Summer of Dan

Serenity now, serenity later

Every once in a while I find pictures to go with words. On ocassion.

• Sometimes the buildings and shapes in Concord are just strikingly awesome. Old school meets new school, brick meets glass. One of my favorite things about where I live.
  
  
  
  
• One thing is for certain - the NBA Draft is the 2nd best draft behind the NFL by default. MLB doesn't televise it and 90% of the players drafted in the NHL played overseas, you have no idea who the hell they are, and/or they will have their names butchered 100 times a game. NFL 1, NBA 0.
  
  
• I totally fucked up not getting this badass pizza cutter at Newbury Comics the other day. Sometimes I make terrible choices in life. This is one of those moments.
  
   
  
  
• Game of Thrones is probably one of the best shows on TV. The only way they could pull it off is having it on HBO. Well worth getting HBO for just that but Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Boardwalk Empire, and True Blood make it a complete no brainer. 
  
  
• Last weekend Jessie and I hit the drive-in with my buddy Flack and his wife Nicki. So awesome. Biggest highlights of the night were the odd UFO thing we all saw changing colors and turning on it's cloaking device and the old school introduction. I can't decide which one was cooler...
  
   
  
  Ok, neither. Laying down with Flack's foot up my ass was the highlight of the evening.
• I find this Pottermore concept J.K. Rowling has drummed up slightly amusing. She always said she didn't want to have her books in e-reader format, because they "were meant to be read". I said before I found it odd she would say that and allow them to become movies...
  
  Anyway, it's funny because she can do what she wants with her site, she will be the conduit to getting all the Harry Potter books in e-reader format. She can set the price. She can control everything. She seemed a bit smug in it.
  
  Hasn't she heard of torrents and newsgroups? For someone that has such a loyal following does she think that someone out there wouldn't scan every single page of every book she's written? That maybe they've already been in e-reader format for over a year now?
  
  Huh. Funny...
  
  
  
• Serene. The only word to describe my Nana's house on the lake. Amazingly peaceful. Slice of heaven in a little town in New Hampshire.
  
  
• Back to shows - Dexter is the best show on TV right now. No debate. 5 seasons. 5 amazing fucking seasons. Every season somehow gets better than the last. Always.

I'm not going to lie, I'm loving the sudden dip in temperature in New Hampshire. I can live with 60s ;)

 

 

Fear is learned

I've talked about irrational fears before. I seem to have many of them, one of my biggest being dying before I read all the books in my library. Or writing all the things I want to write before I can. Or eating all the things I want to try. And lately, watching all the movies/shows I want to. Bizarre. I know. Exceedingly. It's a consumptional fear I guess.

I have no reason for these fears. None. That I know of at least.

So I do what any rational person will do in my situation: I consume. I read as many of the books, watch as many of the shows and movies, try all the things I want to eat. I'm sure psychologically this is fascinating to some shrink, but to me it's mildly annoying.

It doesn't consume me in the sense that it takes up my entire life, it's just there. Lurking, all the time. I guess it's probably that I'm worried I'll miss out on something. Which is odd because it flies in the face of how I normally live - enjoy everything I do, every day, the good times and use the bad to offer perspective. And I'm more than content with that and how I live.

Consumptional irrational fear. Maybe I'll get over it, maybe I won't. But it won't ever define me.

“Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become.”

- Anonymous

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." - Steve Prefontaine

Time Won't Let Me Go

Football practice is in full swing, spring has barely made an appearance, and so far so good in the world of Boston sports - Sox are back on track, Celtics swept the Knicks, the Bruins can finish off the Habs tonight, and the NFL lockout has been lifted. What more could you ask for?

 

• Ok, maybe you could ask for these:
  
  
  
  No, seriously. If you ever go to Boston, you have to go to Mike's Pastry and ask for at least two cannolis. Why? Because you'll punch yourself in the face later on when you realize you wolfed down the first and regret not ordering a second and you'll question every life decision up until that point and won't be able to move on from it and it will paralyze you and your decision making until you can get back there and make amends.
  
  Seriously.
  
  
  
• I have a thing for pockets. Cargo pants, jackets with a million of them, wallets and bags with hidden pockets. This stems 100% from my father. He is a big pocket guy. He is like MacGyver. He has everything in the world in his 783 pockets. Something to aspire to.
  
  
  
• For the first time since I graduated high school I got to see a good friend of mine. Brendan James is an amazing artist. Amazing. Don't take more word for it. Check out his stuff and promptly buy his CDs.
  
   
  
  Jessie and I saw him at a small show close to our hometown and met up with my old friend Ankur for dinner and the show. Awesome. Simply awesome.
  
  
  
  You could tell Brendan felt comfortable with being back home, among friends and family. I think it made all the difference. It was so good seeing him. This kid is blowing up already, but he is about to just go off. Bank on it.
  
  
  
  And it is totally true about cameras adding 50 lbs., an extra chin and making one shoulder look insanely higher than the other...just not to Brendan.
  
  
  
• Even though I haven't eaten at KFC in over 3 years, every time I drive past it to go to the gym my body quivers. I know, awesome visual, huh? Fat guys should never use the word 'quiver'.
  
  
  
• My second family is my football team. My third family is my XBox Live buddies. I have some friends I've met on XBL and have remained friends and gotten to know over the years away from games. Playing Call of Duty I've met a lot of cool people. Flack's brother is one of them. I could tell he was related to Flack as soon as I saw his gamer icon he created:
  
  
  
  100% fitting for that family. That is Flack on the left and Davey on the right of course.
  
  
  
• I can't think of many things that suck more than when you get to the gym ready to work out and you turn on your iPod and it's dead. And have to listen to the piped in awful music. And the mundane bullshit that spews out of people's mouths, people that if they shut the hell up they could get off the machines they are hogging and out of the gym in 1/3 of the time. Lesson learned. Until I forget to charge my iPod again and I hate myself all over again.
  
  
  
• The NFL Draft is Thursday. Reason #1 I look forward to April every year: having my friends over for some good food, fighting over who we think the Patriots will take and do with their draft picks, and generally eating until we hate ourselves. We live for this.

Do you ever just get down on your knees and thank God that you know me and have access to my dementia?

Sometimes I think I've hit my head too hard in the past playing football because of the dreams I have. On any given week I dream of zombies no fewer than 5 times. On any given week I dream of people I haven't seen in many years at least 3-4 times. Most of the time they are in these zombie dreams. Maybe once every couple weeks I'll dream of a problem that I've had at work that I can't get past and I'll wake up with the answer. Problem solving when I'm sleeping: win.

Last night I had 3 dreams I remembered:

• Armageddon was here, but no one knew but me. Somehow I was able to get hold of all my friends and family and get them into this old school subway complex (think Grand Central Station) that also doubled as a massive bomb shelter. Not only were meteorites hitting the earth but aliens also landed. But I knew what was up so it was all good.
  
   
• I was with my family and my nana was pissed because someone wiped their ass on some keepsake towel. I never saw it before then but she was completely certain it was me. She even said it smelled like me. Not sure what a dream book would think of that but I called her a douchebag. Sorry, Nana. But I didn't even touch it. It was probably Jack.
  
   
• I was at a picnic table eating just peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. A lot. Like massive platters of them. I couldn't eat enough. They were damn good. There was a tree nearby with some big ass birds watching me. Eat. And eat. And eat. Completely normal I guess.

I realize I am a step or two away from being locked up. That's ok though. As long as you bring me some Walking Dead comics, PB&J sandwiches, and a towel to clean up afterward.

What matters

Do you ever feel that some years just fly by? Other years drag by? Is that a 'getting old' thing? Or is it just all relative?

• I love Netflix, but my biggest pet peeve is self-induced. Sometimes depending what I've recorded on my DVR or bought on DVD or whatever just happens to be playing or what I've Red Boxed lately I just forget that I have a Netflix movie.
  
  Not anymore.
  
  The free site, Still At Home, connects to your Netflix account and sends you an email to remind you what movies you have out and how long. They aren't incessant, you get one a day but it's a constant reminder, a visual one that causes you to pause at least once a day and figure out if you might as well return it or sit down and watch the thing already.
  
   
  
  
• Taking over 6 months to buy a car is one of the worst/best experiences of my adult life. Knowing that you know the ins and outs of every car in the same line you are interested in, that you know what all the options are for all the cars in that same class, that you know what the best price you could possibly get for it, and exceeding all those expectations because of how long you took and what you learned along the way is a priceless experience.
  
  I really think in high school they should have classes that teach you how to buy cars, to teach you all about credit cards and how to use them, to teach you all about college in the tuition/student loan/expectation/how most people don't use there degrees and not pigeon hole yourself with some romantic degree thing, and to teach you all about buying houses and investments.
  
  Wouldn't that be great? Teaching you life lessons, instead of forcing you to fill up your credits on some bullshit you will never use.
  
   
• When the Steelers played the Ravens a little over a week ago and Haloti Ngata smashed in Big Ben's nose I couldn't help but think it looks similar to mine.
  
  
  
  Granted mine looks a lot prettier than Ben's looked above and I didn't need surgery, but big props to him for going back in. I know just what it feels like and can't say it's something that I'd like to feel again. Blame it on my hard head for bending my facemask and having it cave in around my face after my straps snapped off.
  
  
   
  
   
• I'm pretty fed up with the government lately. Every time I turn on the TV I hear and see that the Democrats are trying to do this but the Republicans are doing this because it 'sends a message' or the Republicans are doing this to offset what the Democrats are doing in this lameduck session. I don't want to get into politics so I will leave it at this: politicians fucking suck. Our government may be made up of people, but it certainly doesn't act like it is for the people. It's ridiculous. Not one of those fucking people in office go through what we go through, they've almost all lived lives of luxury, they change laws and pass bills that give them pay raises for doing absolutely nothing, and they don't work together. I've said it many times on my blog: our government needs to be afraid of the people and until they are, until they are afraid of us and we are no longer afraid of them, nothing will change. 
  
  
  
• When the Niff and I bought our new ride we were given a getaway package to The Balsams. Looks alright, I guess.
  
  
  
   
• Home Alone is the best Christmas movie ever. This isn't up for debate. Seriously - the music is fantastic, the plot is top notch, and it has everything from comedy to action to drama with a little thriller/suspense mixed in with that old guy next door with the shovel. It should be on TV every day each December. A few times each day. Hell, throw it on TBS, they play everything else at least 3 times a day until you never want to see it again and pull your eyeballs out when it comes back on for the 20th time that week.
  
   
• Living in New England there is a little part of me that wants to kick the shit out of the guys on the NFL Network when I see them on the sideline in wool overcoats and leather gloves and scarves when the game is in San Diego. And it's 60 out. With a slight breeze.
  
  Ok, I lie.
  
  A big part of me.
  
  
• Good luck goes out to my buddy Jimbo who is the best Linebacker, hell, best player, I've ever had the privilege of playing with. Jimbo retired after our championship last year and moved to Florida. It was absolutely killing him to not play anymore so he dug out his cleats and pads and happened upon the Broward Bears, a team that has some talent, including a couple ex-NFL players on their team. I don't know jack shit about the Bears, but knowing Jimbo, that team is a lot better with him on defense.
  
  Good luck Jimbo and be safe out there.
  
  
• Speaking of championships, congrats to Mark for winning his dodgeball championship last week. 3 years of almosts, and woulda/coulda/shoulda. 3 years doesn't sound like, but they pack a number of seasons into just one year. Well deserved, well earned. I have many videos I'll post when I can upload them.
  
  
• Random Fact #2314: I wear two silicon bracelets every day - my LIVESTRONG on my right wrist and my CHARITYTREKS.ORG bracelet on my left. I haven't taken off the LIVESTRONG since I first put it on October 27, 2004, right before the first pitch of Game 4 of the World Series. I've played 6 seasons with it on, sleep with it on, and if I roll it over the color on the other side is a very interesting shade of yellow I've never seen before. Let's just hope the wearing silicon bracelets for extended periods of time don't cause cancer or something like that. Oh the irony.
  
   
• If you like to read, if you like food, if you like reading just awesome writing, you need to check out this:
  
  
  
  It's more of a short essay type book, every chapter is a different subject and is closer to stream of consciousness than what he normally writes. I can't put it down. Virtually. Since I'm reading it on my Kindle. And on my Kindle App on my Blackberry.
  
  But seriously it's fantastic!
  
  
  
• The Niff is the best - every day I wake up I run to the advent calendar she bought last year and pull out a Lindt ball. Seriously - why can't we use this advent calendar year round? Ok, that's excessive. 
  
  Right? What about for my birthday month?!
  
  There is something special about opening the door and finding a Lindt ball that the person you love put in there, knowing you would wake up and eat it. I always wonder what she was thinking when she put that particular Lindt ball flavor in that door. Did she put back to back Peanut Butter Lindt's in there on purpose? Because she knows I love peanut butter? Or to throw me off on my guessing? Or just because?
  
  I think about this shit every day. I'm a lucky guy. Some people don't have that. It really is the little things.
  
  
  
• See this guy? Cappuccino Dave. He'll be at work when I get there tomorrow. Our holiday party is tomorrow and this guy is making us free drinks all damn day. Can you say eggnog late? Vanilla cappuccino? Anything else he can make? Yeah, it's fucking awesome.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Speaking of awesome - if it's going to be cold in New England please bring on the snow. The Niff loves to snowshoe, I had a lot of fun last year, even when I crossed my snowshoes a dozen times and fell into a tree dropping 3 feet of snow on top of me and had to call the Niff back to help me back to my feet. It was very serene and fun out there. It's a great workout and you don't even think of it as one, plus you are outside. Win-win, right?
  
  
   

 

A Memory of Lotus Rocks

I tend to take a lot of pictures on my Blackberry and I'm guilty of almost never uploading them or sharing them.

Not today. 

As you can see Ray likes to eat. I figured I would save him some time and just let him eat out of the container. What a great dad I am.

I really missed the shit out of this place this summer. The Niff and I went camping last year and rented this cabin. What a great little getaway. So awesome. I wonder if they are open in the Fall...more importantly, I wonder if I could convince the Niff to stay here in the Fall...

Whenever I would drive through Boston with my family to see my grandparents when I was a kid we would drive past this. For years it wasn't even a banner, it was just a giant shamrock painted onto the side of the building. I am willing to bet it is underneath the banner. This is when I knew I was on my way to New Hampshire.

Earlier this year at what is easily the coldest I have ever been at any sporting event in my short 30 years, James, Flack, Mark and I grabbed a bite before the Sox game down the street. I had to get a picture with Flack and John Locke. I wish I could blow this up poster size.

Boston is historic. Boston is beautiful. Boston is amazing.

Occasionally at work I need to relocate animals/insects/random living creatures. Either they get into the building or they put themselves in grave danger and require my AWT (Animal Whispering Techniques). This was Myrtle the Fertile Turtle. I moved her twice in one day, she was too close to the parking lot. She must have been pissed because the last time I saw her she was back where I moved her from twice digging holes and trying to lay eggs. She wasn't amused with me.

This is quite honestly the most disgusting thing I have ever drank. Yes, even worse than Diet Dr. Pepper's Cherry Chocolate soda. This was taken the day after a movie I saw with Jessie. I took one sip and had her try it. Needless to say the inside of her car was covered in this crap.

This is the side of a gas station up north in Lincoln that is dedicated to aliens. The bathroom is a museum and everything inside is insanely odd. Especially the clerks behind the counter.

This is Rusty. Rusty would be ours in a second if we had a house. DAMMIT.

Every now and then I get to climb up on top of the roof where I work. Such a fantastic view. I wish I could put a lawn chair up there...

Optimus Prime hanging out at Sal's in Hooksett. No big deal.

The tallest mountain in New Hampshire. Home of the craziest weather in the FUCKING WORLD. I'll get to the top of it someday.

I love bringing the Niff back to UConn as often as I can. Their student union is amazing. I just wish they sold replica suits of Jonathan the Huskie.

I picked this up at Goodwill for 10 cents. I would use it a lot more often but the thing holds half a cup of coffee at best. The handle is something kind of awful as well, but the picture is priceless. My tireless search for these people and Lotus Rocks will go on until the day I die.




Lola is quite the balancer. She climbed up our drying racks and was hanging out forever until we noticed her. I think she was just trying to reach The Complete Works of Shakespeare on the top shelf.

This is very common where we live. We live in a nice place, but for some reason I see entire couches in the dumpster, and in this case, what looks like a burned out couch. Totally logical.

The Niff conquering the outdoors in her sick ass snowshoes. Not pictured are the 12 times I fell, including the time I fell into a giant pine tree only to have 4 feet of snow crash down on top of me and not being able to get out without assistance.

Believe it or not but New Hampshire has some seriously good sushi. Take Ichiban for example. Awesome sushi, awful spelling. I think this adds to the authenticity of the food? Nothing like the Love Loll.



My ID badge for our offsite storage facility. Nothing more needs to be said.

Glittering Blackness

You know what is better than three day weekends? Yeah, nothing.

• I fell in love with a girl today named Daisy. 3 months old, prettiest, most playful little Boston Terrier I've ever met in my entire life. 
  
  
  
  
  Must.Have.One.
  
   
• The greatest band that you've heard but haven't realized it just yet is Explosions in the Sky. Go do yourself a favor and listen to any one of their albums. While you are at it, check out Brendan James and Transfixed. Not just because I know both artists, but because they are both so incredibly gifted at what they do, which is put music on my iPod and make me proud that I know them. Two totally different artists, but they both share the same passion for music. Both are on iTunes, both have songs you can sample on their sites. Awesome stuff.
  
   
• Every Friday I post a variety of different pictures but one kind that I really enjoy posting are the ones that depict animals that display love. Usually it is to another of it's own kind, but I think there is a really special message when it is love extended cross species. Sometimes I think that all the answers to everything are around us. A dog loves it's master unconditionally and yet most people seem as if that concept is a foreign language. Seeing a picture of a dog jumping in a pool to help his cat friend just serves to remind me that people have a lot of work to do in the arena of tolerance. Some people think of animals as being lower on the food chain and maybe they are, but they are much higher on the spiritual food chain than humans might ever be.
  
    
• Spike seemingly always has a Star Wars Marathon running. I think they should just create a second channel called Spike 2 or The SW that only runs a Star Wars Marathon 24/7. All the damn time. What would be bad about that?
  
   
• You know why Fall is better than any other season? Chilly nights and bonfires, hoodies and sweatpants, and putting your fan in the window to pull in the cool air. Oh yeah,and that game called football...
  
   
• Saturday morning the Niff and I went to the farmer's market down the street. We go as often as we can and it is 1000 times better than just buying all our produce at the store. One thing I love about it is not everything is just produce - there are gourmet popcorn stands, custom pastries, good coffee nearby, and a billion friendly people and their dogs. I saw a booth this weekend with custom homemade jams and jellies. Holy shit. Amazing. I tried the Hot Pepper Jelly and loved it so much I bought a 9oz. jar of it. I've had Red Pepper Jelly that has a little bite to it, but this stuff lights the back of your throat on fire for a few seconds and then simmers. Too addictive.
  
   
• Fair season has kicked off with a bang. Jessie came up in the wee hours of the morning to join the Niff and I at the Hopkinton Fair for when it opened. There is no downside to going as soon as they open - we parked about 600 feet from the main entrance, there wasn't shoulder to shoulder traffic, and all the food booths opened shortly after the fairgrounds did. 
  
  And let's be truly honest here - at the end it was all Schnitzels and Giggles.
  
  
  
  
  
• I went on a short 13 mile bike ride with the Niff the other day after work. It was the first time I had ridden since a couple weeks before the AIDS Vaccine Ride. I'm still a bit sore and my biking cardio was almost non-existent at the beginning but it started to come back towards the end. As it cools off I can already tell I am going to love riding even more.
  
   
• I'm quite thankful the Jets finally came to terms with Darrelle Revis. If I turned on SportsCenter one more time only to hear the latest update about how Revis has yet to report or hadn't spoken to the Jets in weeks or how long his holdout was in days, hours, minutes, and seconds I was going to go apeshit.

Just putting this out there. Because. You know.

Waking up is the hardest part

Summer is winding down. At this point I always ask myself if I've been to the beach enough, stayed outside long enough, enjoyed the outdoors as much as I should. The answer is invariably no. Interesting.

• When I hear anything by Creedence Clearwater Revival I always think of my dad. And I get sad. I am lucky enough to have him in my life still. I see him fairly frequently and keep in touch all the time. We do lunch at least every few weeks when our schedules matchup but anything by CCR brings me back to when I was a kid. Growing up my dad always listened to it, as well as Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Allman Brothers, James Taylor. He was always around because of his epilepsy. I have very vivid memories of our first house with him listening to music and writing or reading, and having a shitload of world maps up on the walls and him doing his thing. It's one of my happiest memories I have. So I do get sad. I get sad because I know one day he won't be around anymore and when I hear CCR on the radio I'll get a lump in my throat and need to pull over. He just turned 54 and I've been around for 30 of those 54 years. I am thankful for that.
• Friends don't just help friends out when they need it. Good friends are proactive about helping you. I'm learning a lot thanks to Mark. Great information.
  
  
  
  
• A funny thing happened a few weeks ago - the only pair of glasses I had started getting a bit wobbly on the bridge. They were about 15 months old so I called Lenscrafters to see what they can do. While I was on the phone, they fell apart in my hands. Literally.
  
  
  
  I was pretty shocked that they fell apart like that. They said they were out of warranty by a whopping almost 4 months. I told them I would come in and see them. I saw the manager, explained I've never dropped them and it seems odd they would break there because they are made of titanium. She proceeded to tell me that titanium is a very soft and lightweight metal. I told her I knew how strong it was, my facemask is made up of it, but they shouldn't break. And then she seriously asked me, "Oh, so you wear these when you play football?".
  
  Wait, what? Did you just ask me that? I laughed at her, I told her if facemasks can handle high speed collisions that my glasses shouldn't have fallen apart in my hand. She didn't care. She said she could give me a deal maybe on the frames. I told her I had no interest in spending anything on glasses that were defective. They cost me over $400 and lasted me 15 months. I asked her if she knew a brand new car would die after 15 months would she buy it? Or a computer? Or a brand new TV? She said of course not, but did nothing. I told her I would buy my glasses online and left.
  
  I got my prescription from the eye doctor and my PD from Lenscrafters (Pupilary Distance is how far from the side your pupils are, usually your eyeglass maker has this measurement. They take it when the draw a dot on the lenses to see where the center of your eye is). I went to Zennioptical.com. I filled out all the information and bought 3 different pairs of glasses, all prescription, with shipping including, for under $40. They all fit beautifully, I can change them as desired, and I saved a shitload of money. Best thing I ever did.
• Tomorrow night I get together with the boys for some good old fashioned fantasy drafting. Kraig will most likely have the most questionable moves, Mark will most likely have the most elaborate rating system for his players, Flack will unquestionably sit way too close to me so he can stare longingly into my eyes between picks, and Steve will absolutely try his best not to drink too much, lest he have a bad draft like he did last year.
• We are over halfway through my football season and we are sitting at 5-0. We had our first big test last weekend and passed. We have two more games before THE MOST BITTER RIVARLY IN NEFL HISTORY:
  
  
  
  It's always a good game. Let's just hope we can settle on the spelling of 'rivalry'.
• Just as the weather seemed to be changing into fall like temperatures it spikes back up with this summer-ish humidity always-sweaty-as-hell crap. I want 50s please. Stat.
• Speaking of summer/fall, I've amounted a wee bit of progress towards my conquering all the 4000 footers in New Hampshire. The Niff and I trekked up Mount Major (all 1786 feet of it) to get a little pre-4000 footer work in.
  
  
  
  The wind up top must have been close to 40 mph but felt like 100. Awesome view as always.
  
  The second little part of my insane adventure was I bought a map:
  
  
  
  According to Steve aka Mr. Map this is THE map to have. This doesn't guarantee I won't get lost a few hundred times like in Blair Witch but as long as I don't kick it into a stream I think it will be helpful.
• Samsung is keeping the Tab hush hush, but this time next week we will know more about whether the iPad has some serious competition or not. Running Android 2.2 and supporting Flash, the Tab has a chance to pull some attention and dollars away from the iPad, which in turn could drive down costs for the iPad. I swear to God, if the smallest iPad was $199, every single person would be walking down the street with one.
  
  

I really need to make a special trip to Minado. Stat. All you can eat sushi buffet for the win.

Decompression in 3...2...1...

It's been a while since I've had time to write anything of substance here. Between work, the gym, and football, my free time has been a scarce commodity. I'm looking forward to having time to do things I want to do.

• All the work I put in for the Annual Conference at work was not wasted. There was an 11th hour change of venue due to a main water main break at the Mount Washington Hotel but by some miracle the Mountain View Grand was able to accommodate us in every way. Amazing. Gorgeous hotel, gorgeous views, fantastic staff and awesome food.
  
  My session on Social Media went as well as I could have hoped. First time speaking on behalf of our organization and I think for the most part it was well received.
  
• I bought a road bike so I can take off with the Niff at a moment's notice. It's not as light or as fast or as anything as hers really, but it's fantastic. I'm looking forward to strapping a Gorillapod onto the handlebars with our little camera and touring the state on it.
  
• Football is fast approaching. Our first real full game scrimmage is June 19th and I am so stoked. Our offensive line got a huge upgrade when James decided to play and the trenches are what need to be your strength if you want to win a championship and even moreso if you want to repeat.
  
• I just found out the the new mappack for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 drops on June 3rd...what a fantastic 30th birthday present! Thanks Activision!!!
  
• LOST is getting fucking crazy. I am excited, worried, and sad all at the same time. I might need therapy when it's all over.
  
• Do yourself a favor and run to the nearest Hannford's and buy yourself a jar of this. You can thank me later. Just leave me a jar or two please.
  
     
  
• I think I need to ween myself off the 10-12 hours of sleep I get every night so when I can really only manage 5 or 6  I am not a zombie the next day. But dammit, I like a nice warm bed...
  
• Three new stations I am loving right now on Pandora - Pinback, Idiot Pilot, and The Hush Sound. Very unique and interesting artists.
  
• I love my Moleskine. I think when I die the Niff is going to rummage through it and wonder why all I see to write about is food and make To Do lists, accompanied by some awful sketches.
  
  Actually, she won't wonder. 
  
  
   
   
• It's good to be a Boston fan. Sox have been playing well lately, Celtics beatdown LeBron and the Cavs, and if the Bruins win tonight against the Flyers they somehow get home ice advantage against the hated Canadiens. Just need to seal the deal.

Awesome weekend on tap. Time to enjoy it.

Elephant Shoes

One week from this very moment I'll be putting out the milk and cookies for Santa. He loves all kinds of cookies and I like to give him Skim Milk since I'm sure he gets his fair share of Whole around the world.

• I wish people that lived in our apartment building would learn how to pick up their God damned feet. Whenever they come into the building and go upstairs or even downstairs I can feel it in my chest. It's like they have cement on their feet and it's a contest of trying to make the loudest fucking stomps. Just another reason to buy a house.
  
  
• This Tiger Woods drama is so played out. I got an ESPN alert text today saying that Elin Woods is moving ahead with divorce. SHOCKING. This wasn't an isolated incident or a "mistake" (I love that word). Half the state of Rhode Island has come out to say he slept with them. She should divorce him and take as much as the prenup spelled out and move on with her life.
  
  
• Thursday Night Football is fantastic. Any football that isn't on sunday feels extra special for some reason. And this week there is Saturday Night Football too! Life is fucking good.
  
  
• I kicked the crap out of myself in the gym this week, tonight especially. I decided with my race coming up it would be good to do some intervals at my race pace, which translated into 8.6 mph on the treadmill. That would put me at a 6:58 mile. Since I'm training on a treadmill there is no way to simulate running downhill so I went the other way and put an incline on it. I figure if I can run well with a little hill I will do fine. I ran at 8.6 mph every 2 minutes for 1 minute, and did that 7 times to simulate an entire mile at that pace. Holy. Shit. I thought my legs were turning into Jell-O after.
  
  
• My shoulder is getting better gradually. I still have pain and some loss of motion at the moment but it will get there. I've learned to just ignore the fact that I can't lift the same weight I could pre-injury but that I will get there soon enough. It used to depress me but I'm seeing the strength come back slowly and that has the opposite effect. 
  
  
• About a week and a half ago the Niff and I were at a red light waiting to turn left. We were the first car and the light turned green. I went and out of the corner of my eye I saw a car going at least 50 mph straight for us. I hit the break and the horn and I'm pretty sure we both missed being killed by someone by no more than 6 inches that either wasn't paying attention or thought he could fly through a red light without consequence. I joke to her that she should thank me every day for saving her life, but it's pretty fucked up when you think about it. If you're at a light and it turns green, wait a couple seconds and look to make sure no one is coming anyway. It could save your life.
  
  
• I've had a Double Whopper craving for the last month. I made the mistake a couple months ago looking at the nutritional content of it. Sucks. Because right about now I know I could eat two without batting an eye.
  
  
• I'm a big To Do List guy. I have one in my Blackberry, I have another in my moleskine I write in, and now I have one on Teux Deux. Very simple and clean site, I wish they had an app for my Blackberry that would integrate with the site.
  
  
• The Trans-Siberian Orchestra station on Pandora is the shit.
  
  
• I am genuinely excited for the future of Notre Damn football with Brian Kelly as head coach. I loved Charlie Weis but he's suited for the pros and I would not be shocked to see him on the sidelines with either the Patriots next year or with an AFC East team like Buffalo.
  
  
• Call me a geek but some of the things I love most about file sharing is books and learning materials.
  
  
• I would kill to see the Bruins play the Flyers in Fenway Park on New Years Day.
  
  
• I have just about had it with my recliner. Aside from poking my nuts because of the spring poking through the seat, when I lean back my feet go numb because something is so fucked up in the back that it almost flips over. It's like it goes back too damn far. I need to find a sweet Lay-Z-Boy...