This collection of entries is from April 2004.
Friday, April 30, 2004
Another nest
Back at the beginning of March, I talked about finding a nest on my engine. Last month, I was going to mention something else, but that's when my website went "Bandwidth Exceeded" and I couldn't blog, and I sort of forgot about it.
You see, on March 27, Carol had went to Jiffy Lube for an Oil Change. Her truck (one of those Suzuki Grand Vitara's) had been running fine except, in the middle of some bad weather, her windshield wipers had stopped working. When the guys started doing their little procedures under the hood, they all kind of stopped and one of them went into the waiting room. "Um, has your truck been running OK?" he asked Carol. She told him about the windshield wipers. "That's it?" "Yeah, why?" "I think we found the problem," he says.
read more of this entry »
It turns out that Carol had a huge nest under her hood. Why we didn't check her truck after I found a nest under my hood, I really don't know. Carol was in the waiting room watching the guys hauling all kinds of stuff out from underneath the hood. Whatever was making the nest had chewed on a cable. The guys patched it up and the windshield washers worked again.
Fast forward to today. It's been lightly raining today. Carol went out for lunch. Guess what? Yep, the windshield wipers stopped working. Carol pulled into the parking lot at work. She had a thought. She popped the hood on her truck.
There it was - a huge nest, built with fresh leaves and twigs and sticks. No critter, though. She called me at home and had me check my car - nothing. No nest. Judging by the material, it sounds like stuff that was around the parking lot at work. She called the dealer to get scheduled for the repair, but she came home first. Why? Because she wanted me to take pictures of the thing (since she never saw her first one and I was able to get pictures of mine).
Well, when she popped the hood in the driveway, she was a little excited - the nest had an indentation in it where the critter would have been hunkered-down trying to keep warm. That indentation wasn't there when she checked at lunch - meaning the critter had come back and settled into the nest to warm up for the afternoon.
We dismantled the nest and the material filled a 5 gallon bucket. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 04:33 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Thursday, April 29, 2004
May SweepsHow the hell did May Sweeps come around all of a sudden??? I mean, it feels like the season just started, and now we have to sit through star-laden season (and series) finales, bad made-for-TV specials, and - even worse - those stupid, stupid, stupid local TV news special reports...
posted at 08:35 PM | Link | TV § |
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
IDESMade my first call to IDES this morning in this go-around of unemployment. I'm hoping things will work out this year, though I'm not looking at full employment all year long. In other words - I'm hoping to catch the rest of the NMCI projects at Great Lakes, if they'd have me back.
It is windy as hell outside. We've been getting some pretty bad winds over the past month or so, but, damn, these are bad today. It's also 75 degrees out there today - wonder if the two are related.
I know one thing that seems to be related - again.
Almost every year we have had White Sox weekend Season Tickets, we've noticed that the weather just sucks in the spring. It's not every year, but it seems that this is going to be one of those years. I mentioned the crappy weather we had this past weekend. This weekend is supposed to 52 on Saturday (and we have our first night game) and Sunday is supposed to be 46.
Great.
posted at 11:18 AM | Link | Unemployment § |
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
The Mole?!?!?!?!!!!
What the... ???? The Game Show Network is showing the first series of one of the best reality shows ever on TV - The Mole! Man, this was the one show that I really wanted to be on...
posted at 09:22 PM | Link | The Mole § |
Monday, April 26, 2004
You think you know people... but it turns out you don't...I have been obsessing about something since the ballgame. I learned something upsetting yesterday, and I can't put it into words and it's bothering the hell out of me.
We all have people that have come into our lives: Family, close friends, co-workers, acquaintances, friends-of-friends.
The further down the "line of succession" you go, it's more probable that you will know less and less about these people.
read more of this entry »
When you have season tickets to a sporting event, inevitably you will start to get to know some of the "regulars" that sit around you. Some people climb up the chain a little bit and you actually see them outside of the sporting venue and you become a bit "closer" and you may know them better than others that sit in your section. If you're lucky, you see each other regularly and maybe even travel with them... OK, it may be to another game in another town so you can share your interest in the sport, but it's still up the chain a bit.
Other people you don't even know by name. You know them by seat location, or maybe you've given them a nickname because of what they do during the game, what the wear, what they look like. You may or may not even talk to these people, but you are part of a weird little family that roots for the same team so there's some sort of "connection".
There are other people that are somewhere in between. You know their name, you know some pretty major things about them and their families, but you don't see them outside the venue. Christmas cards, Email maybe.
Now, I'm not going to mention names here, but we had a situation that happened that just rocked our world.
There has been a family that we have known that have had seats near us for as long as we have had our White Sox season tickets. We know the members of the family by their first names. Great family.
A few years ago there was a woman that had joined their group. One of the family members eventually married this woman. They seemed very happy. They had a son and the three of them seemed very happy.
They kid was a hoot. He was still young last year, and we didn't see too much of him. He was great. In fact, I think I posted a few pictures of him in the blog somewhere along the way.
The first weekend games came around this past weekend. The family was back. Minus a few people, but we could understand that - I mean the weather was so damn crappy...
We found out later that there was a reason why the wife and son weren't there.
The husband was out of town around the holidays. When he came home, the wife and child were gone. Packed up and left.
And he has no idea where they are.
What can you say? What can you do? You don't know the "Why?" and you barely know the people, but it still takes everything you know about relationships and flips them over. Suddenly, when everything feels right with the world and everybody is in their seats around you for another year, it's just not the same. It doesn't feel right. There's an emptiness, almost like someone has died - but they haven't. They're just gone. And it's just not the parent, it's the cute kid as well.
And you don't know why. And you sort of can't ask. And you see the pain and hurt and suffering... and yet, you're there for the game.
Everything goes on... but it doesn't feel the same... and it's uncomfortable. You expect things to continue. You expect everyone to be together for the team. And then you have something happen that has nothing to do with sports, but everything to do with life. And you miss those that aren't there and you have this void where you only thought you knew them... and now they're not even there. And the questions come... what makes a person do this? and you have no one to ask... « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 05:16 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Sunday, April 25, 2004
White Sox 6 - Devil Rays 5
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OK, it's our first Sunday game, a Kid's Day game, and still another change for this year: Sunday starts are an hour later now, at 2:05 PM. We hate it - it just throws-off your whole day.
The weather is only slightly better than yesterday - it's about 10 degrees warmer, but the winds are 10 mph stronger with higher gusts. Oh, and drizzle. Twice during the game.
We were losing throughout the game and I wasn't impressed with our play again. And before you know it, we're at the end of the game. Then something weird happened - the sun came out. As soon as that happened, the crowd livened-up, the players woke up, and we won the game in the bottom of the 9th. No, wait, we didn't win - they lost. I mean they loaded the bases and walked-in the winning run. Ugly.
(Boxscore) « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 05:54 PM | Link | White Sox § |
Saturday, April 24, 2004
White Sox 1 - Devil Rays 4
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What a lousy day for baseball... we were back at The Cell for our first regular Season Ticket game. It's cloudy, windy, and cold - it was 52 degrees at gametime and had gone down to 45 degrees by the end of the game. There were only 17,062 paid for the game and less in attendance. I took a quick trip around the park to look at the "new stuff". My first trip was to the upper deck to see the changes. The concourse area, though somewhat enclosed now, is actually not much different to the eye. The concession stands were rehabbed last year, so all that's different is the enclosure screens, some heavy iron cross members (since they cut-off eight rows of seats, the structure had to be shored-up). I went up to the last row of seats behind the plate. Yes, I love the roof, even with the obstructed views (reminds me of the old park). But, damn it, the climb up to those seats sucks. There is a new statue erected in the right field concourse dedicated to Charles A. Comiskey, the founder of the White Sox. Why do I have a feeling that this has something to do with the stadium naming rights going to U. S. Cellular? They also replaced something that's been missing for a year or so, something that I thought they would have taken of last year for the All-Star Game - the list of retired jerseys. Instead of being on the Club Level facade, now their on the left-center outfield wall. I don't like it - the graphics are a little crappy - a bit too stylized.
I just loved what the Daily Herald said about the game: Saturday's pitching matchup at U.S. Cellular Field featured a guy who hadn't won a game in his last 17 starts against a guy making just his sixth major-league start after compiling a middling 30-35 record in the minors. Great. I just never feel good about Danny Wright. He was "fine" through 3 and 2/3's, but he just couldn't shut them down. Frank Thomas got plunked in the 6th (after a solo homer in the 4th). The benches sort-of emptied and the bullpens sort-of emptied (the pitchers never made it to the infield). Typical baseball - no fights.
I don't know, I wasn't happy. the weather was bad, the play was bad.
(Boxscore) « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 04:47 PM | Link | White Sox § |
More fraud email...Not a Nigerian 419 Fraud message, but... how stupid can people get? I hope to God no one actually clicks on these links if they ever get an email like this...
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X-Message-Info: 6sSXyD95QpWSzkMJOEa0ahITm6m6KPjO
Received: from 24.3.233.52 ([24.3.233.52]) by mc4-f11.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.6824);
Sat, 24 Apr 2004 06:47:57 -0700
Date: Sat, 24 Apr 2004 13:56:56 +0000
From: C_I_T_I_Groups_Members <HoangDickinson@stantdesign.com>
To: xxxxxxx_xxxx@msn.com
Subject: =?Windows-1251?B? Q0lUSS1PTkxJTkUgKGVtYWlsKSBWZXJpZmljYXRpb29uIC0gbWljaGFlbF9sYW5z?=
=?Windows-1251?B?QG1zbi5jb20=?=
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=Windows-1251
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Return-Path: HoangDickinson@stantdesign.com
Message-ID:
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 24 Apr 2004 13:47:57.0985 (UTC) FILETIME=[C06C7110:01C42A02]
From: C_I_T_I_Groups_Members [mailto:HoangDickinson@stantdesign.com]
Sent: Saturday, April 24, 2004 7:57 AM
To: xxxxxxx_xxxx@msn.com
Subject: CITI-ONLINE (email) Verificatioon - xxxxxxx_xxxx@msn.com
To_verificatioon of _your |email| addres_ click on the-link :
http://go.msn.com/HML/5/3.asp?target=%68%74T%50:%2f%2funm34opdg%2Eda%2erU%2F%3fu9p7w9lbqdJOeVGX8pUtPMQP5A0uxe
and enter_ on the_ sma|| _window_ _your C I T I - B A N K Debit_ Card Number and `PIN`
that you use on_the _Atm_.
CXvlIAqleh 0b87qk3t w36w2a9xev95j 68o66 7 1xkxubh61x6 OKDzQaU
« hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 08:11 AM | Link | Nigerian 419 Fraud § |
Friday, April 23, 2004
Wolves 8 - Griffins 2 - West Division Semifinal Game 4
SWEEEEEP!!!!
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It was an odd omen - during the pregame introductions Skates (the Wolves' mascot) for the first time in years, slipped and fell while trying to skate to a stop at center ice before letting out his howl. We knew this was going to be an odd night.
It only took the Wolves 1:46 to score their first goal and the team just started to pick-up from there. By 10:46 into the first, we were up 3-0 and Grand rapids had pulled their starting goalie Joey MacDonald for Marc Lamothe. We ended the first 4-0. At 10:57 in the second, we were up 7-0 after Lamothe gave up 2 goals within 30 seconds, and the Griffins decided to put MacDonald back in net. The 4,916 people in the place were really going nuts by then.
Derek MacKenzie had a Hat Trick and we were up 8-0. Kari Lehtonen was only 4 minutes and 59 seconds away from a shutout when the griffins finally scored a goal. They were able to sneak another one in a little later, but there was no way they were going to catch-up.
So, a year after being swept in the Western Conference semifinals by the Griffins, the Wolves get some payback.
(Boxscore - Gamesheet) « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 10:38 PM | Link | Wolves § |
Thursday, April 22, 2004
Time to start the rebuild...
Well, the new computer has arrived.
It's a 3.2 GHz Dell Optiplex GX270 with a Gig of memory. (I got it as a referb from Dell at a website I never knew they had - The Dell Outlet)
Now it's time to try to install all of my software, transfer some hard disks and hope to God that I didn't lose any data...
posted at 03:15 PM | Link | Computing § |
Wednesday, April 21, 2004
Wolves 4 - Griffins 1 - West Division Semifinal Game 3
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Well, it's Post Season time again! And, as is typical for our post-season games, there were only 2,831 people on hand. This is pretty normal - the Wolves have been unable to do any Group Sales because the dates are so unknown. It was still a loud crowd, The Griffins struck first, but the boys never let it get out of hand. In fact, they've been playing really well for weeks. There's been a playoff atmosphere at the Allstate Arena for weeks.
Steve Maltais had 2 goals and an 2 assists. Kari Lehtonen stopped 29 shots.
And now, we're in a improbable 3-0 lead in the series!
(Boxscore - Gamesheet) « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 10:10 PM | Link | Wolves § |
Tuesday, April 20, 2004
ChillyWoke up this morning and it was 61° in the house.
We've got one of those situations that's impossible to handle at this time of year. Our upstairs gets very hot in the winter (duh, warm air from the furnace rises), so we close the vents in all the rooms upstairs. That allows us to heat the first floor (where the thermostat is located) to a comfortable level and any excess heat eventually finds its way upstairs. It never gets hot up there - in fact, it's always a bit cool which is fine for sleeping.
In the summer, it's the exact opposite. Turn on the air conditioning, open the vents upstairs, and cool air falls to eventually cool the first floor, still leaving it nice and cool upstairs for sleeping.
Then comes this time of year, where we turned on the air and opened the vents over the weekend and now it's getting down into the 30's at night and we no longer have that perfect mix of warm/cool in the house. Turn on the furnace? We'll be sweating in the bedroom... Don't do anything? Freeze on the first floor...
posted at 08:32 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Monday, April 19, 2004
SnoozySo, since the weather wasn't the greatest, I was tired and my allergies are still a problem, Indy & I took a few naps today.
Yes, it was a lazy day. Yes I feel lazy. I don't want to touch my computer carcass until the replacement arrives, so I'm, just staying offline and catching-up on some TV viewing.
Ah, laziness...
posted at 05:56 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Sunday, April 18, 2004
86°, windy, and having withdrawlsIt's actually hot outside. Went out to get some hot dogs for lunch and almost got blown off the road - there's high wind advisories and it's just causing havoc with my DirecTV system (the dish is moving ever so slightly in the wind gusts).
What's bugging me more than the wonderful, though breezy, weather is my dead computer. I have no friggin' idea how much data I may have lost (like how many of the 17,000 digital photos that I had only just started backing-up a week ago). I'm sick about it. I'm not going to touch the box until I start building the new machine - whenever I get it.
posted at 03:35 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Saturday, April 17, 2004
Thunderstorm and a crashHad a great spring thunderstorm sweep over the house at 3am. Love the lightning, though there was very little thunder if at all. And the wind and heavy rain hitting the siding made it feel like we were sleeping inside a dishwasher.
When I woke up and sat down at my computer this morning, it looked like it was in the middle of a reboot - and there it was on the screen. Hard disk drive error. Oh, crap, there goes my life... I've been working on it for a couple of hours - I'm not sure what has happened... Trying to run a CHKDSK...
Update: Now getting Floppy drive not found. What the hell happened? I think I smell ozone...
Update: I get the XP logo and it sits there and works for a bit... then it almost looks like it blue screens and then reboots.
Update: Yep, the machine definitely has an odor when it powers up. That's it - the machine is toast. Hell, it's almost 4 years old... maybe only 3... anyway, time for a refurbed Dell Optiplex... I can only pray that I didn't lose too much data...
posted at 09:58 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Friday, April 16, 2004
Sunny and 82°YES!!!!! THIS is the kind of weather I've been waiting for!!! I had to actually turn on the air conditioning! So what did I do today?
Nothing.
Took a nap. I'm still not feeling right - it's some kind of upper-respiratory thingy. My first guess is just allergies. Gotta shake this crappy thing...
posted at 05:23 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Thursday, April 15, 2004
1040?I totally forgot today was tax day, and it was wonderful. This has got to be the first year that we did our taxes early (we desperately needed the tax refund money). Since it was long ago forgotten, I was shocked to see news stories this morning about extended hours at post office locations. I have to admit that this is a pretty good feeling knowing that the whole tax "thing" was taken care of.
posted at 09:11 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
DVD!Know what I did today? I burned my first DVD. I went out and bought a Sony DRU-530A and some blank DVD-R's and I burned my first video DVD. Very happy with the result, but now I feel the need to look at other authoring software. Anybody have any recommendations?
posted at 08:23 PM | Link | Mundane § |
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
Home Opener - White Sox 12 - Royals 5
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Yes! It's time to get the season started. It's time for the Home Opener for the White Sox. The drive top the park was the best we've had for any opener. The weather just sucked, though. It was a hazy sunny, but it was 43 degrees - not exactly baseball weather. Oh, and it was worse: 22 mph winds from the northeast. Miserable.
The park looked great. The new upper deck rehab actually really does change the look of the park (believe me - I was skeptical). I need to get up there and check it out sometime. The new Fan Deck seating area is a nice change too. Looks like a great place to watch the game. The item that really got me, though, was the outfield wall and all the padding around the field. It's green. I've wanted this for a long time - The Greening of Comiskey (er, "The Cell"... whatever...). It's just a matter of time when those godawful swimming pool blue seats get ripped-out and replace with dark green. I can feel it... it's coming. It will totally change the look of the park.
The game was better than expected. After the poor Cubbies lost their Home Opener 13-2 (and put them in the cellar of their division), I just wanted a win.
Exciting? Well, would you believe that after starter Esteban Loaiza gives up not one but four home runs and only one strikeout, and 2B Juan Uribe commits two stupid errors, we still trounce the Royals 12-5 with homeruns by Uribe and Konerko
(Boxscore)
After the game we went over to Janie & Gary's for dinner. Of course, most of the time we were looking through the windows at the views or actually going out on the balcony to watch the boats (and trains) go by.
« hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 08:42 PM | Link | White Sox § |
Monday, April 12, 2004
SickThat's me. Sick.
It started about 1 yesterday afternoon. My throat started burning. By evening, my eyes were burning. I took some Tylenol Cold stuff when I went to bed ... and didn't fall asleep until after 3am when the medication wore off. I'm cold. I'm cranky.
In case you haven't figured it out by now - I don't do "sick" very well. My first day off in a while and I'm sure the hell not enjoying it.
posted at 11:14 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Sunday, April 11, 2004
Happy Easter!
Happy Easter everyone.
Indy is busy trying to keep her BunnyCam online and answering a few emails. She always gets quite a few hits on Easter Sunday.
I had no idea what this noise was that I heard coming from my bedroom. Turns out, it was a signal I've never heard before - I got my first honest-to-God text message on my cell phone this morning. Juliet sent me a "Happy bunny day!" message! I guess I'm going to eventually have to learn how to do SMS messaging...
posted at 11:05 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Easter Bunnies
I am re-posting this entry from last year and the year before.
I know I don't get a lot of traffic here at this Blog, but, please, take a moment to read this and help out this cause.
Carol and I have a pet rabbit named Indy (She has her own WebCam over on the Right-hand side of the page, if you want to visit). We love Indy, and have loved the rabbits that have been part of our life over the past 20 years.
Every year, at Easter time, people think about buying a rabbit for their kids. Bunnies really are great, but they have special needs and care and are not like dogs & cats. There are many rabbits that are abandoned each year after Easter when the kids lose interest or when they become a burden to the owners.
If you have a website, please visit the House Rabbit Society's Easter Page and get a banner to put on your page until after Easter (April 11 for those that don't know) to help raise awareness of the problem (I've got mine over on the left side as well). There are also PDF's to print up and post in your cubicle of wherever if you'd like to do that to help spread the word (as well as a damn sad poem that just just rips at our heartstrings).
Indy thanks you and Carol & I thank you.
posted at 10:50 AM | Link | Bunnies | 1 comment § |
Saturday, April 10, 2004
Wolves 1 - Admirals 3
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Last game of the regular season.
Well, last night we played the Admirals in Milwaukee. We were down 3-1 in the 3rd and won 6-3.
No luck like that tonight. So, the regular season ends on Fan Appreciation Night.
At least we have the playoffs to look forward to.
(Boxscore - Gamesheet) « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 10:28 PM | Link | Wolves § |
Two in a row...
Sorry... not much going on in my life, so watching baseball is key.
Two wins in a row against the Yankees.
I like it.
Sorry, Erin.
posted at 02:58 PM | Link | White Sox | 1 comment § |
Friday, April 09, 2004
That's better...
So the Sox and Cubs start the day even - both with 1-2 records and in 4th place in each of our divisions (OK, tied for 3rd actually). I feel good about that. <snicker>
read more of this entry »
I had to give the game yesterday to the Yankees. I mean, home opener. 80th season in Yankee Stadium. Lots of payroll. I thought losing 3-1 wasn't bad... considering who we were playing.
So, today I was able - due to my unemployment - to watch the game on TV. Oooooooo it was nice to watch. In the 9th, though, I thought I was going to watch a replay of that damn season opener against the Royals. But, going up 9-1 on the Yankees? Do you know how happy that makes me feel? I don't know who I hate more - the Cubs or the Yankees (sorry, Erin, I gotta say that... I'm just not a fan of them...). So, we trounce the Yankers 9-3. Jon Garland pitched 8 innings and gave up 4 hits and 1 run, but walked 7. « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 06:20 PM | Link | White Sox § |
I made the call...Well, I slept-in as much as I could. Carol is off today, and it's my first day of unemployment this time around. Made the obligatory phone call to my recruiter (I guess that's necessary to tell them "I have completed the project. What else to you have for me?", which - somehow - triggers eligibility for unemployment.
And so it starts again...
At least there's baseball to watch this afternoon...
posted at 11:21 AM | Link | Work § |
Thursday, April 08, 2004
DONE
That's it. I'm through.
The day was hard - Jonathan and I had some last minute deployments, orientations, and even some boxing of legacy machines to do. There was paperwork, agreements that these machines have actually been deployed, everyone agrees on the counts, the sign-offs completed. Then - gone. Again, everyone disperses around the country, the project officially closes...
...and the job ends.
Unemployed again, waiting for another project. Or another job.
With the team that we had for this project, even though it wasn't smooth sailing, I'd do it again. Maybe I can later this year - there is one project and potentially a second project later this year with different organizations on the base (one's with the Marines and the other the Naval Hospital). I don't know if we can wait that long without a steady income.
We'll just have to see.
read more of this entry »
Oh, the picture? Long story... We used to walk across the street to a fast food place for lunch a that had a machine that dispensed Happy Bunny stickers. I don't know why, but we got hooked on the stupid things. We used them as inside jokes, and we just had a crazy time with them.
I happened to see some little statuettes of some of the characters at a Sam Goody record store at Woodfield and felt this was the perfect goodbye gift for Juliet. She loved them so much, that she used them to give out to everyone (which I think was great). The picture is of the one we always said was her's: Let's focus on me.
Anyway, in case you didn't know, I'm a very emotional guy. Saying goodbye is really difficult for me... and I couldn't do it. I miss all of these people and I'm so friggin' sad that I'm not going to see them again... « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 06:13 PM | Link | Work § |
Wednesday, April 07, 2004
Wolves 4 - Rampage 3
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Yep, it's The Return of The King - Wolves style. Kari Lehtonen came back from his first visit to Atlanta. In his 4 games there, he was 4-0-0 with a 1.26 Goals Against Average and 95.3% Save Percentage, and notched his first NHL Shutout. There's no way in hell we're going to see him next year - he's just too damn good. To top it off, watching in the stands is another one of our former goaltenders who's now also playing for Atlanta - Pasi Nurminen. The game started well, with the Wolves scoring 2 in the First. Then a former Wolves player - Kamil Piros scored against Kari. At the end of the first came a taked-down fight with crazy Karl Stewart which got him a Game Misconduct (Rule 56(a)). Things got tense during the game and the teams were tied 3-3 in the third. Kari was good, but... how do you go from that stellar NHL debut to this??? The crowd really got into it - it is still that great Playoff atmosphere as we struggle to get a better position for the playoffs. Then Steve Maltais scored a powerplay goal with 6.7 seconds left in the game.
(Boxscore - Gamesheet) « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 10:07 PM | Link | Wolves § |
DISBANDED
So, today was the last day of work for my team. My team. I'm still having problems grapsing this meaning, especially when one of the guys, when introducing me to his wife, refered to me as his boss. His boss. As far as I was concerned, I was just one of the team that kind of directed things. We struggled all week to come up with enough work for these guys to do - in the end, it just didn't work out. All they wanted was a full day's work and full day's pay.
I miss these guys already. They made it to the end after all of the cuts we had to do as the project slowly wound down, so you know they had to be good people. Now, they're gone, litterally dispersing across the country.
I miss the lugs.
posted at 06:14 PM | Link | Work § |
Monday, April 05, 2004
Oh, so this is how it's going to be...
How the hell can this happen?
The White Sox are in Kansas City and lead them 7-3 going into the bottom of the 9th.
read more of this entry »
Seven batters and three pitchers later (Thank You Cliff Politte for the 2 runs and 13.50 ERA, Billy Koch for his 10 pitches - 7 were strikes - but none the less one hit and one run in one third of an inning giving a wonderful 27.00 ER, and Damaso Marte whose Blown Save and Loss come from 17 pitches to 3 batters that produced 2 homeruns) The Sox lose 9-7. (It's the biggest Opening Day 9th Inning comeback since 1901)
What the hell happened???? How can you start the season this way!!!??? « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 04:55 PM | Link | White Sox § |
Sunday, April 04, 2004
Peeps!
It's that time of year again, when Peeps are flooding store shelves.
Let us not forget the Evil Peeps Bunnies Survival Tests, which always comes up each year, as well as Bunnies Strike Back.
But here's something that I haven't seen until this year (link blatantly ripped from Christine): yes, it's One Peep to Rule Them All - The Lord Of The Peeps!
posted at 10:33 AM | Link | Odd § |
TAR6 Casting, TAR5 Sighting, new rules... and a Big Brother Tie-in? THEME
Well, it looks like The Amazing Race 5 is still shooting and has made a stop in Canada. According to the Calgary Sun, the racers had a challenge - either a Roadblock or Detour - at Bow Falls near the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.
Also, in something of a shock if you follow the show, casting is now active for The Amazing Race 6, which is due to shoot in August. Applications are due April 13.
Another article also mentions that CBS will couple Big Brother and the Amazing Race to create a two-hour reality block on Tuesdays from 9-11 (8-10 Central). Both shows will have 90-minute season premieres on Tuesday, July 6, and will remain on Tuesdays. (Big Brother 5 will be Tuesday nights 9-10pm ET, Thursdays 8-9pm (evictions live in the eastern timezone), and Saturdays 9-10pm ET.)
In still another twist and tie-in, Big Brother 4 Runner-up Alison Irwin and her boyfriend Donny are one of the teams on Amazing Race 5.
There is a report that The Amazing Race may have two new twists (other than Alison):
During non-elimination weeks, the team that finishes last will be stripped of all their money -- and not be given any coin at the start of the next leg of the race.
There'll also be a new "yield" component to the game that will let each team slow down someone who's lagging behind them in the race. The "yield" can only be used once by each team.
posted at 08:17 AM | Link | Amazing Race § |
Saturday, April 03, 2004
Wolves 2 - Griffins 1
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Tonight was Military Night at the game. All the branches of the Armed Forces had tables setup around the arena to give away trinkets, but also boost recruiting. I only mention this because, after I went upstairs to the balcony to get a picture of the Navy Band (which only played before the warmups and then disappeared), as I came down the stairs, I, well, missed the last step and wound up falling to the floor and almost wiping-out an Air Force table. Screwed-up my right ankle pretty bad - the same one I screwed-up a few years ago when I fell at the O'Hare Metra station before a Wolves game (long story there). So, anyway, I watched the game in pain...
This was playoff-style hockey tonight. The Griffins have been slipping lately (we're in 3rd behind them - Milwaukee is in 1st). We beat them last night in Michigan, so things were a bit tense on the ice.
Saw something that I've never seen before in a hockey game. Stephen Baby shoots the puck high into the Griffins net, drops down and bounces off the left post. The goal judge (Bob Lilla) lights the light, Fireworks go off, siren sounds, crowd goes nuts (13,327, BTW)... but the ref waves it off and allows play to go on for another 30 seconds until the play is whistled dead (i can't remember why.. offside maybe?). The ref goes off to confer with the goal judge and allows the goal! Now, the fans are confused and the Griffins players go nuts with three of them charging the glass in front of the goal judge, screaming their heads off.
The play was pretty intense all throughout the game. Yes, it had the feel of playoffs. And now, with the win, we're only 2 points behind the Griffins with 4 more games to go.
Carol & I stayed a little while after the game to see something the Wolves do every once in a while - open up the ice for an hour of open skating (you have to bring your own skates). It takes way too long to get everything going (Zamboni the ice, get everyone to sign waivers, etc) and - as a spectator - a bit boring. But we watched a little and finally left.
I wasn't feeling too excited about this team's chances this year - until today's game. If they could just keep their focus and play a full 60 minutes...
(Boxscore - Gamesheet) « hide the extended part of this entry
posted at 11:08 PM | Link | Wolves § |
Crap, that was fun...
Well, I'm just getting up from a very hard sleep. I went out right after work yesterday to actually hang out with some coworkers and party until midnight. (Hey, midnight was my cutoff time... who knows how long everyone else lasted...) Played a drinking-game version of the card game... um, let's call it "President" as the other name of the game, if spoken on radio or TV may get the FCC upset. I've never played a combo card game/drinking game before, especially one that requires you to changing the seating arrangements around the table with the conclusion of each game. That loosened-up everybody. Then we decided to go to Bumpers to shoot pool and drink even more. So we played pool for at least 3 hours. They had a band there (a local - Khaos Theory) that started up sometime around 10. The place is a bit small for a band - it's hard to talk in the pool hall when you have to actually yell in the person's ear. God I suck at pool. I'm not as good as Juliet or Jonathan, but I think I held me own against everybody else... I think.
So, let's see, what's the tally for the evening... 3 Vodka & Tonics, a Mike's Hard Lemonade, a Washington Apple shot, a shot of Jägermeister, and the one that finally did me in - a shot of Sauza Tequila, I was fine up until then. That's when I got really tired and needed a Coke to start waking me up for the drive home. I hope everyone got home OK.
Damn, that was fun...
posted at 09:29 AM | Link | Mundane § |
Thursday, April 01, 2004
OopsBandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.
Apache/1.3.29 Server at www.reallans.com Port 80
Well... what the hell was that all about?
I apologize to those who actually stop by and read this blog. My particular blog page is a bit large and takes a little time to load. Now, I have extra incentive to trim it down as I've actually hit my dandwidth limit for the month of March.
I'm open to technical suggestions on paring down the page.
posted at 09:25 AM | Link | Blogging § |
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