Summer of Dan

Too many things to be thankful for

It's not a surprise to anyone that has read this blog with any regularity that Thanksgiving is always my favorite day of the year – food, family, friends, football, right? Not to mention that the Niff and I got engaged on the only holiday that is really just only about eating. Coincidence? Nothing is in my life.

It's almost a month later and Jessie kicks me these pictures of our Turkey Day game. Not the usual crew, but most are good friends of mine. The one staple that has been to just about every single game has been Mark. I'm thankful for Mark hanging with me through some rough stuff over the years. I've known him since the 7^th grade, so going on 15 years and he's still the same kid I met when I first moved to New Hampshire. Uncompromising values, contagious sense of humor, nicest kid you'll meet.

As "luck" would have it, we were on the same team. That's a shame. For the other team.

We're like Thunder and Lightning. Smash and Dash. We're ball brothers – we hang together.

In any event, a great game, greater that we got to play with each other on the same team, great even more that we won. Without Mark, I don't get into the endzone, we don't win. Simple as that.

Next year the game will be just as good, if not better. But only if Smash and Dash are reunited.

Cardinals can’t fly in the snow

Last Sunday Jessie and I ventured down to Foxboro to watch the Pats demolish the Cardinals. It took about 3 hours to get there, usually a 90 minute drive. The snow was insane, driving was frightening, but it was the final home game of the season and the Niff and I bought tickets months ago and I wasn't going to waste them. The Niff was gracious enough to give her ticket to Jessie for Christmas, especially when we heard there would be over a foot of snow, 40 mph winds, and sleet/freezing rain/rain/death mixed in. The wind was probably the worst of it, because we were soaked, and then the wind made you cold. I'm not one to ever get cold and it took a few hours to feel my toes after the game. We were wet and freezing to death. Close to death many times actually. But you can't possibly tell from the look on Jessie's face…

As soon as we parked I texted my buddy Lutzy. He happens to work at the stadium and I texted him our seat location and sure enough halfway through the first quarter lookie who popped in:

He sat with us for almost the entire game and bore witness to 3 fist fights in the stands over snowballs being thrown, me pelting a guy in the balls with an iceball, and himself (as well as Jessie and I) being victims of snowball attempts on our lives. He cut out early to beat the traffic – smart man.

From the time Jessie and I got to the jeep until I got home (after dropping her off) almost 7 hours elapsed. That's what you get when you go 10 miles an hour, almost get hit by half a dozen plowtrucks, almost spin out half a dozen times, and seriously start praying a few times on the way home. I'm not easily rattled because of weather. But holy fucking shit. I really thought we'd be headlines at the end of the night.

We got what we came for – a great game (a 47-7 stomping of the Cardinals), "great" weather/experience, great company, and a few good stories. Can't ask for more than that.

If you have money, you really can name just about anything

I'm sure there are people that watch as much football as I do. I have a sports package where I can watch high school games, college games, NFL games. I'll watch any football that is on. I just really love the game.

College bowl game season are some of the most exciting weeks of the year for me. But God damnit, they need to do something about the names of some of these bowl games.

Are you for real? The San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl?

What.the.fuck.

7 Days...

I'm going to pretend that Lola doesn't look like she just finished watching the video tape from The Ring.

Mrs. Claus was good to me

Christmas has come and gone. There was only one thing I wanted from the big guy in the red suit, and he came through.

It's amazing. I downloaded about a dozen books in less time than it takes check scores on ESPN. And most of them were free. I bought a trilogy I loved growing up for less than $10, and World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War for $8. It's fantastic – for some one that loves to read multiple books at a time, I can click out of one and into another and it brings me to the page I left off automatically. I can quickly make clippings so I can refer back to them on the fly and this weekend I'll play around with the built in MP3 player so I can listen to music while I read.

I got two Slankets when I ordered one for the Niff so I would have one as well, and it complements the Kindle quite wonderfully. Perfect Christmas in the presents arena.

Dinner with the family was fantastic – Jagerschnitzel, German potato dumplings, stuffing, cranberry sauce, stuffing, corn, mushrooms in gravy, turkey, squash, Egg Nog and Apple Cider. It was so good I ate twice. And promptly fell into a food coma later on around 7:30.

Successful Christmas in my book minus the terrible advent calendar issue I had this month.

 

Crack the shutters

Christmas is almost here and the insanity is just beginning. I love it.

• Living in New England in the winter is always a challenge. An ice storm hits and a week later people you work with and are related to still don't have power. This isn't Florida where you might get pissed you are losing food, we're talking below freezing. What the fuck. At least I live right across from a major hospital and seem to be hooked into their power grid...  
• Socks Clinton has kittah cancer. Very sad news. More tragic than most news I see
  
  
• Eating half a yogurt that you realize that "just doesn't taste right" is not my idea of a fun lunch time.
• Zombie Dreams are more and more frequent lately. I know it's fucking coming and damnit I am going to be pissed off when I don't have guns or enough weapons. Can you imagine that?? As I'm about to get eaten by a horde of zombies I'll be thinking, "WHAT THE FUCK!!! I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" It's not like knowing the Sox are going to come back against the Yankees in the ALCS. This is the real fucking deal. That said:
  
  All I want from friends and family for Christmas are guns, ammo, and machetes. That's all I really need when I think about it. Thanks in advance.
• My buddy Steve will disagree, but Wall-E is the best movie of 2008, and maybe all-time. The layering of deep thinking messages keeps people thinking and talking forever. Makes you laugh, makes women and girly men cry (like Flack), and makes you smile. And it's Pixar. Win-win-win-WIN.
• I never posted about it, because I wanted to break it in first, but I've finally fallen love with a real inanimate object - our new plasma HD. She is beautiful and is everything I've ever wanted in an HD set.
• In my post about "Broly" I wanted to clear up that I wasn't trying to sound like an elitist gym rat because I'm so far from that it's not even funny. There are just things people do (and don't do) that I am so hyper-sensitive to, and being that I workout quite regularly I felt the need to point out some issues I have.
• I hate the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. They screwed me in my former office-office pool. Bastards.
• We are doing a white elephant tomorrow at work during our holiday party. White Elephant is when you bring in something from home you hate and you give it to someone else, sort of like a sick and twisted Yankee Swap. My gift is some really really really shitty ugly picture from with a 3-D tiger coming off of it. No one in there right mind would want this thing. It's hideous.
• My brother moved out of the house. Good for him!!! Happy that he will be on this side of the top soil now.
• Tomorrow I do another weigh in. Come on 220s!!!
• It's the holidays, right? What better time to celebrate with the Hulk hanging lights than now??
  
• The Niff and I are going to the Patriots/Cardinals game on Sunday. In typical New England winter fashion, we welcome the Cardinals with back-to-back massive snowstorms. It should be an awesome game!!! The last time I went to a game that called for that much snow Adam Vinatieri hit the most famous field goal in NFL history.
• Losing power when you are a kid = fun. Losing power when you are an adult = semi-fun. Losing power when you are an adult and having all your systems go down at work over and over and over and over again = not fun. At all. Ever.
• My sister seems to go to England more often than I go to Boston. And Boston is all of an hour from where I live. Go figure.

The three Rs

I feel like a good person when I read this...except when I forget to bring our cloth bags to the store. Then I feel like an asshole.

The Dangers of Plastic Bags

Broly

For those not familiar with the word of the day, the Urban Dictionary best defines it as "coming from the slang word "Bro", which is used often by cool males when speaking to their friends that are sometimes not related. "Broly" denotes a friend who is into hardcore iron pumping weight lifting, not penis pumping." Extreme emphasis on the lack of penis pumping here.

As time passes, the term broly pops up more and more, it's just slang for working out. It isn't just about a physical image, it's about your well being, both mentally, physically and emotionally. It helps relieve stress and helps your waistline at the same time when you go out for dinner.

I picked this word today because I'm down almost 3 more pounds this week. Nothing special but it shows me I'm on track for my goals. I still am not 100% strict with my meals all the time so it doesn't drive me insane but I still have something to focus on.

This isn't about being an elitist or a body builder or someone that is narcissistic – it's about taking care of the one body that has been given to you and making sure you are around to enjoy it.

Some things that are not broly:

• Going to the gym and walking on a treadmill at 2mph and talking to a friend as loud as you possibly can talk. Every. Single. Day. 
  
• Walking on a treadmill at 2mph and bringing a book or magazine to read. If you aren't breathing heavy, you aren't working out, you're just at the gym.
  
• Deciding to "get back into the gym" two weeks before the new year kicks off, to "get a head start" on your New Years Resolution. Come off it. You won't be in the gym 6 weeks into the year, why torture yourself?
  
• Not stepping foot in a gym in years and thinking that you "still have it" because you used to. Life doesn't work that way.
  
• Actually working out, putting the effort in, and then washing it all away with a 2000 calorie shake at the juice/shake bar after your workout. Do you really wonder why the scale is barely budging? |
  
• Putting out your cigarette right as you walk into the gym or lighting up as you exit. Seriously. That's worse than stepping out the door and taking a 20" pizza from a delivery man that's waiting for you. Why bother?
  
• Lifting on any type of universal machine and having the weights slam down after every rep. This just pisses me off.
  
• People that stare at your machine to see how fast you are running, what your incline is, and "secretly" compete against you. They think they are badass going 7mph, but you are only going 6. Oh wait, you have a 3% incline and have 50 lbs. on them. My bad.

Some things that are broly:

• Busting your ass so much in the gym that you are sweating out of every goddamned pore on your body. Everyone knows you are kicking your own ass. The posers are scared. The real brolys respect you.
  
• Expecting to go the gym after work and realizing your body is so exhausted from all your workouts throughout the week that you are so tapped that it would be counterproductive to attempt to work out. Rest days don't mean you are weak.
  
• Eating cleanly. I don't always adhere to this one, but I do pretty well through the week and allow myself a cheat meal or two during the weekend.
  
• Knowing what you are putting into your body. The Niff and I saw a Whoopie Pie the other day at the supermarket and I shit you not – 700 calories, 68 grams of fat, 20 grams of saturated fat, and 10 grams of trans fat. That's right – 10 grams of TRANS FAT…you know, the kind of fat the USDA recommends you get ZERO of on a daily basis? Sadly, it wasn't even a huge Whoopie Pie.
  
• Getting your rest. Highly underrated. Sleep is a good thing, not just for dreams either.
  
• Respecting others at the gym. This always starts with people not hogging machines. Don't be on the squat rack and using the hack squat machine and the smith machine all at the same time. That's not cool. Unless there are seriously 3 people in the gym and it's 2am.

Broly isn't an attitude, it's a way of life. It's wanting to improve yourself. Nothing wrong with that, right?

Apologetic

Apologies are a weird thing. People say they are sorry all the time, even when they don't mean it. I've never been that way, if I truly feel as if I did something wrong I'll apologize, but if I don't I see no need in it.

It's funny - when you grow up you quickly grow accustomed to saying "I'm sorry" and never taking the time to think about what you are saying. Most of the times you are just saying it because you think its what needs to be said. Maybe so. As you grow older though it has more meaning.

There are very few things in my life I am sorry for. I'm proud of the person I am, I'm proud of the person I've become because of the way I was raised. We've all done things we regret later in life but atoning for those sins is sometimes something we live with and strive for or shrug off. It depends on the person.

If I had to point out my number one weakness throughout my entire life it's been that I am always too forgiving to people, even when they haven't earned that right. I've changed over the last year or so. I'm not a bitter person, I don't hold grudges, I just realize there is so little time here that I can't worry about people that just say "I'm sorry" the way they were taught when they were a kid. It's hollow. It means nothing.

There are some private things I am sorry for doing in my life, and some not so private things. I wake up every day and know I am a good person and for that I won't apologize.

I'm sorry I didn't speak more German with my Oma before she passed away.

I'm sorry I don't see my Nana and Papa as much as I could/should when they are up here.

I'm sorry I couldn't take Sargeant with me when I moved out.

I'm sorry I don't work with my friends anymore, but not sorry for taking the job I love so much.

I'm sorry I have a semi-collection/hoarding problem.

I'm sorry I am sometimes quick to anger.

I'm sorry that I feel like I don't have enough time in this life to do what I want.

The past is never far, the future is right around the corner. 

Life is more than who we are. Right?

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