. Anyone that wants to come up and help, I'll pay for your gas or buy your bus ticket! After work I just crashed on the couch and just stayed in with my lovely wife, the tv and some chinese food. Good times had by all.

Saturday, well let me tell you about Saturday. Got up bright and early and off to Home Depot we went. They're closing the one near us, and moving to a new location which is closer, so that's nice (although i really prefer Lowes). We went with the plan to just buy some stuff for the yard. Well we did that, and a couple of other items such as a patio heater (this isn't the one we bought, its just a picture of one so you know what I'm talking about). Everything in the store is on sale (they're not moving any inventory to the new store), and we just can't help ourselves sometimes. The nice part is, we do spend a lot of time outside so this will keep us warm now.

When we got home, we decided to tackle the back lawn. I had rented a rototiller the day before, so that afternoon was spent being dragged around the yard. Here's a picture of the before..

That's all "grass". Turns out we have grubs, and they're killing all our grass. No one lived in the house for almost two years before we bought it, so no one took care of the yard etc. (the guy who owned it before us was a minister. he moved up here to preside over a local church.. thing is, this church was very tolerant of all ways of life, and this minister wasn't. so he and his wife moved almost immediately, leaving the house empty and unable to sell it until we came along)
That's me.. power tools are fun. While I dug up the yard, the wife started picking up the weeds, etc.
She didn't want to give it a try, but did anyway. As you can tell the machine wasn't really designed to be used by people as tiny as she is. That machine just pulls you around the yard like you're a rag doll. Sure gives the arms a great workout. Who needs the gym! Just do yard work!
Same day, different clothes. It went from nice, to warm, to warmer to chilly.
So the entire backyard has been ripped up, and now we need to get something to kill all the grubs. Once that's done, some new topsoil and grass seed will be put down, which will hopefully result in a beautiful lawn.

After a long day of yard work, we didn't do much last night. Just went over to my aunt's to say Happy Birthday, then off to Bugaboo for dinner and a couple of drinks. ABC has been showing the Harry Potter movies the past couple of Saturday's so we watched that last night, and were in bed by 11:30, which is extremely late for us.

Today.. laaaazy Sunday for me, or at least the morning was. Didn't do anything until 1 or so, when I hit the driving range and played a quick 9 holes with my uncle. When I arrived, he was already on the range getting a lesson. So I set up a couple of tee's down and started swinging away. I think I owe him for half the lesson though, as I was listening in on what was being said. I took one of the tips, tried it out, and walla!! I can now hit the ball straight. Simple as that. Anyway, the nine was fun ( I shot about 10 shots better than last week. Doesn't say much for last week, now does it).

And I'm pleased to announce, that upon returning home from golf, the inaugural batch of McGinty IPA was made!!!! In for short weeks, my beer will be ready. The brewing process ran me about 2-2.5 hours, not too bad, and everything seems to be ok. I'll know more in a couple of weeks when I bottle it though.

I Always Knew I Married A Witch...

And now I have proof!!! Take a look at this picture of the wife and her friends, sometime in the 1994 or so range. That's her in the pinkish windbreaker. Tell me she doesn't look exactly like every one's favorite witch, Hermione Granger! (click the picture to enlarge it)
I mean, c'mon.. look at her! They could be the same person! Ok, our scanner is a joke, so the picture isn't the highest of quality, but you can still see it fairly well. So do you agree???

On a lighter note, I'm thinking of shaving my head again. I know it doesn't look quite right on me, but its the lowest of low maintenance, which I like, and I think I look quite fetching bald. Plus, Mother Nature is really moving me in that direction anyway.
So here's a picture of me and my two brothers. Both of them have shaved heads, and they can pull it off, right?

So here's me and the wife, a couple of years ago at a friends wedding. I think I look pretty good there, if I do say so myself. The wife is sick of listening to me talk about it, so at this point she couldn't care less either way. Thoughts?
In other news... good to see my old stomping grounds of Framingham back in the news...

Did you see that the Yankees banned ice cream and candy and other junk foods from their locker room? They're replacing them with dried fruit, granola (gotta stay regular!) and other healthy snacks. Apparently their manager thought they weren't eating healthy enough. So what happens if someone gets caught smuggling in a Snickers or some Sour Patch kids? Does he bench them? Fine them? Can you imagine getting fined for eating candy.. I don't think so...

I listen to ESPN radio up here while at work. Although now in the afternoons I have to switch to ESPN radio.com. You see.. local high school baseball comes on the airwaves around three, and it trumps ESPN, so it's either that or switch to dot com. Dot com it is.

A new study showed that you should say about 17000 words a day to your baby. But at the same time, sitting them in front of the tv is bad? What's the difference?

Anyone else see this study? It says that at one point in time, there were only like 2,000 humans left on the planet. Two thousand people?? Its a good thing that the guy who invented HDTV's family was among those who survived and thrived. I don't know what I'd do without it!

If you're not watching the Hornets-Mavs series, I highly recommend you check out a game before its over. Chris Paul is playing the best basketball of anyone in the past ten years right now.

Good Celtics win last night. Atlanta was never really in the game, and probably never will be for the remainder of the series. The Garden fans heckling Bibby were hysterical though. "Rhondo's Better", "Where Is Bibby", I love it. He should have made the comments after last nights game, that way he wouldn't have to deal with the crowd until next year.

Renting a rototiller this weekend. We're going to rip up the back yard and start from scratch. No one has paid any attention to the yard in years, and its just a mess of weeds with a splash of grass thrown in there. This way we can rip it up, start fresh and plant things we know will grow. We still haven't picked out stones for our patio or retaining wall though. And I gotta say that I'm really not looking forward to ripping up some of our driveway. No idea how I'm going to go about that..

Randomness

• The new casino has set their opening date. Its going to open July 1st. So far, its only slots but you know as well as I do that where there are slots, table games are sure to follow (hopefully.. i love me some blackjack and craps)
• Queens, you know, the borough in New York..The wife and I were talking about it for some reason I don't remember the other day, and I realized that Queens wasn't just a borough, its also a county which means there are a bunch of towns within it. But have you ever heard someone say that they were from New Hyde Park or whatever? No, they always say that they're from Queens. Its not like I say, "yeah, I'm originally from Suffolk." No, I say that I'm originally from Boston. This is how my mind works..
• If you're looking for a fun read, this is an interview on cnnsi with Bob Cousy. I love how he's still the only one to call Red, Arnold.
• Kevin Garnett won the Defensive Player of the Year award yesterday. This is an award you can be proud of. Great scorers can be made, but a great defender is all effort. Every basketball player out there wants to score, but only a few actually put in the work to become a great defender.
• So this is what bowlers practice when they're bored huh...
• Ever notice that some words become more than just brand names? Velco, Rollerblade, Xerox, Taser.. they're all brand names that have come to represent every item in their category. People always say Rollerblades, they hardly ever say in-line skate.. stuff like that..
• We went looking at stone for our patio and retaining wall. First off, there are waaaay too many options. As I've said before, I don't do well with options. I like to find something I like and get it. Also, why the heck is natural stone so expensive? All they have to do it cut it and transport it, its not like they have to manufacture it. Thankfully we found a couple we like, now it just comes down to finding it for the price we like.
• Had a fantastic dinner last night. An old Morrissey family recipe.. steak tips marinated in Italian dressing. Mmmmmm. Had some squash to go along with it, perfection.
• Don't forget.. Celtics-Hawks game 2 tonight...

Weekend Report

Gotta get this post in before 8:30, as tonight is the first Celtics playoff game and I don't want any distractions while watching!

So let's see.. yesterday. My original plan was to do yard work all day, to clean up around the house etc. Well my uncle called me and asked if I wanted to go play golf at his country club and who am I to say no to that invite. We only played 9 holes, the back nine, but it was perfect for us. Thankfully, they didn't make us team up with two other people (most golf courses want only foursomes to go out) so we got to play alone without two random strangers judging us. For my first time out this year, and my uncles second time ever golfing, I'd say we did pretty darn well, well except for the time we teed off and shot at the wrong green, but that's neither here nor there. The course itself is beautiful, wide open, with only one small water hazard on the back nine. After our round, we had lunch in the clubhouse which was surprisingly tasty. The club itself is very affordable to join, so who knows maybe next year I will...

I figured since I played golf all morning I should do some yard work in the afternoon. So that afternoon I joined my lovely wife (who spent the morning sanding down and priming furniture) in some yard work. It was so gorgeous out that I had no problem working up a good sweat out there.

That evening, the wife and I hit this restaurant/bar in Orono for dinner. The Bearbrew Pub. Great food,everything was very tasty and a large beer selection, including some of their own brews made for a fun night out.

Today... well today was a long day. My uncle bought a greenhouse, one of those kits that you put together yourself. Its like 8'x8' and about 6 feet high. The box says it should take two people 2-3 hours to put together, but you should allow 8-10 hours (btw, what the heck is that supposed to mean? why say 2-3 hours when you think it might take up to 10 hours? and if it takes you 10 hours to put together, I really don't have a lot of faith in your ability to actually grow anything in the greenhouse!). It took us about three hours in total, which wasn't so bad. Putting it together wasn't that bad, but I sure as heck won't be buying one for myself anytime soon. Waaaay too many pieces, and it was so windy out, I thought it might actually blow away at one point. I told him next time he wants something built, call the Quakers.

Here's the before.. where we ended up setting it up. You can see parts of the walls leaning against the shed there.

And here's the after... Not too shabby huh. It'll be great to have fresh spices and vegetables year round.
There are a couple of windows that open, and that's a vent above the door. I figure my uncle treats me to golf, I can help him build a shed.. fair trade right?

And although its only April, I already have my first sunburn of the year. Between today's work and yesterdays golf, the neck is quite red. Feels good though, summer's a comin'!!!! Now all I need is Kenny Chesney tickets and I'll be happy.

I would write more, and throw in some more jokes, but frankly I'm exhausted and just want to relax watching my Celtics. This week its supposed to be in the 60's and 70's so maybe I'll get some more down outside around the house... I need to rent a rototiller and just start from scratch in the backyard, so that should provide us with some entertaining pictures.

Movie Review

So the wife and I went and saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall tonight. I really can't recommend it enough. Hysterical movie. One of the few movies I've seen recently where I don't mind that I just spent $5 on a small popcorn, totally worth it. Lots of unexpected (or as the wife says, uncalled for) scenes, tons of laughs, the R rated comedy is finally back thanks to Judd Apatow. The scenes with Kenneth from 30 Rock will have you falling out of your chair. And this isn't just my opinion, the misses loved it too. We both laughed pretty much continuously throughout then entire flick, right from the opening scene. So go see it, Now, go!

65 and sunny!

What a gorgeous day today. 65 degrees, not a cloud in the sky and tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer. Although it'll drop back into the 50's over the weekend, but I'll take that. It's a lot better than the 30's that's for sure.
It's funny though, the kids up here seem to go right from winter gear to summer clothes. Lots of heavy winter coats/scarfs etc to shorts/skirts and tank tops. Really bizarre. Its not that warm yet guys, settle down..
I had my first basketball official course today. Yep, that's right, you're favorite blogger is becoming a high school basketball ref. The test isn't until September, but they offer courses once a week until then, so I figure why not go, its not like I have anything else going on. I'm also taking the soccer referee exam too, and that's not until August. So come next spring, I'll have less time to blog, but more to blog about.
This news here made my week. You could see it coming though, with the success of Transformers and all. You think that the toy manufacturers just went into the old warehouses, dusted off the toys from the 80's and were like, hey we're out of ideas, this worked once, what the hell, let's try it again. GI Joe's were my favorite too. We had tons of them and I even knew one kid that had the aircraft carrier. Ahhh brings back good memories of a simpler time...
So answer this for me. The federal minimum wage is $5.85, but Maine's is $7.00 and going up to $7.50 this summer (fed will be at $7.25 by 2009). So if the minimum wage is high here, why do all the jobs pay so little? One would think that since the wages start higher, they'd continue to rise, but apparently they just plateau out at some point and stay there. Weird.