Still A Busy Week

I am still in the midst of a very busy week here in PA.

Last night I had my first fantasy football draft that took about 3 hours to complete. Verb and I have a team together because it costs $100 to join and I don't have that kind of money to spend on games.

But the draft went surprisingly well as we were picking last of 13 teams but ended up with a VERY GOOD team!

The league champion gets $500 so I expect to make some money just in time for Christmas.

Now back to my busy week.

I have soccer practice tonight for kiddo's team.

Tomorrow the family is coming down for dinner to celebrate my sisters birthday and labor day.

And then Sunday a bunch of friends are coming to do our fantasy draft. This one is amongst close friends and only costs about $15 dollars this year. The wife, verb, young buck, lazy old white guy, skittles (formerly monkey), oompa loompa, jari kurri, and myself are in that league so it should be a good time.

And to top all of that off I still have the puppies to watch after and clean up after. They have been pretty good so far this week. No more than a couple messes a day which is a VERY good thing!

Pictures are coming........at some point!

Oh and once again let me remind you where I will be tomorrow during the afternoon and then again after dinner:
Doing what you ask.........watching college football of course!!!!

The Vaca Post

Okay so I said I would give you a brief vacation review so here it is:

Last week I went to the beach.

There you go, how is that for brief??


Okay Okay I will give you more.

We went and spent the week in North Wildwood, New Jersey. It was a good time but not perfect.

Although I am beginning to realize that NO vacation is ever perfect and expecting them to be perfect is basically being unreasonable.

We went down early last Saturday and were able to get in right away cause some of my family had been staying there the week before.

For many years in my childhood we spent our vacations in Cape May and I hadn't been back in many years. But this past week we went down 2 different times, once for dinner and some site seeing and then for some shopping. Both times were great and it was probably my favorite part of the trip.

The group that went down was me (obviously), the wife, kiddo, verb, young buck, my sister, oompa loompa and his wife and 2 kids. His one daughter is 3 days younger than mine so that works very well.

We played some poker, I actually lost $20 the first night, and we played a lot of Rummikub, which is an awesome game if you ever get the chance to play.

We only spent 3 days at the beach but that is more than enough for me. The problem with being in Jersey is that there are always so many people.

My favorite vacation spot is a neighborhood on the Outer Banks of North Carolina called Pine Island. It is located between Duck in Corolla in the northern part of the Outer Banks. And if you ever get the chance to go, DO NOT pass it up. The problem with Pine Island is the cost. Some places sleep 28 people and cost around $15,000 a WEEK!!

The last time we went we had 5 groups split a $3500 a week place so that wasn't too bad but some of the places are ridiculous. Seriously it is the BEST time you will ever have. It is the most relaxing place to go to the beach.

But we were in Jersey last week and it was nice but not perfect.

And for the first time that I can remember, I was ready to come home from a vacation. I usually never want to leave but this week was different. I am not sure if I was tired of being there or just that I have so much to do back home here that I wanted to come back and get started.

Either way I had a good time, I am glad I got to go, and I am glad to be home.

Now I know I haven't been around all week but unfortunately for you (maybe fortunately, depends how you feel), I am not going to be blogging for a little while.

This past week I was on the road all week and while I didn't really work hard or anything like that I still wasn't at my desk doing nothing.

So as you can obviously see...no posts.

But in about 16 hours I will be arriving at the beach for a week.

And I will not have access to the internet for most of the week. I might get to blog once or twice but I wouldn't expect anything if I were you.

Instead look forward to August 11th when I will be back at my boring job doing nothing except reading blogs and occasionally blog (cause lets face it, I don't really blog with any consistency).

So I hope you all enjoy your week and I will not be thinking of any of you next week! (seriously....I won't be)

Don't Just Sit And Watch

Quit being such a wimp.

No more excuses.

Stand up and tell them what you are thinking and feeling.

And don’t take no for an answer.

You owe it to this person and yourself to push them.



What am I referring to here?

Anyone who has a friend or family member that is causing harm to themselves.

Whether that harm is being caused by alcohol abuse, drug abuse, abusive relationships, or just blatant ignorance of a situation.

Obviously there are some people that are going to respond favorably to you saying something and there are some people who won’t.

Does that mean you should be content to just stand back and watch?

Let’s say you have a friend that drive’s drunk on a regular basis.

And just for arguments sake, let’s say you disapprove of them doing this (which you should by the way).

Do you say something to this friend??

Let’s say you decide that they are an adult and can handle it themselves and you ignore it and right it off as part of who they are.

Now let’s say this person has an accident and is killed in it.

Now, don’t you wish you would’ve said something??

Let’s now say you did say something.

But the friend didn’t want to listen and threatened to not be friends with you if you didn’t chill out about it.

Now what do you do?

Your friendship is on the line here.

I think most people would back off because they don’t want to lose a friend.

I am not sure what I would do personally. It would be really hard, especially if it’s a good friend, to risk that friendship for it.

Especially considering your point may not be heard and it wouldn’t make a difference. And then you would have lost a friend and your efforts wouldn’t have changed anything.

That would suck.

But you know what would make that worse.

Is if you back off and they have an accident and die. Then you would beat yourself up about not doing more.

It isn’t an easy thought to have.

But sometimes you have to put your friend’s well-being before your own.

If you truly are a friend and care about someone than you need to step up and say something.

I don’t care if you have never had a more personal conversation than “hey what are you up to tonight?”

You still owe it to your friend and YOURSELF to stand up and do something.

If you watch from the sidelines as your friend tempts death than you aren’t a good friend.

No matter what excuses you come up with.



Note: there is more to this, but it can’t be told right now.

A Weekend--

Who doesn't love Wendy's?

We went there Friday night and I am pretty sure that when we left the drive thru they closed down for the night.

Why would I think that?

Cause we bought enough food from them that they probably reached their daily quota!

Other than Friday night was pretty slow.

Watched the NHL Draft for a bit, fixed Verb's car, and watched a movie.

Saturday was a little more eventful.

Got up and did some yardwork in the morning and whined about how the Euro 2008 games suck on the weekends cause Russia was playing.

I was wrong about that by the way as that soccer game was incredible to watch. Russia won 3-1 in extra time and it was just a great game.

After that we ate a light dinner and went to my sister's graduation party.

It was kind of awkward cause her ex boyfriend (of 8.5 years) was there and she is already dating someone else (this guy here). And apparently he is taking it hard.

He is a nice kid and I feel bad for him but the breakup was WAY over due.

They are 23/24 and had been together for 8.5 YEARS!!! Everyone just assumed that they would eventually get married.

But anyways.....

I got to see alot of old neighbors and friends from growing up that I hadn't seen in numerous years.

And I had some decent food too. Nothing much but some decent finger foods and good desserts.

We left there at about 10 (already over an hour past kiddo's bedtime) cause we needed to get up and walk around Hersheypark all day Sunday.

Sunday was GREAT!!

We left the house at about 915 to pick up verb and young buck.

We got to Hershey and met up with my sister (lets call her Bull from here on).

Oh and parking was ridiculous.......$10 a CAR!!!

We went into the park and immediately headed for the water park area so that we could rent lockers and put our change of clothes in there for the day.

We stopped for a minute to look at the new roller coaster, Fahrenheit! It has the STEEPEST drop in the UNITED STATES. The ride goes straight up (not kidding, it looks like a right angle) and then comes back down at 97 degrees! That's right it actually goes BEYOND STRAIGHT DOWN!!

None of us got on it, partly cause some of us (me) can't handle that and partly because that was like the only ride in the park with a line.

See a few years ago, before the water park, the lines in the park would ALWAYS be ridiculous and you would probably wait about 30 minutes just to get on anything in the park. But since the water park opened half of the people spend their time back there and the other half ride the rides. It is great!

After that we got on a bunch of rides and had lunch (not cheap) before heading back to the water park.

-side note- if you are pregnant you really outta NOT were a bikini, PLEASE!

The water park is fun. There are 4 different water slides, 2 separate little wave pools, a roller coaster, Canyon River Rapids (best water ride ever, you get absolutely SOAKED!), and this other water park/slide/pool/jungle gym.

After watching kiddo shake like a leaf cause she was cold we got changed and continued riding rides and playing games.

The best ride at the park, in my opinion, is the Great Bear. It is an inverted roller coaster that is a lot of fun.

We were all pretty tired and during a thunderstorm warning (most the rides were closed) we stopped and rested and had dinner (again, not cheap).

After dinner we rode a bunch of rides again, played some games, and pretty much thoroughly exhausted ourselves.

We left the park at about 915 and started the trek home.

If you ever go to Hersheypark (which you absolutely SHOULD) remember to take something to drink with you.

We have this cool bag from here that has a cooler in the bottom. We took 10 bottles of water and saved money cause a bottle in the park costs $3!!

I haven't been at the park that long or had that much fun at the park in like 14 years!!

Kiddo is 7 but is very tall (51") already. So she is able to get on just about everything there (only 4 or 5 things she can't get on yet) and she rode just about EVERYTHING she could.

And she LOVED it all. I don't do wooden roller coasters, I will only get on steel ones. But she rode all of the wooden coasters with no issues and actually rode the one twice. I was very impressed.

And she had BY FAR the most energy left at the end of the night. She probably would have stayed and ridden rides for another couple hours!

I Won 6-3

I know that I haven't exactly been keeping up with the blog recently. It seems like each week I post a little less.

And I really don't have a reason for it.

I typically only post when I am at work and I usually have so many blogs to read that by the time I am done reading it is time to go.

So sorry to anyone that has been looking for a new post. (I know there isn't anyone like that but I like to boost my ego once in a while)

I had a pretty good week.

I took a "sick" day yesterday and played some tennis against verb (I won 6-3) but we only played one set cause neither of us is in any kind of shape right now. And we both pretty much sucked.

Tennis is a lot of fun. I used to play a lot when I was younger but most of the people that I played against then have moved to different parts of the country.

So I hadn't actually played a real game of tennis in about 10 years and have probably only hit a ball around MAYBE a dozen times in that period.

But it was fun (I won, in case I forgot to mention it) and I hope to play again soon.

This weekend has the potential to be fun.

We are going to a graduation party for my sister tomorrow night (she graduated back in the beginning of May, not sure why the delay but whatever).

And then on Sunday we are planning on going to Hersheypark for the day. Only planning right now because mother nature is being a bitch and is threatening to rain on us.

But we have free tickets and they have to be used by the 4th of July so.....we will probably be going no matter what.

Other than that there isn't much going on. Maybe I will have something insightful to say next week. I have a few ideas, I just need to sit down and actually write something.

Words of Wisdom

First of all, if you haven't seen this, check it out.

Now onto my post for today.

I have been talking to a buddy of mine for a few months now on a somewhat daily basis about his issues.

A little background for you:

My friend (lets call him M) met a girl while he was studying abroad in Spain and began dating this girl (lets call her E) when he was there.

They proceeded to carry on this long distance relationship for 5.5 years. She was going to school for the last couple of years in NC so it wasn't always different countries.

M would drive down from Maryland to see her every other weekend when she was on this continent.

M is not what one would call over-confident in himself (I may be to blame for some of that as me and other friend Patty would regularly pick on him cause he was shorter than us and for other reasons), so he probably hung on longer than most would have. E was a good looking girl who liked attention.

E apparently got too much attention from another guy at some point recently and decided to not worry about M and proceeded to cheat on him. No telling how long this went on for, but M found out about 3 months ago.

So now M is hurt, angry, and confused. Even though he will openly admit that he wanted to end things with E before this, he is still very hurt by what she did.

So last night we were talking and he was talking about what he wants to do at that he isn't interested in getting involved with anyone else right now. And while I agree that he isn't ready yet I suggested something else to him.

And this is advice that many of you should consider.

I have heard over the years from people that they plan on focusing on their careers before they start a family or get married. And I believe there are probably parents out there telling there kids to worry about themselves and their career first because you can always have a family later.

To me that sounds backwards. (to understand picture at right click here.)

Now I am not saying just stop working and look for love but don't be afraid of it because you have goals to meet in your professional life.

Love is much rarer than a good career and it is much harder to find.

If you are truly good at and passionate about what you do than you will always be able to find work that will make you happy.

But how many people find someone else that they want to spend the rest of their life with?

I have a few friends that have either not found this yet because they say they need to worry about finding themselves first. Or they don't want to get involved with someone until they are at a certain place in their life.

WHY?

Now I must clarify that I don't think you can go looking for love. It either happens or it doesn't. It is either there or it isn't. It isn't something that can be faked (for very long anyway) or manufactured.

So like I said before I do not mean just focus on your love life and not your professional life because then you will be miserable in both.

But do not avoid getting involved with someone because of your career or anything else.

Basically what I am saying is your career can wait, love can't and shouldn't. You can put your career on hold for a couple years and have no problem picking it back up. But you can't put love on the back burner (more than likely anyway) because either the other person will be gone or you won't feel the same.

Just a thought I had. Do you agree? If not, how come?

A Weekend Review

if you haven't seen this, check it out.


Once again I had a pretty good weekend. There was much mario kart playing and some pretty good eating.

It all started with the previously mentioned trip to Circuit City.

After that was done wifey and I picked up our daughter from school (her last day of the year).

We proceeded to head back home where my daughter and I played some mario kart until verb joined us. She isn't very good yet (she is only 7 and wants to turn her WHOLE body instead of just the wii wheel).

We then went to her last soccer practice for the season where the parents were playing the kids.

Wifey was smart and she packed gatorades and waters for the 4 of us.

Verb played goalie in high school and I haven't played competitively since middle school but we probably could have beaten all the kids AND all the other parents by ourselves.

After the scrimmage we returned home, ordered some food, picked up said food (pizza, sub, wings), young buck came over, and we played mario kart and bowling until about 11.

By the way...I had 8 strikes in a row on wii bowling while LAYING DOWN!! I barely roll strikes when I am standing but laying down, I am unbeatable!

Saturday morning was the day of my daughters soccer tournament. The first game was at 8am.

That's right I was up at 6 AM on a freaking Saturday!

Her team played well. It is tough for kids that age. They don't keep score at any of the games all season and then all of a sudden for one day they keep score and have a champion.

They finished 3rd out of 7 but if the coach knew what he was doing they would have won the whole thing.

Thankfully the tournament was over at noon so it wasn't too terribly hot out yet.

After lunch the mother-in-law took my daughter (let's just call her kiddo from here on) to see Kung-Fu Panda.

And my wife went to work for a few hours.

So what did I do considering it was like 800 degrees outside??

Slept.....for a good 2 hours, woke up at 4 and called wifey to see how much longer she would be, and then fell back to sleep for another 30 minutes.

Got up at 430 when wifey said she was on her way home and verb called to tell me he would probably be up within an hour.

He showed up around 530 and young buck showed up a few minutes later so we watched the Belmont and ate some spaghetti for dinner.

After dinner....

More Mario Kart and a little poker. We didn't play for money though since there was only 4 of us (wifey played too).

Sunday was even more uneventful.

Woke up and watched tv all morning, went swimming at my dad's in the afternoon, and went to Red Lobster for a small over priced meal. (I don't eat much seafood, only breaded shrimp, so it was more for the wife and kiddo) But I got a (somewhat fatty and MAYBE 8 oz) steak, 5 shrimp, and a small baked potato for $17.50.

Some of you may not find that a rip off, but I surely do. I can get an incredible steak down the road for 10 bucks a pound. Seriously the steak is the best you have ever had. If you ever visit the Harrisburg area of PA, let me know and I will make you the best steak you have ever had!

But I didn't have the good steak, I had a Red Lobster steak. oh well.

After that we went home and stayed on the couch until bed.

That was the weekend. The next one will be even more uneventful.

You HAVE To Read This

Have you ever watched someone actually eat until they puked??

And I don't mean an eating contest or anything. Just a normal meal??

I have. Check this out for the story.

Seriously, check this out.

If you read nothing else today, it should be this.

Did you read this yet?

If not, go here now!!

Nothing for Me

I am still here. Just been a little busy this week.

I got home from Scranton on Friday and have been pretty busy ever since.

We got back to our vehicles on Friday at noon and I came straight home got in my car with the wife and went to lunch at Subway and then to Circuit City.

She was getting a camera and verb went along so that I could co-sign on a new tv for him.

If only things would have gone that smoothly on this trip.

She picked out the camera that she wanted (some canon SLR model). And he picked out the tv he wanted.

I used my Circuit City line of credit (I bought 2 LCD tvs there last April) to buy the camera but the sales guy rang it up wrong so we had to go to the customer service desk and return it and buy it again.

Then (even with me co-signing) verb got declined for his own line of credit cause he has no credit.

Not bad credit, but no credit. And instead of making a sale that I am sure Circuit City would like to make, the bank said no way.

There was a deal going on on tvs too. No interest for 24 months. The tv he wanted was under 1200 bucks.

Do the math....that's less than 50 bucks a month. Who wouldn't pay that back?

So instead of leaving without a tv, I did what any friend would do (I would like to think so anyway).

I bought him the tv on my line of credit with 24 months no interest. So now he owes me 50 bucks a month for 2 years.

Now I would not do this for any of my friends. In fact I think there are only 2 friends that I would do this for (and for anyone other than verb reading this that knows me, the other one isn't you, so don't ask).

I trust him to pay me back and I know where he lives.

So if I don't get paid back, I all of a sudden have a third LCD tv (which I absolutely need).

Another Good Time

This past weekend was another good one at my place of residence.

We had another cookout (smaller than Memorial Day's) with incredible food and a great group of friends.

We had barbecue chicken, potatoes, a veggie, and a good desert.

To understand the incredibleness of the chicken you would have to taste the barbecue sauce that the wife makes. She has taken a family recipe and twisted it up a bit and it is AMAZING!!

I actually put it on everything (okay, maybe not EVERYTHING) like potatoes and broccoli. That is the best. Especially on the potatoes. I will actually eat a steak with a potato and heat up some bbq sauce for the potato.

But I got ahead of myself here in this story and I honestly just realized it. I was going to talk about my WHOLE weekend and yet I started the story on Sunday. So let's start over.

This past weekend was another great one at my place of residence.

Friday was a nice quiet night at home after a haircut and some yard work. I watched Charlie Wilson's War (loved it) and stayed in, just the wife and I.

Saturday I got up at 8ish and made eggs for everyone while we waited for a phone call from my daughters soccer coach to see if the game was cancelled due to storms.

I called my family to tell them that the game was likely to be canceled (which it was) and my sister asks me if my mom can take my daughter for the night. I was all for it and so was the wife.

So my mom and sister came and picked her up around noon.

After which, the wife went to work and I started on my yard work. (side note - the yard work has been consisting of tearing out grass and laying down some mulch to create some great flower beds.

After she got home from work and I was done we went to the Olive Garden for a nice quiet (not so much when they seated about 8 little kids at a nearby table) dinner.

After dinner we went home to watch the Pens/Wings game before heading out late with some friends (sister, donkey, young buck, and verb) to a nice arcade/bar called the Coliseum. It is very much like a Dave & Busters (which we don't have here in the greater Harrisburg area).

When we were done there after about 3 hours we headed down to Denny's for a late night snack or very early breakfast for some.

We got home at about 3 and went to sleep around 4.

So I decided that I would get up at 8ish the next morning! BRILLIANT!!

I had more yard work to do and had to get things ready for the previously mentioned cookout.

I cut the grass and created even more flower beds for about 5 hours (during which I drank 80 oz of Gatorade). Then I started pealing potatoes and getting the place set up for friends and family.

My dinner guests included the group that was out the night before and my mom and her husband.

And as I previously mentioned, it was a GREAT time!

After dinner we of course played some bowling on the Wii and then some serious Mario Kart before I kicked everyone out at about 930 cause I was EXHAUSTED.

And then it was back to work on Monday and Tuesday I left for Scranton, PA.

I am still in Scranton (yes, the place the Office is set in) and will be until Friday.

I went to a baseball game last night at PNC Field, home of the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees. And they LOST!!

I couldn't have asked for a better outcome, I hate the Yankees (all of them).

That was probably the most beautiful baseball stadium I have been to. And just so I am honest and you don't mistake me for an expert, I have been to (the late) Veterans Stadium in Philly, Camden Yards in Baltimore, and Riverside Stadium in Harrisburg.

But really the place is beautiful. If you are ever in Scranton or Wilkes Barre you should get to a game. Parking was (surprisingly and impressively) free and great seats down the third base line were only $10.

I Couldn't Make This Up!!

Jari (pronounced Yar-ee) sent this email out to a few of us a couple weeks ago:

alright kids

we all know my love affair with my 86 camry

we also know all the fun problems that come with a 22 year old car

my registration is up at the end of july, i would bet she isnt going to pass without quite a bit of money dropped on my part

i dont know what im going to do about a replacement yet

but

i am asking you if you know of any place i might store her

ive looked into storage places but that shit can get expensive

im not looking to drop $50 a month to store her, bc then its just cheaper for me to keep her on the streets and insured

i can just get some guido south philly fuck to have her "pass" inspection

so, any ideas? maybe someone that has a bunch of industrial storage space, etc...

any suggestions are welcomed

bc one day im gonna restore her and be the only kid on the block with a classic 1986 camry

I responded with this:

i personally think you should do right by her and drive into the FUCKING RIVER!!

but no, I don't know of anyplace to store it.

Jari:

fuck off

ive had 400 different ppl telling me many different ways to kill her

the most entertaining idea was to take her out in a field shoot her and blow her up

NEVER!!

Monkey's response to the first email:

I have a great place where you can keep it... Newberrytown Auto Salvage. It's kinda like being an organ donor... "Parts" of her will live-on in many other cars for years to come.

Everytime you see an '86 Camry on the roads, you can think to yourself... "I wonder if any of 'my old girls' parts are in that one".

The best part is... the Salvage yard will pay you to let them harvest the remaining 'good' parts from the old girl. :)

What do ya think?

Good Idea?

I personally like Monkey's idea. unique and resourceful.

something tells me Jari didn't enjoy it.

And yes he is serious, he intends to put classic tags on his 1986 CAMRY!!!

1 pitch, 1 run

I haven't posted in a couple of days mainly because I haven't really had any urge to.

But I am back on this Wednesday (oh yeah, it's actually Thursday). I love short weeks!

Last weekend:

I had a good time all weekend.

Friday the wife, daughter and I went to this little pizza buffet place (which sucked) and to look at a new car. And while we came away feeling like we could afford it we decided that it just wasn't the right time to add the car payment to the bills.

After that we watched a movie (the holiday) which was very good.

Saturday I got up early (8ish) and got started on my yard (house) work that I had planned for the weekend.

I had been waiting for weeks to stain my deck because I needed a few days with no rain and a full day to scrub and stain it. Finally this past weekend came along and I got to do it.

I never want to do it again!

After scrubbing the whole deck which made my arms hurt I took a few hours break to let the deck dry from hosing it down.

While I took a break I walked around the yard (which I have had since April of 07) and picked up rocks and dug out rocks (that were there when I moved in) because they are ruining my lawn mower.

After that I had lunch and then got started staining the deck.

About 2 (I think, close to 2 anyway) Verb called and said he was coming down. I didn't remind him that I was staining the deck because I figured at worst I would have company or maybe he would help a bit.

And he did. He also ruined the shorts he had on as he somehow got paint on them.

After we were done with the deck Young Buck came down and we played some wii, had dinner, played some wiffle ball, watched the Pens/Wings game, and played more wii (mario kart) until about 2 am.

Good Times!

Sunday I got up early (830ish) and relaxed for a minute or two before starting to set up and get things ready for the cookout that would commence at 3pm.

I cleaned up the tools I used Saturday in the yard, got the toys out to play with, and started washing some furniture for later.

Verb came down around 1 to wash his car, after which we washed my car when it arrived home from being out. Young Buck arrived shortly after that.

We finished getting set up for the cookout before retiring to the couch to watch some of the Indy 500 and (surprise) play some Mario Kart Wii.

We went outside after that and tested the wiffle ball field to see if it would work for a kickball field. It wouldn't. It wasn't big enough and the yard next to me is not really a yard yet, just wild weeds and grass growing taller and taller every year. The first time I kicked it out we spent a good 15 minutes looking for the ball.

And to the minor amazement from the neighbors out back (who watched us search for the ball the first time), WE DID IT AGAIN! Only this time I also punted a football over there. SHIT!

At about 4 people started to show up. We goofed around out back until we started cooking at about 530.

After dinner the wiffle ball game commenced. You can check out this page for a minor recap. But the two teams ended up tied 5-5 and there was only 1 home run. (the first batter, with me pitching - SHIT)

After we finished with wiffle ball and talking for a while some people left while the others ended up in the living room......playing the Wii.

Until 2 AM!! (see a pattern anywhere?)

Monday was a lazy day for me to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!! It was AWESOME!

And then back to work on Tuesday, Shit!

Then Don't Come Next Time

It was a very good weekend. Had a cookout, played wiffle ball, threw the football around, and played some serious Mario Kart Wii. (more to come on all of that in the following days)

But let’s start this story on Friday afternoon.

I called my buddy, Oompa Loompa (and yes he is built like one, but no he isn't orange), to see if he and his family were coming to the party on Sunday afternoon.

We were having burgers, hot dogs, salad, and other things that you have at a cookout.

Plus we were playing wiffle ball and whatever else we wanted to play and do.

Oompa has a daughter that is 3 days younger than my daughter so they play together and have fun off on their own.

So I call him cause he had said through an email that they weren’t sure yet, but we needed to know so that we could get the food.

And this is what he said (honest to god he said it)

“we want to come, but we might not because we are having burgers and hot dogs on Monday and we don’t want to eat that two days in a row.”

HUH?!?!?!?!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!

And they didn’t come!!!

They decided that instead of coming and having fun hanging out with friends and having some decent (if not good) food, they opted to stay home and not join us.

What makes the story even more ridiculous is that they keep telling us that they want to spend more time with us so that the girls can play together and because they enjoy hanging out.

SO WHY NOT COME??

I don’t even want to invite them in the future when we are having chicken (with the world’s GREATEST barbecue sauce, made by wifey) or marinated flank steak (from Glenn Miller’s deli in Lemoyne, the absolute best steak anyone, and I mean ANYONE, in the world has EVER EVER had).

Because if you are only coming for the food than you shouldn’t be coming AT ALL!

Fother Mucking Friday

Here are a couple good stories/jokes for you. I have a few friends that I suspect could experience these situations in their lifetime.



A man calls home to his wife and says,
"Honey I have been asked to go fishing at a big lake up in Canada with my boss and several of his friends.
We'll be gone for a week.
This is a good opportunity for me to get that promotion I've been wanting,
so would you please pack me enough clothes for a week and set out my rod and tackle box.
We're leaving from the office and I will swing by the house to pick my things up.
Oh! And please pack my new blue silk pajamas."

The wife thinks this sounds a little fishy but being a good wife she does exactly what her husband asked.

The following weekend he comes home a little tired but otherwise looking good.
The wife welcomes him home and asks if he caught many fish.
He says, "Yes! Lots of Walleye, some Blue gill, and a few Pike. But why didn't you pack my new blue silk pajamas like I asked you to do?"

The wife replies; "I did, they were in your tackle box."




Harry had a bit of a drinking problem.
Every night, after dinner, he took off for the local watering hole,
spent the entire evening there and arrived home,
well inebriated, around midnight each night.

He always had trouble getting his key into the keyhole and getting the door opened.
His wife, waiting up for him, would go to the door and let him in.
Then she would proceed to yell and scream at him for his constant nights out and his returned drunken state.
But Harry continued his nightly routine.

One day, the wife, distraught by it all, talked to a friend about her husband's behavior.
The friend listened to her and then asked, "Why don't you treat him a little differently when he comes home?
Instead of berating him, why don't you give him some loving words and welcome him home with a kiss?
He then might change his ways." The wife thought it was worth trying.

That night, Harry took off again after dinner.
Around midnight, he arrived home in his usual condition.
His wife heard Harry at the door and let him in.

This time, instead of berating him as she had always done,
she took his arm and led him into the living room.
She sat him down in an easy chair, put his feet up on the ottoman and took his shoes off.
Then she went behind him and started to cuddle him a little.

After a while, she said to him, "It's pretty late.
I think we had better go upstairs to bed now, don't you?"
At that, Harry replied in his inebriated state,
"I guess we might as well. I'll get in trouble if I go home anyway!"

A little out of line? Maybe.

Ok, so maybe I was a little out of line yesterday. But I think it was more just out of character.

To be honest I debated all morning about whether I should write that post or not. And I obviously decided to write it.

I know of 3 people that read this blog, that friend (rarely but I think he checks it), this friend, and the wife. And those 2 said that they couldn't believe I wrote it.

They both agreed though that I am right in my opinion.

And don't think that this was the only thing that made me think about not being friend's with said friend anymore. Cause it most definitely is NOT.

There have numerous times where we stopped talking because of some stupid thing he did. So I feel justified in my decision, but there is still more to it.

When I met said friend, 8 years ago as a freshman in college, we had similar interests and were obviously at a similar point in our lives.

But now things are different (which is what happens when you get older). I have a family, a good job with a great future (even though I am not a fan of working), a house and other interests that I give my time and effort towards.

And said friend has no family, no real job, no house and much different interests than me.

So when he tells me something I give him advice based on where I am in my life and what my life has taught me. But his life is nowhere near mine and he doesn't not feel like the advice fits.

But that is what our friendship has been based on in the past few years. His life and stories and my advice and opinions.

There have been times when the roles were reversed but usually he would call and tell me something and ask for my opinion. I would give it and he would do the opposite.

And that's how it went. Until a few months ago.

I told him that I didn't want to know about his life anymore. I didn't want him calling and bitching or telling me about his conflicts. And he didn't and it worked for a while.

But now I realize that there really is no friendship outside of those parameters and I don't want to go back there.

Mainly because I get frustrated in dealing with him and I don't need the aggravation. Maybe that is my problem, that I can't just let things go, but it is my problem so I have to do something about it.

So I am.

Tired of it!

I have a few close friends and a few others that I consider friends that live near me.

I also have 3 friends that don't live near me that I have known since I was 5 and I consider them my brothers.

And most of my friends know the kind of person I am. If they tell me a story I am going to give my opinion whether or not they want it. The one's that want an opinion tell me about something, the one's that don't, don't.

So yesterday a friend of mine (who definitely knows that I like to give an opinion) was telling me a story of how he got a speeding ticket.

And this friend is one of those people that know a little bit about everything but not much about anything.
One of those people that no matter what someone tells them they can compare it to something that either happened to them to to someone they now.

Well my friend starts telling me about how he was following someone else and how they were going faster and blah blah blah....

All I heard was an excuse, which is quite typical of said friend. He does not seem to be able to accept responsibility for ANY of his actions without first rationalizing them.

So he starts arguing with the cops about how he got pulled over and the other person didn't. Well the other person was a cop for one and he was IN A MARKED COP CAR!!

Did you think maybe he was part of the speed trap? Or that maybe he was getting you to be stupid?

Well it surely worked. You were an idiot and you got a ticket.

But what really pisses me off is his blatant lack of respect for authority. And it isn't just when he gets pulled over. When he is at work a lot of the time he is bitching cause a boss didn't give him this or this boss doesn't like him or he is trying to get a day off.

Well no duh they don't like you. You are a high maintenance PAIN IN THE ASS!!

Maybe my issue with his lack of respect is more personal than social. But I was raised to respect you elders and authority. And I expect others to do the same. Is that wrong of me? I don't think so.

When I tried to tell him my opinion, which he even admitted knowing that it was coming, he started talking and wouldn't stop because he didn't want to hear my opinion.

If you didn't want my opinion than DON'T TELL ME THE STORY!!

And don't try and tell me you tell me everything cause I didn't even know you got a new car!

But anyways I am getting off track. I have many friends that don't give me this much trouble.

In fact all of my other friends combined don't give me as many headaches as this ONE does. And yes maybe that is MY fault and maybe I should just ignore things more and let things go but I can't.

So instead....

I think I am done being friends with this person.

And yes he does sometimes read this blog and I am hoping he does today!

Making amends with the Universe

Well apparently my ego boost the other day has caused a rift between myself and the universe. You see, I am not really as conceded as my Friday post made me sound to be.

Yes there are days when I feel everything should be all about me. But they aren't and I get through those days anyhow.

But since I have made that post the universe has made an example out of me.

First lets talk about the poker game.

I played very well. Almost perfect even. I can only remember maybe 1 or 2 bad plays on my part. But the thing that EVERYONE has to remember about poker is that it is 75% LUCK!! No matter what anyone tells you, if you don't get good cards you aren't going to win.

Yes you have to bluff sometimes and win some pots without good cards but unless you get good cards you will not win the game.

And the universe made sure that I didn't win on Friday night. I got a couple good cards throughout the night but not near enough.

So, what I am saying is that I lost Friday night. I did not win anything, in fact I lost money.

Now lets look at the Wii.

Apparently Nintendo and the universe are on the same page here.

Because I couldn't do anything right on that thing Friday night. There was a group of us (Young Buck, Verb, Lazy Old White Guy, and Wifey) playing Wii sports and Mario Kart that night.

Lazy Old White Guy has minimum life so he plays or used to play all the time and has perfected the different games. Where as the rest of us just started playing about a week ago.

So LOWG beat all of us at bowling and anything else on Wii Sports.

After LOWG left we played some Mario Kart. And I couldn't do that either. Everything I tried to do ended badly. So instead of throwing the wheel out the window I just threw it at Verb and told him to play.

That was my Friday, eventful but not good.

Saturday I didn't do much. I tried the whole Mario Kart thing in the morning and turned it off again shortly after falling off multiple sides.

And then while running a little late taking my daughter to a birthday party I hit EVERY GOD DAMN RED LIGHT ON THE WAY!!! I am not even kidding. I sat at every single light. And I tried not to get pissed but as you can tell, I didn't happen.

After that it seemed like the Universe started to ease up a bit.

At least until I got up this morning with the intentions of cutting the grass. See yesterday the weather said rain Saturday night and SUN on Sunday. So I would cut the grass Sunday.

HA!!! It is raining and it is supposed to be showery all day.

DAMN YOU UNIVERSE!!

So I thought I would try to help myself out in the coming days. But I was told to do it NOW!!

Because my wife is a Penguins fan and they can win the playoff series against the (god I hate them) Flyers today.

And she wanted to make sure that I made amends and apologized to the universe for my mistaken comments on Friday. So that the team I am rooting for (Penguins) beats the hell out of the most hated team in the house (Flyers) with no input from the universe.

So universe, I apologize for my conceded beliefs in myself.

I now know that the sun does not set on my ass....

at least not everyday!!

The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

Have you ever felt that you were just the best thing in the world?

Have you ever felt that people should feel privileged to even know you?

Have you ever felt that you just can't be wrong? ever?

Have you ever felt that people just move for you when you are walking or driving?

Have you ever felt that the sun rises and sets on you?

Have you ever felt that the world revolves around you?

Well you shouldn't because the world revolves around me!!

I feel this way everyday because I am the greatest thing since sliced bread!!

And don't any of you forget it!!!

And to all of you playing poker against me tonight (monkey, verb, young buck, sparky, lazy white guy, wifey, or even marky), why don't you all just save yourselves some time and energy and just give my your money.

It will be much easier and less trouble than if you actually sit at the same table as me!!

Oh yeah!! Absolutely the greatest thing since sliced bread!!

Did I?

I know that you are all wondering if I got up and got on the treadmill this morning.

You probably even woke up this morning with the question in your head.

Did he get on the treadmill this morning?

I am not going to answer you yet though. First I want to tell you about the awesomeness that is the Nintendo Wii.

I had never touched a Wii remote or controller until I bought it Wednesday night. And since I have this "real" job that requires me to show up everyday, I didn't have a lot of time to play it until last night.

It is as good as advertised. I have 4 games for it. Wii Sports (which comes with it), Wii Play (free $40 remote with $50 game), Super Mario Galaxy, and Mario Kart Wii.

I am a mario kart master and have just about every one that has been released. The SNES game was probably the best but the N64 version was pretty good too.

The new one is harder to play though. Using the Wii wheel to steer takes some getting used to. They also put bikes on the game and they are harder to steer as well. An awesome game so far though.

Wii Sports is solid. The bowling and golf are great. The boxing and baseball are solid. The tennis hasn't been tested enough to make a determination.

Wii Play is not as good. But for $10 it is a solid game. Since I was going to buy a second controller anyways, adding the 10 bucks for another game seemed like the thing to do. My favorite games on that so far are the shooting game and the cow racing. That's right you race cows!

I haven't played Super Mario Galaxy yet so I will let you know soon.

Young Buck and Verb came over last night and we played the Wii for about 4 hours straight. It was incredible. I would imagine that I will be having more guests coming over now.

It isn't really a system that you play by yourself too much. I also have a PS3 so I will still get games for that. But when you have people over the Wii is awesome!

Not only is it fun but you actually get a little bit of a workout using it, especially the boxing game. Which may make it so that I don't have to get up at 530 anymore (doubt it but one can hope, right?).

Oh, and I did get up this morning and get on the treadmill. And I actually stayed on for my desired time!!

I am the man!!!!