Summer of Dan

Be thankful every single day

Random fact of the day: It's fucking December. It's starting to get cold out and I love it. This means the Niff hates it. When it's cold out, she hurts because she isn't a whale monster like me. This is why she has 31085139805130 winter jackets and will surely get another. I am ok with this as long as she is warm. But don't tell her because she'll buy 10 more instead of one. 

Thanksgiving came and went without me having a chance to list all the things and people I am thankful for so I'll do it now in abbreviated form:

The Niff - 3 years ago last week we got engaged. I'm still crazy in love with her and she's the perfect match for me in every way. Except that she doesn't watch General Hospital. But that's ok because I don't want Tyra with her. Anyway. Just because we haven't gotten married it doesn't mean we don't want to, it doesn't mean we aren't in love, it doesn't mean we don't talk about it and think about it. I've never had someone so perfect for me - she's super smart, super funny, and super pretty. I can't think of one more super quality to have that would make her better.

My siblings - my brother is a toolbag and I love him for it, my sister is the female version of me. It's ok that my brother "looks like an uncle seven times removed from Germany that no one has ever seen" and doesn't look like anyone else in our entire family. I'm sure he's my brother...yeeeeah...aside from that, he'd be the first person to help you stuff a body into a suitcase and drop it in the river and you'd never even need to tell him "not to talk about this". That's the kind of brother everyone needs.

My sister will do anything I ever ask of her. She's easily one of the funnest people to be around and I laugh every time I think of her, the Niff and I are always laughing whenever she is around, and I don't ever forget the great lengths she goes for mer when I need it. Like putting together shitty IKEA furniture and being over 2 hours late to hang out with her girl friends. It means a lot.

My parents - my mother makes the best green bean casserole in New Hampshire. I'm sure of it. Kind of. She is one of the hardest working people I know and I am always happy to see her on the holidays with the rest of the family. We may be a divided family as far as a family tree is concerned now but a stranger couldn't tell. My dad makes the meanest Yogi Tea Turkey. Just ask him. That fucker was juicy as hell this year. I mean the turkey, not my dad. If there is anything to say about my dad it's that every time I come home he is always trying to get me to leave with something I left when I moved out: comics, sheets, books, random computer parts. I mean, THAT is love: "here Danny, take your shit, I'll see you next holiday! Save room in your car then too!" Always something to look forward to. 

The rest of my family -  I hate the term "extended family". WTF, are they just really long limbed human beings? Like aliens? Awful wordage. My aunt and uncle are like an extra set of parents, and my cousins are like sisters to me and my siblings. My uncle is my dad's brother, my aunt is my mother's sister. 

Digest that for a second...

Ok, see? It's not incest. Only sounds like it.

My aunt is a wonderful cook and I'm always thankful when she doesn't burn the buns or asks me and my uncle Pat to move the treadmill back down two more flights of stairs for her "because I'm around" and she needs new treadmill scenery. I'm thankful for that because every time without fail Pat always loses grip or the treadmill opens up and breaks 3 of his fingers or smashes him against the wall or he drops it on his foot or all of the above. Without fail.

My friends - I have far too many to list, but I will say this: good friends are easy to find, great friends are very hard to find. That's why they are called great. Get it? My great friends know they are my great friends, my good friends know they are my good friends, and everyone else knows their place. I know my great friends know they can count on me and I can count on them. And that is all that really matters when the zombie wars start. For real. Don't be a dick because you'll be left behind. Safety in numbers afterall.

My job - I love it, I love the people I work with, the work I do, the experience I'm getting, the technology I am exposed to, the trust I am given, the gorgeous building I work in. Yeah I'm one of those assholes that likes to go to work. Oh well, screw you too.

My health - generally speaking, I'm a healthy guy. Except when I got the swine flu three weeks ago. I'm fine with that, it tested my immune system and dammit I'm still here. I'm ok with a few mother nature curve balls thrown at me. I can see, I can hear, I can breathe. I can't complain.

My life - I do what I want. I read great books, watch terrible television sometimes, listen to awesome music. I workout with the Niff and enjoy it once I'm actually at the gym. I play XBox with my sister and we scream at fake zombies. I watch Curb Your Enthusiasm with the Niff, even though we're almost a decade late on the start of that one, and we laugh. A lot. I have the ability to say "I don't want to do this today, let's do this". I can drive anywhere I want to go. I can connect with my family and friends in a million different ways. I'm living the life I've wanted all along. It's all the pieces pulled together that makes it so great.

So yes, even though it's not Thanksgiving, I'm thankful every day. I truly am. And in case I haven't said it to all of you, thank you for being you. And if you don't think I'm talking to you, I'm not, but thank you for reading this anyway.

How's it going champ?

Saturday afternoon was the culmination of all the hard work I've put in, not just this season but since I first strapped on my pads way back when. It was slow going at first, it was muddy as hell. In some places there were 3-4 inches of water and 6 inches of mud. Our fullback Chase ripped a huge run to give us a 7-0 lead and we never looked back. We scored twice more and our defense stepped up huge and kept the Ravens out of the endzone from the 5 yard line as Rick punched the ball out and gave the ball back to our offense.

And despite the weather I had about 15 people come out and support me and my teammates as we tried to win a championship. I don't know if they will every know how it feels to look over on the sideline and chat them up during a quick break in the game, even moreso because of the shitty ass weather. That alone made me happy.

The Niff was in attendance for her 10841081 straight game. My parents and sister made it to the game. My sister took almost 500 pictures. 

 

 
  

Flack, Mark, Will, Anna and Dean, and Poppy all were all there. My boss and his wife were there in raincoats and seemed to love every minute of it.

 
 

It was so special to share that championship atmosphere and game with everyone.

Saying it was a dream season sounds cliché but it's 100% true. In 10 games, including in the playoffs, we pitched 5 shutouts. Not including the first game of the season we never gave up more than 8 points in a game. We forced 9 turnovers in one game. We never fought with our offense, we picked them up. When our offense gave us a lead we kept it. We always kept our heads high. It all sounds so cheesy but it's so fucking true. 

 
 

 

I'm closer today to more of my teammates than I've ever been and thankful for that. A fantastic and amazingly talented group of guys and even better friends.

  

Without my teammates I would accomplish nothing and without the Niff I would be nothing. I owe everything to them.

 
 

We hung together all season long. We let it all hang out, we pushed ourselves and each other. We knew it was possible from Day 1. 

And that's why we are champions.

 
  

Never die alone

The summer is flying by, summer nights in New England are the bomb - breezy, cool, and before long I'll wake up in the morning and use the word 'crisp' to describe the air. I love it. You can't beat New England. You can't.

• I find my random pictures I post on Fridays all over the net from a million different blogs. I try to average 12-15, sometimes I post more. I find at least 30-50 a week and post the ones that sort of capture the way I feel that week.
  
  
• Pandora One kicks serious ass. Everyone knows what Pandora is, Pandora One is just the optional service you can pay for ($36 a year). It allows you unlimited listening time, free of advertising, has an awesome desktop interface so you don't have to have a browser open all the time to control it. Not only that but you have the little fade in bar that comes up over all apps on your desktop for a second to show you the artist and song title. Awesome. Free is good, cheap is better.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Football season is going awesome so far. 2-0 with a shot to be 3-0 as we come back to Concord for our home opener next week. Offense is clicking, defense is just getting started. This season has a different feel to it than previous seasons. Hopefully that's a good thing.
  
  
• Whoever invented pound cake should be shot. Or declared a genius. I can't decide which.
  
  
• I was really enjoying this summer until the humidity recently started. WTF. I can handle the heat, just not sweating all the time. I do that anyway, I don't need any help.
  
  
• Life as a Blackberry user is mighty fine. I fucking love this thing. It has all the apps I wanted with my Dare but never got and even more than I could ever use. Amen to Verizon for getting the Tour before everyone else.
  
  
• I really want these Lightsaber Chopsticks. Seriously.
  
  
  
  
• I feel the need to address some of my self-directed fatty comments: I know I'm not "fat" physically. Sure I have a load of laundry on my washboard abs. Sure my doctor called me obese. But I don't honestly fully believe I am. I just have the mentality of a fat kid. I've always been husky and it's hard to shed the image/mentality of it. Maybe some day, it's just my self-deprecating way of explaining to myself and others of how I feel and the way things appear to me. 
  
  
• I haven't said it in a while but I will reiterate it anyway: the Kindle is still the best gift I've ever been given. Just sayin'.
  
  
• Last Suppers is an artistic website dedicated to last meals of Death Row inmates to show you the vast differences in food choices people make when they know they have one final meal. Freaky but interesting I think.
  
  
• Walking into Wal-Mart the other day I saw someone walk in, past the carriages and almost to the old door greeter guy while still smoking. What the fuck dude? Seriously, when was the last time you could walk into any place while smoking and keep doing it? He only realized it when the door greeter looked at him funny at a loss for words.
  
  Another thing to note on any Wal-Mart bingo cards you may have that might have it missing: find a pregnant teenager walking around in pajamas with her bulging stomach sticking out of her shirt as her boyfriend rubs her stomach. I bet you'll get that one pretty quickly but add it anyway.
  
  
• I've been thinking a lot about my musical tastes and came to the conclusion that 6 people in my life have had a profound effect on the types of music I have been exposed to and are fully responsible for what I listen to (in no particular order):
  
  My dad - I have very fond memories of growing up and listening to the Beatles, Zappa, Hendrix, CCR, the Allman Brothers, Dire Straits, and Tom Petty. This extended into my teenage years when he started listening to Pearl Jam, Green Day, and the Cranberries.
  
  Tom - Tom Chan changed my life. Seriously. He gave me my first CD ever (Rage Against the Machine). He gave me Def Lepard's Hysteria and told me to listen to it. He got me into Guns 'N Roses and Metallica. When I was 11. His taste in music greatly changed my life, as well as the way I listened to music and now he is creating his own. Just like back then, more awesome music courtesy of Tom. Check his band out, Forget the Girl. Don't just take my word for it, give it a listen. I'm not just pimping a good friend's music, I'm pimping music that I listen to every damn day.
  
  PJ aka Paul Bauer - around the time I was listening to Pearl Jam and Green Day and my dad was borrowing my CDs Mr. Paul Bauer Jr introduced me to his multi-thousand CD collection. Rush, 311, KoRn, Marley, Wu Tang, everything really. Rush was almost a religious experience for me, especially because we'd listen to a ton of live stuff while playing copious amounts of Playstation in his bedroom.
  
  Steve - much like PJ, Steve is a CD/music maniac. He has thousands of CDs, has burned me 100s of albums and encouraged me to listen to a ton of random stuff. Without him I would just be figuring out who O.A.R. were, he really turned me on to Coldplay at a time I was shying away from what was on the radio, gave me a shitton of Dave Matthews. This doesn't do justice to all the random artists he's exposed me to, that would take forever but Rusted Root, Keane, and Snow Patrol are all favorites of mine and it's because of him.
  
  The Niff - she's opened my mind about a lot of things in general, music being chief among them (as well as food). Listening to Sting, The Police, Counting Crows, John Mayer, even hardcore rap, it all sounds differently because of her. For one reason or another (maturity?) I hated Sting with a passion years prior, but now seeing The Police at Fenway is at the pinnacle of best concerts I've ever been to in my life. 
  
  Jessie - my sister. She listens to a lot of stupid crap, but she also listens to a lot of different stuff I'd never hear of without her. She's always been ahead of the curve in the emo-band department, but she also likes a lot of the lesser known bands and has exposed me to those as well.
  
  
• I love Kashi products: their bars, their cereal, their oatmeal/warm cereal. But dammit, I hate their healthy dinners. They are awesome for you, but I can't choke down the 7 grain mix they have in all of their dinners. Tastes to me like it's like gravel.
  
  And yes, I am whining.
  
  
• I've come up with a list of reasons why I need/want a house:
  
  I want to have a couple dogs.
  
  I want to grow a garden that is within 20 feet of my backdoor.
  
  I want to be able to better prepare for the Zombie Wars.
  
  I want to build things in a wood shoppe.
  
  I want to build an outdoor brick oven so I can make awesome pizza.
  
  I want to be able to paint whatever the fuck I want whenever I want.
  
  I want to be rid of my shitty neighbors that scream everything at their little kid, including things like "WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR BREAAAAAAAAKFASSSSST??! PAAANKCAAAAAAAAKES OOOOOR CEREAAAAAAAAAL??????"
  
  I want a library.
  
  I want to have a hammock.
  
  I want to get Rock Band and play it as loud as I want whenever I want.
  
  
• I only got 7 hours of sleep last night. I woke up exhausted. And then realized that it's because I've been averaging almost 10 hours of sleep a night. For the last year.
  

Summer is almost over. Enjoy every minute of it. It's funny, you think when you get older that time slows down a bit more but it doesn't. I remember summer vacation flying by. Now before I realize it's summer it's already over. Enjoy the beach, enjoy the sun, enjoy the water.

And don't forget to enjoy each other.

48 Hours

Is a little more than 48 hours I begin my 7th season of playing semi-pro football. When I first started I can honestly say I had no idea how long I would play; I had no idea what was normal and there are a lot of things I can honestly say I had no idea about:

1. That I would make so many good friends, some lifelong ones as well (Flack) and get to play ball with one of my childhood BFFs (Mark) and high school buddies.
   
2. That I would have get to see more of New England as we travel to all sorts of town fields, high schools, colleges, and wherever you could fit a set of goalposts. 
3. That I would ever begin to know what it feels to be a pro football player (ie: I sympathesize with guys like Brett Favre as far as not knowing when it hang them up and not want to have to go through all the preseason bumps and bruises to get to the games).
4. That I would be able to fill a hole inside of me that's always been there since I was a kid.
5. That I would lose a lot more than I would win, and still love the game just as much.
6. That I would get to play in front of my friends and family, including my grandparents.
7. That I would continue learning even little things about football this many years into playing.
8. That I would surprise myself over and over again.
9. That the quote, "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard" would actually be true.
10. That I would be undersized for my position and still be able to hold my own.

Another season, another chance to have a winning record, another chance for a championship. Baby steps. One game at a time. Before we know it the season will be over and we'll be pissed that we have to wait all over again for another.

But I guarantee no one will be pissed about missing those 3+ hour trips each way in the car like this weekend.

Here's to a successful, injury-free 2009 season.

I don't watch TV

I had an early lunch recently with my brother and sister. I'm not sure if a recurring theme of a conversation we had should be telling me something...you be the judge.

Jessie and I were talking about seeing pictures of the assholes from The Hills Spencer and Heidi on vacation wearing surgical masks to protect against the swine flu. Jack said, "Who the hell are they?" and Jessie said, "Spencer and Heidi...they're on The Hills".

"I don't watch TV," he said. "I look like I watch a lot of TV, one might think I'm a fat lazy slob that watches a lot of TV, but in reality I don't watch TV".

A number of times Jessie and I referenced things we've seen on TV only to have a blank stare from Jack accompanied by the same monotone of "I don't watch TV".

Knowing how often I am on the Niff about us deleting stuff from our DVR because it fills up so fast (many thanks to any shows that are taped in HD because they suck up space 8 times as fast as normal TV) I'm beginning to wonder if there is a fine balance between how much TV I watch and how much Jack watches.

The other day the Niff and I caught our cat Ray watching The Amazing Race quite intently. He looked pissed when we started laughing at him, probably because we were distracting him.

Maybe we should put down the remote for a bit?

Yeah, I didn't think so. What would Jack Bauer, Sawyer-Hurley-Kate-Jack, and my boys from The Unit do without me??

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.

Cheap ass chocolate and the worst advent calendar of all time

Every year I buy an advent calendar.

Every year I enjoy the cheap ass chocolate that comes in it.

Every year I love looking at the shitty picture on the front.

With all of this, you'd think it would prove very difficult to be disappointed, but alas I am. When you already have extremely low expectations and you open a day and you see three pieces of chocolate in one spot, you realize that you selected the worst advent calendar of all history.

And it should be noted that the Niff and my sister warned me that this would be a calendar of suck just based on the fact that the kid in the green pants on the bottom of the calendar looks like he has no friends and he wants to off himself.

Too bad they told me after I bought it.

Technicolor Life

I'm a simple guy: I love sports, movies/tv, reading and writing, good food and good music, and my friends and family.

Among those favorites is my sister. I mention her here and there, but the Niff and I were lucky enough to have her grace us with her presence this weekend and stay over. If I had to be stuck on an island with 3 people for the rest of my life she'd be on there, and not just because I pick on her all the time and tease her to no end. She's a fantastic person and I'm quite happy that my parents (although they are Pro-Choice) decided not to hit the Abort button, even though the doctors said there was a big chance she would be born with spina bifada. I can't imagine my life without her.

And who could, with a face like that?

Why can't they have rides like this at fairs near where I live?

I'm a big Fair guy. Love them. Sights, sounds, smells, food, atmosphere. Cute farm animals that always make me contemplate giving up meat until I get home and am reminded I have 20 lbs. of meat in the freezer and I'll "give it up once I finish all this meat off...".

Yeah, that never happens.

The Fairs in New Hampshire are a tad tame. Some of them are crazy old like this weekend's Deerfield Fair. To get in you pay something like $10 and you can touch all the animals you want and browse the art and 4H club stuff you want. The food is overpriced but it's fair food, right? How often can you get a cowboy hat full of cheese fries or deep fried Oreos and Twinkies? Not very often.

The rides are priced out in the form of tickets, only there are no rides really worth the tickets unless you are a teenie-bopper and feel like puking after.

Side Note: I used to be the king of crazy rides. The faster it spun, the higher it went, the more insane it looked, I was on it, over and over and over again. Until one day. It's like I "got old" all of a sudden and my insides hated me after. I've never puked on a ride before but that day I thought I was going to lose it. The same thing happened to the Niff. Since that fateful day, we've tried various rides at parks and fairs and the end result is close to the same. Sadness.

Again, New Hampshire fairs are a bit tame, but if they had this ride I would so do it. If I had a partner that I trusted. Ok, so I guess I wouldn't do it because when a bull is running at you full bore, how many people can you really trust?

Let me go through my inner circle:

Steve - I think he'd be too afraid of the bull to try it. Maybe though, he has an adventurous streak. Knowing bodily harm is so close I think he would opt to just watch people get effed up.

Flack - he would definitely do it, but I wouldn't put it past him to drop me on purpose.

The Niff - I would trust her, but wouldn't want her to do it in case I fell off. She'd freak out.

Jessie - I would trust her to not drop me on purpose but I can see an Oops moment on her part, which would result in the crushing of my head.

Mark - I would trust Mark. For sure. But. Mark would probably be laughing so hard as we both get so close to getting fucked up that he would probably fall off inadvertently, sending me to the ground and then both of us getting fucked up.

James - James wouldn't drop me on purpose. We've taken part in enough sports together over the years I find it hard to believe either of us would get messed up.

Kraig - there is no way he would even think about trying this. Ever.

I know I would be trustworthy. In the event I fell off/got knocked off I would need my partner to be able to run super fast. I'd feel bad if they got slammed and pounded as a result of me.

Damn, two days, two posts about taking on wild animals. Can anyone guess how I'll probably die?

Like a rock

This past weekend we had our second game, and our first home game. It started off well, but ended not so good. We were leading 13-0 at halftime, but let it slip away after 7 turnovers in the 2^nd half, losing 21-13. It could have been a lot worse. It sucks because we had a shot to go up 20-0 at the half but that's when the turnovers began.

Looking back, I played pretty well. I did what I could for being double teamed on every play, and I guess if I played poorly I would have been yanked off of something as I was on kick-off, kick return, punt team, field goal, extra point (including conversions) and starting defense.

Not all was lost though, as Mark, Jessie, my mom, and the Niff were there on the sideline (I like to think of our home field a lot like Fenway in the "intimate" sense, where I can sometimes walk over in between the action and say hello).

I've been friends with Mark since I moved to New Hampshire in the seventh grade. We've had our bumps, but we've driven on through them and are stronger friends as a result. Mark used to play with me back in the days of the Predators, and if I can find a pic of that I'll post it. It was good seeing him there, knowing he was on the sideline and knowing what was going on in the game with every flag or play. Good times.

My mom and sister didn't want to get too close because when I play I sweat like a fat guy at a buffet.

I don't think the Niff minded as much though, we sorta matched. She wasn't going to throw her arms around me, but she knows how I rock the whole sweat thing.

At the end of the day, it was great to see everyone and run around like a little kid and chase bigger kids. That's why we play the game, isn't it?