Via Western Union

The boy had a relapse. STOP.
Living in hospital since Tuesday.STOP.
Is getting better and should be home by next week.STOP
Will update then.END

Snow....

My college has a alumni e-mailing list that us TV people use for general keeping in touch, sport's trash talk and milkshake polls. This week someone sent out a 'funny snow story'. Those of you that don't know Oswego, New York, it gets about 150 inches of snow per winter and located on Lake Ontario it is windy as hell......my response and a few others....

I remember one spring break, in 1991 I believe, we had a HUGE strom dumping several feet on the area. Since the campus was closed and being poor I stayed with my now wife in her Liberty Street apartment. We tried to venture out the next day but the city was closed, campus was closed and noone was on the roads. Plows hit our road sometime in the next day or two and we went to campus to get my car. Problem was it was gone. The entire lot was empty but for the large snow pile the plows pushed all the snow into. I had thought the campus had it towed away and we messed around on the snow pile until it started to avalanche. Thats when we saw one of my side mirrors poking out of the pile. Funny plow guys buried my car in several feet of snow. It was days before I could get to it out............

Bryans

Then from old friend Tim:

Not specifically winter-related, but still funny to me. Back before Hart Hall was remodeled in the mid-nineties, but after they tore down the covered entryway, that building would create some of the most amazing wind tunnels alive. Heavy winds whipping across campus, hitting Hart and shooting out at ground level, parlyzing some of your more lighter students. I just remember one day standing in the fifth-floor lounge looking down on about four or five female students frozen in place, unable to move an inch closer towards the building, but scared to death to try and turn around for fear of being blown backwards into traffic. They would stand there screaming for help, and there they would remain until another, larger student would take it upon themselves to help the little bubblegummer into the building.

Funny, funny stuff.


Ah the old days......

Our House In The Middle of the Street

The 'relo' company verbally accepted our offer yesterday. We must send them all 'original' documents with signatures before the sign off on it. That means we will have a signed offer on Tuesday and the house is ours. Now the fun part, closing, mortgage, moving, buyers remorse............

Going to New York this weekend to finish packing the house and find a few things our agent there can't. Will be strange but man I cannot wait to sleep in my bed. Then less than 3 weeks till we live in our new home. Some comparisons:
Old Home:
1780sqft
.6 acres
Deck
Fireplace
1.5 Car Garage
Built 1946
978/month
$4000 taxes
Inground Pool

New Home:
3300sqft
.24 acres
Deck
GAS Fireplace
3 Car Garage
Built 2000
1100/month
$1800 taxes
Community Pool

So bigger (much bigger) home with less land and no pool. The yard is fenced and the 3rd car garage will be my 'basement'. The neighborhood is awesome and minutes away from shopping (Super Target), expressway and sister. There is a nice community center 1 block away. For those not in the know (like I was) these little centers are for the housing development only and has a pool, tennis courts, basketball court, swing set/playground and sitting areas for neighbors to sit and talk and kids to play, very nice.

Pictures and such are forthcoming. Right now I am wedged between excitement and HOLY SH*T I JUST SPENT HOW MUCH ON A HOUSE!!!!!!

Oh and did anyone mention All-Star Survivor!!!!!!

Rupert!!!!!

Colts Lose, Colts Lose

Did New England win by default, cause I didn't see the Colts show up!

Waiting.......

Put an offer on the house on Friday. it is being held by a relocation company so we have to wait for them to respond NOT the seller. Went to see it with my parents today, they love it!!! It is VERY big, 3300 square feet. More to come!!!!

Top 100 Movies of all Time`

Everyone is doing it so why not I!!!! BOLD is I saw it and Italics is I own it.

Notice the many Kirosawa pics on here. Just about any after 1980 I saw in the theater. Where is "Mother May I Play With Danger"??????

1. Godfather, The (1972)
2. Shawshank Redemption, The (1994)
3. Godfather: Part II, The (1974)
4. Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The (2003)
5. Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The (2002)
6. Casablanca (1942)
7. Schindler's List (1993)
8. Shichinin no samurai (1954) (The Seven Samurai)
9. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The (2001)
10. Citizen Kane (1941)
11. Star Wars (1977)
12. One Flew Over the Cuckoo?s Nest (1975)
13. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
14. Rear Window (1954)
15. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
16. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
17. Memento (2000)
18. Usual Suspects, The (1995)
19. Pulp Fiction (1994)
20. North by Northwest (1959)
21. Fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain, Le (2001) ("The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain")
22. Psycho (1960)
23. 12 Angry Men (1957)
24. Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
25. Silence of the Lambs, The (1991)
26. Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966) (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly)
27. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
28. Goodfellas (1990)
29. American Beauty (1999)
30. Vertigo (1958)
31. Sunset Blvd. (1950)
32. Pianist, The (2002)
33. Matrix, The (1999)
34. Apocalypse Now (1979)
35. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
36. Some Like It Hot (1959)
37. Taxi Driver (1976)
38. Paths of Glory (1957)
39. Third Man, The (1949)
40. C'era una volta il West (1968) (Once Upon a Time in the West)
41. Fight Club (1999)
42. Boot, Das (1981)
43. Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001) (Spirited Away)
44. Double Indemnity (1944)
45. L.A. Confidential (1997)
46. Chinatown (1974)
47. Singin' in the Rain (1952)
48. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
49. Maltese Falcon, The (1941)
50. M (1931)
51. All About Eve (1950)
52. Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)
53. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
54. Se7en (1995)
55. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
56. Cidade de Deus (2002) (City of God)
57. Raging Bull (1980)
58. Wizard of Oz, The (1939)
59. Rashemon (1950)
60. Sting, The (1973)
61. American History X (1998)
62. Alien (1979)
63. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
64. Leon (The Professional) (1994)
65. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
66. Vita bella, La (1997) (Life Is Beautiful)
67. Touch of Evil (1958)
68. Manchurian Candidate, The (1962)
69. Wo hu cang long (2000) (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon)
70. Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The (1948)
71. Great Escape, The (1963)
72. Clockwork Orange, A (1971)
73. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
74. Annie Hall (1977)
75. Amadeus (1984)
76. Jaws (1975)
77. Ran (1985)
78. On the Waterfront (1954)
79. Modern Times (1936)
80. High Noon (1952)
81. Braveheart (1995)
82. Apartment, The (1960)
83. Sixth Sense, The (1999)
84. Fargo (1996)
85. Aliens (1986)
86. Shining, The (1980)
87. Blade Runner (1982)
88. Strangers on a Train (1951)
89. Duck Soup (1933)
90. Metropolis (1927)
91. Finding Nemo (2003)
92. Donnie Darko (2001)
93. Toy Story 2 (1999)
94. Princess Bride, The (1987)
95. General, The (1927)
96. City Lights (1931)
97. Lola rennt (1998) (Run Lola Run)
98. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
99. Notorious (1946)
100. Sjunde inseglet, Det (1957) (The Seventh Seal)

Back In the Saddle

Back at work today and on lunch. Nothings changed since my 3 day weekend started. They were nice enough not to call me in while the boy was in recovery, considering everything that is going on here, that is VERY understanding of them.

We found a house!!! We should be placing a bid tomorrow, cross whatever and wish us luck!!

The last few days have been so hectic, I think I need a weeks worth of sleep. To top it off, it is our wedding anniversary on the 16th, she is getting a house and home-made card. I hope I get the same.

I guess after this past weekend it is kinda of boring right now. Nothing like a son in surgery to make all your life complaints disappear. I did get an e-mail from an old college friend and hope to fill him in on the last 10 years of my life;-)

Till next time

Hello, You Need to Get to the Hospital

What a CRAZY few days.

Flashback to Saturday and our 4th(??) round of househunting. It went very well with us finding a few more for the maybe pile. The boy was doggin it and pretty much sat and played GameBoy most of the time. He was tired of househunting and wanted to play with some friends. To that end we let him have one of them sleep over that night. I leave for work at 3pm and FASTFORWARD arrive home around 1:30am to find the boy in MY BED, awake and getting sick. We figured they pigged out on Pizza Rolls, Chips, Soda, Ice Crean and whatever else two 10 year olds could get thier hands on. Back to the bedroom and sleepover. I wake up around 9am to find friend already left and boy on couch still sick. He pukes a few more times but is "Feeling better" and we have some soup and crackers and watch the Colts Game (COLTS WIN COLTS WIN!!!!). I leave for work at 2pm, Rough Day with Colts Specials, long newscasts and general "Chickens with heads cut off" 9 hours....FASTFORWARD...Midnight as I am running out the door the phone rings and it is for me.

Wife: Hey come to the hospital on the way home.

Me: Why?! Whats going on.

Wife: Boy's going in for surgery **CRACKEL***STATIC****minutes, get here quick***DEAD LINE*****

Me: HELLO!!!!!

FASTFORWARD 30 minute drive in 10 minutes flat and I enter the hospital 10 minutes too late. They brought him in for surgery already and expect him out by 2am. Seems the puking and "my side hurts" was actually an inflammed appendix, close to bursting. So there we sit, the wife, the grandparents and I watching X-Files and Girls Gone Wild Infomercials til 2amish. The boy is out and going upstairs for observation. The wife and I get to stay in the room (wife gets cot, I get chair to sit in and watch clock ALL NIGHT). Boy wakes and does OK, the better, finally well. We leave hospital around 2pm and head home.

Now it's sister's birthday so we have a nice dinner and cake and everyone is calling about the boy, and I have dozens of calls to return and work says be with family see you Thursday and house are on market and the baby is crying and boy needs to use bathroom and FASTFORWARD 9:30pm I finally hit the bed, nearly 38 hours later and sleep like the dead.

Long story short, boy is doing great, family relieved, daddy tired.

The End

Found an awesome site today Encyclopedia Mythica. Anyone interested in any type of Mythology should stop be here. AWESOME!!!!!

Book Review

The following is a review of my latest read from My Page of Stuff. I keep a record of what I am reading and watching and have just started posting reviews there as well........

The Coming of Conan The Cimmerian by Robert E. Howard

This is a work of art. Inside you find the origins of the greatest sword and sorcery hero of all time, CONAN. Do not confuse this man with the Governor of California, this Conan is big, strong, smart, terrible, fearless, barbaric, young, a thief, a king, a pirate and everything in between. These stories jump out at you, Howard in his pure, un-edited, un-tampered with form. Conan, in order of how they were written. Conan, the original stories from Weird Tales or Amazing Stories or wherever they were published in the 1930's. Whispering Star went thru personal letters, publisher letters, submission letters, records, diaries, hell and high water to bring us Howard's original vision. And it shows. A very enjoyable read. The stories are one and all, classics!!!! None disappoint!! Included here are notes from Howard himself, his history of The Hybornian Age, several unfinished stories and several drafts and outlines. A must read for Conan fans and I feel fantasy fans in general. Pick it up, enjoy and wait for Volume 2 and 3!!!!!!

Word Up

Did anyone catch the "100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders' on VH1 last week. Now I have songs I haven't heard in 10 years stuck in my head!!!!!!

In other news, we are still house hunting. We have seen almost 25 homes and have a top 3 and are going out tomorrow to see half a dozen more. I think we have a good idea what we want and have found 2 that almost fit the bill. Update as needed.

Saw The Full Monty with the wife last night as part of Indianapolis Broadway, or something like that. We had a good time and the production was great. They moved the setting to Buffalo, New York instead of England. Which was funny cause we lived an hour from Buffalo in upstate/western New York and laughed at a few of the regional jokes these Mid-westerners missed. All in all a good show. Music was great, songs funny and the actors were dead on. As for the 'full monty' is was very well done (wont spoil if you are going). Funny watching the curtain call as the boys struggled to keep 'the boys' under the robes. I look forward to more culture for the wife and I. Next up is The Lion King with the boy.

Hall of Fame

I love this time of year, as football comes to an end and Spring Training is right around the corner. It is also time for the Hall of Fame announcements and this year are two excellent players. You know you are getting old when players you have cards of back in the day are now in the Hall of Fame. One of my first Fantasy Teams had Paul Molitor at DH and now he is a Hall of Famer.
For years we lived near-by and I never took my boy, well I am hoping in the next year or 2 to fix that. And soon players I remember as rookies will be entering the Hall and I plan on being there for one or two if them. It's sad that right before we left New York I was putting a deposit on a camper for the weekend so my and the boy could hit Cooperstown. Then the whirlwind hit and, well you know the rest of the story.

Anyway congrats to Paul and Eck and for a complete list of all members of the Hall of Fame, Click Here

Pete Rose

The following is a copy of a comment I left on another site, enjoy:
Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame. I do not support what he has done the past years, I do not feel he should ever be put in a place in baseball to affect the game. BUT, as a player and player/manager he deserves to be placed in the Hall of Fame. The proof in the comment above shows Pete as one of the greats and definitely one of the greatest of our time. Let the PLAYER be celebrated and honored as he should be.

However, I feel he should never be allowed on the field during a game, ever. I would love to see him in the front office or the press box and that club would benefit from it. He can offer a lot to baseball, he certainly loves the game and we can all benefit from it.

The one thing I agree with Pete is this, if he was just a drug addict, or hit his wife with a telephone, liked hookers, chased kids with his car, arrested for Drunk and disorderly, use cocaine WHILE Playing, shot up with steroids, carried a concealed handgun, swapped wives with another player, scuffed balls, or just a plain a**, he would have been back in baseball in a blink. And that is the sad part!

Monday Blahs or The Mood Remains the Same

Monday was a No Day for me. Did as little as possible. Feeling better today. Going to hit the road, travel to the mall maybe, pick up some comics, cruise a neighborhood we are looking at and relax.
Played "Call of Duty" yesterday for what seems forever. Nice way to blow off steam, knocking of Nazis or Mother Russia. Today I will take a nice long shower, get dressed and start enjoying life again. Last day off before work, maybe that's what has been eating me these past few days. Worked mondo overtime the whole 2 weeks of Christmas and New Years. Sucks being low man again (then again most others were there), but people calling in sick on holidays is b***s***!!!! I like my new job and hope to be there for awhile, so I deal.

Quickie today, maybe I'll update later. Oh and check out CopTalk to the left, he does a great job!!!!! And yes Danielle it is football ;-)

Colts Win

Colts Win!!!!

What a game, this means 7 more days of HELL at work, but it is worth it. Manning was awesome today and the boy got ot go with his Grandpa to see it. Next season we get season tickets!!!!!

GO COLTS!!!!!!

Sports Teams

For the record, my favorite:

Baseball Team: NY Yankees (Angels 2nd)
Football Team: Cleveland Browns (Colts: Hometown Fav)
Hockey Team: Ottawa Senators
Basketball Team: HATE IT

Sport: Baseball (Football 2nd)

That said, I am watching my new hometown team, the Colts look to advance in the playoffs and loving every minute of it. However it is 6 weeks till Pitchers and Catchers report for Spring Training!!!!!!!!

New Year, New Outlook

OK here it is January 4th and I am blogging. While that is good, I am not. I am in a bad mood today and I should be happy. We went house hunting yesterday and found a few we love, bu tI am afraid we might be looking above our spending limit and setting ourselves for a letdown when we see what we really can afford. Now the wife wants to build, which would be fine but more time as a refugee and more months with our stuff in storage. Of the two we found one has a spectacular 1st floor layout, awesome garage and yard (for me) but a 2nd floor layout my wife and I do not like. The 2nd house is great all around, not as stunning as the 1st, which is surrounded by $200 homes. This one is a steal but has NO YARD, but is bigger by at least 400 sq.ft. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH........I'll keep you updated.

Work is a little crazy. With the Colts doing well, the big wigs are going nuts. Which is fine and dandy except that that have all week long and wait till the last minute. Which makes our (my) job more difficult. It's all good I guess. I do my job well and get paid, I should just go with the flow as my mother says.

Let's see, there are also the car troubles. The wife's is in the shop now and will be out after I pay $700 for repairs. Then I need to get my Jimmy fixed (thermostat) and it needs a new tire, plus the spare just rusted out of the bottom. Love cars!!!

The Friday Five

What one thing are you most looking forward to . . .

1. ...today?
A night with the family!!!


2. ...over the next week?
Finding a home with/for my family!!!!


3. ...this year?
A realization of the dream we had of moving for the betterment of our family!!!!


4. ...over the next five years?
Health and happiness and an establishment of ourselves into our new community as we were in our old one!!


5. ...for the rest of your life?
To grow old with the wife and watch our son grow into the person he is well on his way to being.

Happy New Year

It's 2004 and boy did we have a busy/hectic/sad/mad/joyful 2003. Anything and everything happen last year. Some highlights:

-The boy came into his own as a 9-10 year old. School, sports, friends. He really 'growed up'. I was very proud of his baseball skills and team-player attitude. He made the Travel Team and did very well all around. I was even more proud when he went from baseball (March-August) straight to Football (August-October). He stayed with the program, hussled and worked-out/practiced 5 days a week and still brought home Straight A's. Then he never missed a beat when we moved. Still brings home good grades, started baseball camp last week, made new friends and is involved in the School TV station and Yearbook. What a good kid.

-The wife had an up and down year. She went from District Manager back to Store Manager and out to pasture. Seems the people with whom she worked with and trained with and impressed these past ten years fell out of favor and anyone associated with them as well. Nothing like being treated like shit because a Regional VP thinks you have great potential then he falls into disfavor. Well she grinned and bore it while looking elsewhere and when we moved to Indy she found it. A bank grabbed her up in a day and she is on her way back up the corporate ladder. They have ' high hopes' for her and she can shine wherever she is.

-Me, I am short one gallbladder, a few pounds lighter, free of union duties/woes and doing well in a new job. The year started like crap, more union troubles, pain in my side and mounting (real and imagined) pressures at work and home. By mid-year it was not any easier...out a month to remove my gallbladder (good bye heartburn;-)), company's pulling same old shit and contract talks starting up. By the end of summer it was unbearable....unhappiness at home (work related), contract talks stalled and getting worse, a feeling of anger/sadness at local union E-Board and a general feeling of "I quit" across the board. Then in October things started to change, I got a job in Indy and had a chance at a "Do Over". Get out of New York, go closer to family, start a fresh new job, get the wife a fresh new job, breath clean air and take a step back.

Since then things have gone well. We sold the house in NY on Christmas Eve, we are looking at more house than we ever thought we could afford in our lifetime. My job is excellent, I don't miss/need a union and have slowed the grey hairs down considerably. My new schedule will be Monday thru Friday 10am-7pm, which is fantastic. The wife loves her new job and is very happy to be out looking for our new home!! When we move out of my parents home I can fell the stress and tension easing to almost no worries.

All in all it's been a rollercoaster year but there is nowhere to look but up in 2004!!! Hope you'all come back to see how it develops!!!

Cheers!