RIP Yogi

The boy's hamster, Yogi, died over night. He had 'wet tail', probably caused by stress from the move and the cold weather we had during the move. We kept a clean cage and well watered and fed. He will be upset tonight as I found him after he left for school. With the wet tail we have been giving medication every night and keeping him in the guest room because of the smell.

Oh well we shall bury him in the yard tonight.

This is the end

Day ended better than it started....

1. Still crappy day at work, had bad shows but because of mood my head wasn't in it.

2. Family get together at sister's to wish happy trip to parents as they go to see my brother in Japan.

3. None of my guys voted off Survivor (Clip Show)

4. Found great pizza place (Yum)

5. Parents put house on market at 8am, had showing at 9am, offer at 10am, accepted at 9pm. 3 thousand less than asking price and a $130,000 profit to put down on a $200,000 home. Doing the math kiddies and you have a 15 year $70,000 mortgage on a BRAND NEW HOME they are building for two people who will be fully retired in less than 10 years.

All in all it ended nicely. Oh, and the wife didn't explode at the hole in the wall. It's fixable and I am a dumbass! End Quote.

Time to go back to bed

It is 10:45am, I have been at work since 10:15am. Since I've got out of bed:

1. The boy wakes us up at 6:00am to tell us he is still sick and wants to stay home.

2. The wife leaves early and doesn't say a word to me

3. My right ear is totally closed and I feel dizzy and 'pukey'

4. The dryer the old owners left behind stopped working.

5. Our dryer took a tumble down the stairs as I tried to bring it up to the 2nd story laundry my wife just HAD to have, leaving a huge hole in my brand new wall.

6. Said dryer (now upstairs after much cursing) has wrong electrical cord, now need 2 things at Home Dep*t

7. No food for lunch.

8. Boy's hamster has wet tail (bad) and bit me while checking him out.

9. Boy has to stay with sister and great grandma as noone is home today.

All before 9am. Calgone take me away.........

Happy Birthday and other notes

Saturday marked the boy's 11th birthday. I couldn't be prouder. At the end of the day all kids are just a pain in the ass, from newborn to 18 at least once a day they will do something to cause another grey hair to appear on your head (or fall out). But overall my boy is a great kid. Smart in school, makes good choices everyday, plays sports, reads, and is generally respectful of others. When other parents call they want him to go over their house because he will play with the younger brothers and sisters. He listens to Mom and Dad and understands sacrifice (and is spoiled as well). All in all I have a great kid and wouldn't trade him for anything in the world!!!

Sunday was his birthday party at Laser Tag. Even being new in school and out for over a month with the surgeries he had 10 friends he wanted to invite and 8 were able to make it. They had a great time playing arcade games, eating pizza and playing Laser Tag. We also found that 11 is the no more gifts birthday. From 5 till 10 we went out and always tried to find the perfect gift for his friends' birthdays, and around this time his friends' parents would call us to see what he liked for his birthday. This year was Gift Cards, 8 gifts 8 gift cards. And not just any gift cards but Target and Best Buy gift cards. They grow up so fast.

The Friday Five

If you...

1. ...owned a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve?
Italian Food and Pizza. My In-Laws own a restaurant in New York and that is what the serve. We were to help run it long ago and far away but that is another story.

2. ...owned a small store, what kind of merchandise would you sell?
I would do comic books and collectible. Baseball cards, autographed jerseys, gaming cards and novels. There is one down the road from here that my parents and I tried to buy back in 1998, but the gentleman wanted WAY too much for his store. Another failed attempt at business ownership.

3. ...wrote a book, what genre would it be?
SciFi, Fantasy or Horror. I have a lot of ideas in my head and actually wrote several of them out back in college. Currently I have an idea of retelling Norse mythology in a way accessible to the general public. Try to write it as a novelization than groups of poems and tales.

4. ...ran a school, what would you teach?
Television Broadcasting. One of the reasons we left New York and came here is so that the wife can finish college and get her Masters then I can work on my teaching degree. When all is said and done I would like to be teaching Television at a nice small college.

5. ...recorded an album, what kind of music would be on it?
Nothing but classic rock, PERIOD!

Weird

The boy had a 2 hour delay at school yesterday for 'slight fog', very weird. Weirder still was the phone call at 7:15am. The boy stayed over Grandma's after watching Survivor Wednesday night. The bus will pick him up and drop him off at Grandma house but he has TV Broadcast in the morning so Grandpa was to drive him to school, he needs to be there by 7:45am.

Phone: Ring

Us in bed dead asleep answering via speaker phone: Hello

The Boy: You have to pick me up

Us: What is the matter?

The Boy: It's a 2 hour delay for school and you have to pick me up.

Wife: Then just take the bus when it gets there.

The Boy: I can't stay here, you have to pick me up.

Me: (Ignored) Why can't you stay there, where's Grandma?

Wife: That's stupid just ride the bus, if there is a 2 hour delay the bus will pick you up in 2 hours.

Mumbling the in back round.

The boy: My teacher says I can't stay here during a 2 hour delay!

Us: You're at school?

The boy: Yes

Us: Why didn't you say that?

The boy: I don't know.

Us: Tell you teacher we'll be right there.

Random Thoughts

Still no progress on cleaning the garage or my office. I feel I will live out of boxes forever.

Cleaned rest of house and bought new Dining Room set on Sunday. Means I must now paint another room before the delivery truck gets here.

Watched "Wonderfalls" on Friday and LOVED IT. I hope to God Fox will keep it around for the rest of the season. It was funny, witty and made my wife and I laugh out loud. Similar to both Joan of Arcadia and Tru Calling but has a nice twist.

Sopranos last night was another of those 10 minutes of story advancement with 50 minutes of crap. Just like last season. Note to writers/producers, who made a great product the first few seasons, do not bend to pressure and remove the violence/language/situation and reality of the program.

The boys birthday is this weekend, 11 years old....now I feel old.

Illness

I am catching a cold from the wife, and I feel crappy. We had a discussion at work this week about sick day usage. See a husband and wife work there, they have a child, and it seems that one or the other leaves early/is late every week. I work with and see both of them every day. Now this week I saw the husband on Monday for an hour and he left early, then Tuesday he called in, and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday he left before I got there at 10:00am. Now the wife took half a day Monday, half a day Thursday and called in on Friday. My feeling is if you are sick you are sick and don't come around me no more. That is why we have sick days at work. So you can stay home and heal and not get others sick. What bothers me is when parents use children as an excuse. See the problem here is the husband usually gets a call from the wife when I get in. The husband sounds panicked on the phone and tells the wife to meet him at the doctors with the baby, I say get the hell out of here and we'll take care of work (seeing as my son was hospitalized for most of January and February I understand). Then the wife comes in for her late shift and I ask how everything is and she tells me she had a rough day because the baby wouldn't go down for her nap and has been up all day and that she will be cranky for her husband all night. What the hell happened to the hysterics, the emergency, the rushing to the doctors because the baby was throwing up so bad they feared dehydration (the hubby's words on the phone).......sounds fishy to me. Then this week out of a total of 80 work hours for the both of them they work 47 total, the rest is covered by us in OT and double shifts.

That shit pisses me off!!!!!!! And now that I bitched about it at work and to you I am sure to go downhill from here and end up bedridden for days and missing more work than I ever have. For the record, in the past 3 years I used 4 sick days That does not include my hospital stay for my gall bladder removal but does include the day I called from the ER to tell them I was going into surgery. So I have a right to bitch!

The Friday Five

1. What was the last song you heard?
Limelight by Rush.

2. What were the last two movies you saw?
Clockstoppers on TV with the family and Open Range on DVD with the wife.

3. What were the last three things you purchased?
Lightbulbs for the new house, a book off of Amazon.uk, and software for my Fantasy Baseball League.

4. What four things do you need to do this weekend?
Unpack boxes, Unpack boxes, Unpack boxes and unpack boxes. Really! I must unpack and organize my office, unpack and organize the garage, unpack and organize our library and unpack and organize my sons room.

5. Who are the last five people you talked to?
The wife: Goodbyes to work.
The boy: We are going to a school function.
My brother: They are having a baby.
A Neighbor: Our boys want to play after the school function.
A Co-worker: Someone called in sick and I volunteered to work the double if she had trouble finding a babysitter.

The Shield

The Shield started up again last night on fx. Gritty, compelling and all those other words promomakers use to get you to watch their show and make you feel intelligent. Fantastic casting and great storylines make this a MUST see!!!! I don't need language, violence or adult themes to enjoy a show but good strong writing is where it is at. That said, my favorite programs are/were:

The Shield
The Sopranos
NYPD Blue
The Simpsons
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
24
Family Guy

Quite a mix but all had one thing in common. GOOD WRITERS. Please Mr. Network Executive put more of these writers to work and let go the people on Forever Eden, Full House, Average Joe and Fear Factor.

I will admit to being a Survivor and The Amazing Race fan but damn they are compelling. Here's hoping Kingdom Hospital and Wonderfalls work out.

I want my MTV

Oh, by the way, Viacom and Dish Network (my satellite provider) are in a fight over rates and fees. I am out several channels the most important being Nickleodeon for the boy. This is why I, like many others, are against these huge conglomerates owning multiple media outlets. I hope Chairman Powell of the FCC is watching this. Viacom, Clear Channel and all those other 'Giants' are souless, evil empires bent on world domination and total control of every media outlet. Soon we will only be able to watch what one or two companies will allow us to watch and nothing else. Look at your local radio stations and see how many are owned by Clear Channel and how many have 'gone dark' because they couldn't compete with an organization that owns 75% of the local radio stations.
DIE VIACOM DIE

Happy Anniversary!!!!

I don't know if I mentioned this but Rush is going on a 30th Anniversary tour. They will be in Indy on June 5th, the 6th date of the tour. I will be there with wife and boy in hand. Should be a GREAT time!!!!

Even the USA Today mentioned it in Living yesterday.

"For the words of the profits were written on the studio wall, CONCERT HALL"

March Madness

The best thing about March Madness is that it means Major League Baseball Opening Day is around the corner! I am not one for basketball, professional or college. And I am not one for college sports. I went to a little state college in Oswego, New York. Our claim to fame are strong winds, harsh winters (FEET of snow) and Al Roker, Linda Cohen (ESPN), Jerry Seinfeld (Freshman Year) and that hot chick from the 2nd Star Trek Movie. We have a great hockey team and that is about it. We were located ON Lake Ontario about 60 minutes north of Syracuse. And that is the rub.

You see, I believe in rooting for your home team, as the Beach Boys said, "Be True to Your School". See, right there, YOUR SCHOOL. Not "Be True to the Cool School", or "Be True to Your Regional School" or "Be True to Georgetown". It is "Be True to Your School". It bugs me when I see people wearing College Hats from schools they never went to and go hog wild when those schools are in "March Madness". Everyone was on the SU, Go Orangeman kick in college and I was like, shit we have a college team righ there in YOUR SCHOOL. Yet people wanted part of the 'national stage' and I saw lots of orange on my campus. And it bugged the hell out of me. Now if you, your children, your parents went to said schools, then it's OK, or if you live in that small town were the college is located than that is fine too. But if you are from Albany, NY and went to Marist College, don't be wearing that UNLV shirt and painting your face. And if you didn't even bother with furthering your education try a night course before chanting "RUDY, RUDY".
What about professional sports you ask. I feel the same way, go for the home team. I am a native New Yorker, born and raised. Saw my first baseball game at Yankee Stadium at age 7. I am a Yankee fan, for the NL I would choose the NY Mets. I have lived in Cleveland, OH, Watertown and Rochester, NY and now Indianapolis, IN. I am a Cleveland Brown fan (NFL), an Ottawa Senator fan (NHL) and will cheer in the Colts when not playing the Browns. So yes the Subway Series in 2000 was awesome, I was in Watertown (20 minutes from Canada) when the Senators had their first game and loved this year in the NFL when the Colts did well.
Love the sport, embrace your team, just don't bandwagon or pick it out of a hat (no pun intended).

/rant

I Made Him an Offer He couldn't refuse....

Season premier of the Soprano's. It's like finding that old sweatshirt that still fits. I hate the long wait between seasons, but again it was worth it! No spoilers or such here. Just happy that they are back on the air and hopefully back in the swing of things. Last season had a few dry spots and it is time to finish this story. Brent over at Cop Talk tried it for the first time. Me things he needs to go back to the beginning.....

Thursday Night

Thursday is always a good TV night. Survivor is a family must see in our house. Last night had the parental viewing label but it wasn't too bad. I was surprised the one survivor is gone, I had that one in my work pool. What I found more disturbing was the comments from the other tribe when she left. Sorry Kathy you just dropped a few pegs in my book. How the hell does Boston Rob become ringleader????

Busy weekend on tap, must work overtime tomorrow (4am-9am). Then we have 2 rooms to paint, one closet to organize, one garage to clean oh and did I mention the 334 boxes we still have to unpack. Not to mention I have to get my desk in order. Clean the car, go to church and still find time to play on computer, maybe see a movie, visit the folks and be ready for the Soprano's Season Premier this Sunday.....

Random Thoughts

My satellite guy is coming today. He was scheduled for Saturday between 8am and 10am and never showed. A whole day blown and my getting angrier and angrier as the day progressed. Well he is at the house now and hooking us up. We hope to have 120 Channels of crap on the boob tube tonight.

Ho-Hum

Boring day today. The boy got a clean bill of health from the doctor. One more week and our pitchers and catchers report in the backyard for Pre-Spring Training.

On another baseball note, Barry Bonds is one of a few MLB players who take steriods (Giambi another), time to roll back the Home Run Record to it's rightful owner Mr. Mark McQuire. Oh and Mr. Bonds, about your tiraid against Babe Ruth last year. You have no hope of catching him now. And Ruth didn't need no steriods to build muscle and power, he did it the old fashion way: booze, tobacco and women!!!!!

Out

Blast It!!!

While changing a quick thing over at My Page of Stuff website, I clicked when I should have dragged and 1 second later all my links, forums, work was gone!!!!!!

Been fixing on my lunch break but I am sure I forgot tons of stuff.......

Me HATE computers

It's The End of the Ring, and The Return of the King

I remember hearing that song in the early 80's when I saw the animated version of 'The Return of the King'. Now I have seen Tolkien's masterpiece brought to life on the screen. Eleven for Eleven....AWESOME!!!!! Jackson is a genius and they should be BEGGING him to make The Hobbit!!!!

Now I must watch my The Two Towers Special Super Expanded with Gollum Statue Edition DVD......