Days In The Life of Evan

It's 4:20 somewhere

2011-07-07T07:58:00.000-07:00

I know, it's been an extremely long time since I've posted anything. Now, even though I have many more things going on that I could post about, I decided to tackle the National Debt, and the ensuing U.S. default that will occur in August.

I constantly hear (even before this crisis) how one side wants to cut programs and give tax cuts. While the other side does not want to do away with social programs. Obviously, if you are reading this, you know where I stand in the political spectrum, and since it's my blog, I don't have to be politically correct. So, the Republicans want to cut everything and continue to give tax cuts to their rich buddies and corporations (look at their track record, they don't give a shit about the "little guy"). The Democrats seem for the most part to want to help everyone succeed. For instance when Clinton was in office, everyone fared better, rich and poor alike. Bush came into office, gave tax cuts to the wealthy, went on two off the books wars, which took away the surpluses from the Clinton years and put the country into debt. Then after he racked up all this debt, he left office, and now it's obviously Obama's fault that we're in the situation we are. I don't think that's the case, but that is the way the debate has been framed. Obviously, one way to get out of part of the debt is to go back to the tax rates of the Clinton years, but Republicans want to have nothing to do with that. Because it would be silly to bring in additional revenue.

Digression: I find it amusing that Republicans want to run the country like a business, but fail at the most basic point that in order to run a successful business, your revenues have to outweigh your expenses. Additionally, one can only cut a certain amount of expenses before it starts to become a burden. E.O.D.

So, without the option of additional income tax revenue, because the ultra rich and corporations need to keep their tax breaks, while the rest of the country struggles, the Republicans only option is to cut every social program in the U.S., including Medicare, Public Education, and public safety (firefighters, police, etc.)

Therefore, my proposal is simple, and I wish politicians wouldn't be so fucking scared to do this. We should legalize marijuana. I will say, I do not smoke it, so it won't affect me in any way. I have smoked before, but that was years ago, I never liked the feeling of being stoned, so I just don't do it.

According to some estimates, the marijuana industry is anywhere between a $10 billion to $120 billion a year industry. If the government legalized it, first and foremost, it would mean additional tax revenues coming in (great for Democrats) and it would mean that the lower and middle income earners would probably be burdened with most of the taxes (great for the Republicans). This would also cut down on the need for some police officers, or at least help by not having to prosecute for petty drug possession offenses (there, we just cut some public safety expense). Additionally, the tax rate could be high, like that of cigarettes or alcohol. Moreover, if marijuana was legalized, the government could also make it illegal to grow your own (much like making your own alcohol now).

I just don't see how this isn't a win all around, and why all politicians are so afraid to just look at the obvious and just get it done. We're not talking about cocaine, or heroin, or any of the "harder" drugs. This is something that could be easily regulated, has not shown to cause as many problems as alcohol (accidents, fights, etc.), and could also be a boon for other industries, like the snack industry.

I just need to figure out which one politician would be for something like this and get a petition going. Maybe Dennis Kucinich. Who's with me?

End of Velocity diet

2010-12-25T08:35:00.000-08:00

Although I started this diet the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, I did have some solid food the day before Thanksgiving, then had Thanksgiving dinner, so I decided that I technically started it the day after Thanksgiving, which would put 28 days at Christmas Eve. After 28 days, and a ton of will power, I ended up losing close to 20 pounds. I didn't post my progress the final two weeks because at my second "weigh in" (I was only weighing once a week) I had only lost 2 pounds between the first and second week, after losing 6 in the first week. I spoke to my trainer who said "don't weigh yourself until the end." So, that's what I did. I wasn't exactly sure what I would get at the end, but, I trusted him. Anyway, after starting at 214.8, I ended this part of the diet at 197.6.

During this process, I got so used to the shakes and everything, that I had a tough time going back to "regular" food yesterday. I had a shake in the morning, then scrambled egg whites at tomatoes after playing hockey with my son. I then had another shake, a scoop of peanut butter, dinner (much smaller portion of prime rib, broccoli, salad, and a very little bit of homemade macaroni and cheese), then another shake before bed. We went to the movies, and although my wife and kids had popcorn, I had no interest in it, I also had no interest in the dinner rolls, or cookies we made for Santa.

I really feel like this first 20 pounds is a starting point, and as long as I continue to eat healthy, and keep my portions small, I should be able to get more of what I want off in the coming months. Who knows, I may try this again in a few months to jump start if I don't seem to be taking off as much as I would like. Then again, now that I have lost almost 20 in a month, cutting down to the possibility of a pound a week will seem like it's going really slow, so I have to keep that in perspective as well. I can say that it feels great to be under 200 again, which was my main goal, now I just need to make sure to stay there and get lower while still keeping up my workouts and not losing muscle.

Now, since people have been asking, I'll let you know exactly what I did. First, although this web site had their program, all of their products together would have cost me $500+, which I didn't have to spend at the time. I instead read about the products, and bought what I needed at Vitamin World, and The Vitamin Shoppe. For my protein shakes, I used Isopure Zero Carb in various flavors throughout the month. When I went to New York, I brought packets of Lean Body but after texting my trainer, realized it had too many carbs and fat for what I was doing, so I had to go to GNC to get something for the remaining day and a half that I was there.

Now, for my program, I had one fish oil tablet with every meal, for my first shake, I typically just had it with water before my morning workout. My next shake, I put fiber, flax seed, ice, water, and protein mix in the blender and had more of a "smoothie." My third shake was just a regular shake with water, I also had my multi-vitamin with this meal. My fourth and fifth shakes were typically with just water, or ice and water in the blender. My final shake of the day was with flax seed, water, ice, and a scoop of peanut butter, you have to make sure to have the correct peanut butter, meaning there are only one or two ingredients, this one had peanuts and salt. I tried to have fiber with each shake, either stirred in, or pills that I got at the grocery store. I also had one cup of coffee every morning, and tried to drink a gallon of water every day.

My solid meals were not "cheat" meals. The meals were: week 1, anniversary dinner with my wife, salad, steak, broccoli; week 2, shrimp key west (at T.G.I. Fridays [blech, but it's what the kids wanted]) and broccoli; week 3, Tuscan Pesto chicken at Tony Roma's (2 breasts with artichoke, tomatoes, and onions [but I only ate one]) and broccoli. I'll admit, it was tough when we went out to places like Mellow Mushroom, or having dinners and stuff at Disney World, where I only ordered a water, and had my shake prior to dinner, but I knew what my goal was, and already had the mindset to accomplish it.

In the end, yes, I would have liked the 35 pounds that other people have stated they got, but I'm happy where I am. I may have gotten a couple of more pounds if I added a fat burner into my supplements, but wasn't sure of the right one, wasn't sure about the amount of money for the bottle, and didn't want to feel "jittery."

I'll try to keep you updated in any progress over the next couple of months, although I'm really bad about doing blog entries. We'll just see where it goes from here.

Food, Glorious Food. . .

2010-12-06T13:12:00.000-08:00

While I'm doing this diet, I have found it pretty interesting how focused our society is around food. I suppose one doesn't really understand that until food is given up for 28 days. Of course, as I explained this diet in my previous post, and people tell me how crazy it is, how the weight will be gained back, and how it can't be done, I just think all of those negative comments show a lack of will power on people's parts. I mean, regarding nutrition, I am still getting 1200-1500 calories per day, more than enough to satisfy daily needs. I'm also receiving the essential fatty acids in the Omega 3 tablets, probably more fiber daily than I have ever had before (meaning 100% of daily recommendation), and multivitamins. Additionally, I'm still exercising as much as I ever have (5 days a week of weights, plus hockey) and not losing any strength or muscle mass, and so far, every time I get on the scale, the number is smaller. I may not hit the 35 pounds off as some others have, but I do expect to drop probably 25-30 by the end of this.

Back to my point about society being focused on food. Everywhere you look, there is an advertisement for food, or someone is having a conversation about their next meal, or discussing something focused around food. I'll admit, I may be a bit more sensitive due to my current diet, but still, you have to admit, there is quite a bit of focus put on food.

Another thing I find interesting is the fact of people saying how there is no way they would do something like this. Especially when I say after about 8 days I'm down 7 lbs, they still say they would have given up. I have shown time and time again that I have the will power in many aspects of my life. When I decide to do something, I go through with it. For instance, waking up every morning at 5:20 to go and exercise, or giving up 3 years of weekends (plus multiple evenings) to get my M.B.A., or deciding to learn to play hockey in my late 30's, whatever it is, I know I can do it, and this is just one of those things. Sure, traveling to New York while on this was difficult, but I made it through just fine. Sure, having one solid meal since Thanksgiving has been difficult, but I'm making it through just fine. Like I said, every time I get on the scale during this, the weight is going down. I expect a more significant drop this week since I am doing my normal exercise regimen, and drinking the correct shakes, as opposed to the "Lean Body" shakes I had for a day and a half in NYC.

I said in my previous post that I started the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. However, I was thinking about it more, and considering I did have more than a typical "solid" meal on Thanksgiving (although not much more), I'm looking at my real start date as the day after Thanksgiving. I had my next (or first) solid meal on Saturday, since Brenda and I went out to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I had a salad, steak, and broccoli. When I weighed myself this morning, I was at 208.0, which means since November 26th, with traveling, I am down almost 7 pounds. At that rate, I am right on track to be down 25-30 pounds, and finish this on Christmas eve. I'll keep you updated as to the progress.

Diary of a fat man

2010-12-02T13:36:00.000-08:00

I’m currently in flight and since the wireless decided to go down, it’s as good a time as any (considering it’s probably been months) to go ahead and enter a new blog post.
After months of trying to explain to my insurance whore of a doctor that I work out 5 times a week, and play hockey, he continues to insist that I lose weight. Of course I always try to watch what I eat, but, I guess even with watching it, sometimes everything doesn’t fall into place the way it should. So, I finally decided to just go ahead and listen to him. My trainer suggested using the “velocity” diet.
Now, let me first explain, this diet is not sustainable, not a long term plan, and definitely not for everyone. The typical weight loss on the diet is 20-30 pounds. It is essentially a fat loss diet, and helps re-teach your body to eat the right things once you’re off of it. The good thing about this diet is that you are only on it for 28 days. Of course you are probably saying that it is stupid, and there is no way (1) that someone can lose that amount of weight in that short amount of time and (2) you are just going to put it back on when you’re done. Well, like I said, you are basically losing fat weight, without affecting the muscle weight, and at least for now (10 days into it) I can tell you that you probably won’t put the weight back on, because the idea of doing this again is ridiculous.
The diet, in a nutshell, is 6 protein (100% whey) shakes per day, fish oil caplets with each shake, fiber (tablets or blended in) once per day, a multi-vitamin once a day, flax seed (tablet or mixed into shake) once or twice a day, a zinc tablet before bed, and a scoop of peanut butter (natural) with the last shake of the day. You get one healthy solid meal per week. You should continue to work out as you normally do, since you are not losing muscle mass, just fat. That’s it. I can tell you, it takes a shit load of will power to do this diet, especially during the holidays.
On top of all this, I also traveled to New York for a business conference, and with all of the great restaurants in the heart of Manhattan, I still only drank my protein shakes. I’m going to see where this goes. Unfortunately, the only “before” picture I have is with clothes on at Brenda’s cousins’ wedding. I can tell you my starting weight was a staggering 214.8. I started on Tuesday, November 23rd, and had a solid meal for Thanksgiving. My next solid meal will be on Saturday, December 4th when Brenda and I go out for our anniversary. Of course there are times when I think about this and how crazy it is, then I realize that it’s only 28 days, and since I’m already 9+ days in, I might as well keep going. There are times that I’m hungry, but I just hold out until it’s time for the next shake. I’ll do my best to keep you updated, or at least put how I ended up when I’m done. At least I’ll be done with this by Christmas, and I won’t have to do it as some stupid New Year’s resolution. Wish me luck.

Roaring Through the Rockies, Day 10

2010-07-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

This post is going to be brief. We got up this morning in Colorado Springs, grabbed breakfast at the hotel, and got on the road. We made it back to the Harley dealership at around 10:15 and got the bike returned. After 637 miles, the bike was back home, and we were on our way.

Sure, if we really tried, we may have been able to catch a Southwest flight home, but we decided to enjoy the day around Denver. We checked into the hotel, relaxed for a bit and made sure everything was ready for the flight tomorrow.

We then went to the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver. The pedestrian mall is a nice concept, but it seems to be getting overrun by the homeless and/or street performers. We grabbed lunch and then went to see "The Sorcerers Apprentice." We all enjoyed the movie. It's definitely not going to win any awards, but it's a nice 2 hour diversion. Brenda and I both liked the nod to the original with the dancing brooms, etc.

After the movie, we finished our walk, then got in the car and drove by The Pepsi Center. We got back to the hotel, grabbed some dinner, now it's time to wind down and get ready for the flight tomorrow. Hopefully we'll get home and get our bags in time to make it to Delray before 6:00 to get the dogs.

Roaring Through the Rockies, Day 9

2010-07-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

We started off with a late start this morning. It was nice to be able to sleep in a bit. We got out of the room around 9:30 and headed to breakfast. One of the guys at the hotel suggested The Western Omelette. After looking at the reviews on Trip Advisor, I wasn't sure about this, because the other place that they recommended was just above this, and that place was not that great. We got there and ordered. Brenda got a "Harley" which was 2 eggs, 3 strips of bacon (extremely big, thick, bacon), and a plate size pancake. When they said plate size, they weren't joking. That thing was huge. I got an omelet with sausage and mushrooms. I also got their chili on the side. Now, remember this is not beef chili like one would think, this is sort of like a green chili gravy. I got the mild, which was actually hot, but very good. The waitress gave me a bit of the hot on the side, I was too wimpy to try it. She said it was made with habaneros, which was too hot for me. Regardless, I asked if we could ship some of this back home, which unfortunately we could not.

After breakfast we went to the Garden of the Gods. We drove around for about an hour or so, stopping to take some pictures and everything. We then went to the gift shop, then headed to Santa's Workshop.

The kids loved Santa's Workshop. The park included rides that one would typically find in a fair, basically a lot of rides that go around in circles sometimes very fast. We spent about 3 hours there until we did everything they had to offer.

After the workshop, we went to the Phantom Canyon Brewing Company for an early dinner. The beer was good, I had a bison burger, and Brenda had the regular burger. Both were very good, and the price was very reasonable compared to some other meals we have had on this trip.

Tomorrow, we are heading back to Denver in the morning to return the bike, then maybe go into downtown Denver, walk around the pedestrian mall, show my son where the Avalanche play, and possibly go see a movie. The vacation is definitely winding down.

Roaring Through the Rockies, Day 8

2010-07-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

Today we made it to the top of Pike's Peak. My original plan was to ride to the top while Brenda and the kids took the cog railway. A couple of days ago, I was thinking about it more, and decided that I had not spent as much time with the family as I wanted to on the family vacation due to being on the bike. I decided to forgo the bike ride up the mountain and take the cog railroad with everyone. When we got to the top, I saw a couple of guys who obviously rode up, and I asked them how it went. Now, these guys definitely seemed like more seasoned riders than I am. They said that it was OK, except for the 5 or so miles of gravel due to the construction going on. Now, knowing how I felt at the top of Rocky Mountain National Park, with that construction, I was glad I made the decision to ride the train. Additionally, the guy I was talking to said it would be even more fun going down. We then both joked about staying in first and riding the clutch the whole way down.

I can also tell you that trying to walk around at 14,115 feet I definitely felt some altitude sickness coming on. I felt the shortness of breath and lightheaded, it was a sort of weird sensation, and as fascinated as I am with Everest, and the people that are able climb it, I can definitely understand why they would spend so much time at base camp just to get acclimated. The fact that base camp for Everest is 3,000 to 4,000 feet above the summit of Pike's Peak is just crazy. Oh well, that's what I get for living at sea level. Maybe I can continue to try to get Brenda to move out here so I can get ready to spend the night at Everest base camp.

Moving on, after we made it back down to the train station, we went over to Santa's Workshop. We decided that due to the time we would go back there tomorrow, since it would probably be a couple of hours to get through the park. We then came back to the hotel for the kids to go swimming for a little bit before we went to our dinner.

Our dinner tonight was at the Flying W Ranch. If you have ever been to the Hoop De Doo Revue at Disney, this is sort of like that, only not as campy. They offer a "chuck wagon" dinner, which is beans, applesauce, baked potato, your choice of beef or chicken (steak is a $7 upgrade), biscuit, and spice cake. The food was really good and filling (although my son actually went back for seconds). After dinner, they had their show, which was just four guys playing country music. The show was very good, and the whole family enjoyed it.

Tomorrow, the plan is to go to Garden of the Gods, then back to Santa's Workshop. After that we'll see what time it is and how everyone feels, and decide if we want to do something else like Cave of the Winds or the Olympic Training center. However, knowing the kids, we'll probably just come back to the hotel so they can go swimming.

Roaring Through the Rockies, Day 5, 6, 7

2010-07-14T21:12:00.000-07:00

Continuing in Glenwood Springs, the hotel was just acceptable. The room was big enough, and at least there was a door separating us from the kids. However, the A/C was extremely loud, and the view from the bedroom window was of I-70.

After waking up, we went to the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. Overall, we had a good time. They have a "self-propelled" roller coaster called the Alpine Slide, we all had fun on that. They also have a human maze that if you complete it within a certain time limit, you get a crappy prize (think of something you might get out of a gumball machine), there is also laser tag, the cave tour, and the giant canyon swing. I was actually amazed that my son was willing to go on the swing with Brenda. The swing is one of those mechanical ones where you are sitting in a roller coaster type seat and it swings you out over the side of the mountain. I was not willing to do it. the only downside to the whole day was when we were on the cave tour and the tour guide basically kicked a couple off the tour because their two year-old daughter was talking. He said they could get a refund, but I don't think anyone was really bothered by it, and he could have handled the situation differently.

After the adventure park, we took the relatively short drive into Aspen. Once we got to the hotel, we were told we could park in the garage. We'll just say that trying to park a Tahoe in their garage is like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. I spoke with the guy at the desk, and he then told me that usually the bigger cars are parked on the street as long as you can find a spot. After we showered, we went to meet my Houston family for dinner. We got in the car (that took us a good 10-15 minutes to park in the garage), got out of the garage, and entered the address into the GPS. Well, it turned out the place was about two blocks away. I dropped Brenda and the kids off and went back to park the car in the designated section in the street. After dinner (a really good buffalo rib eye), we walked back, and the kids played in the park for a while.

We got up the next morning for our horseback riding adventure. Of course we had breakfast first. We went to a place that was recommended by the guy at the front desk. The place was called Poppycock's. They had good oatmeal pancakes, and that was about the extent of why this place was good. The omelet that I had was OK, but it just wasn't worth the $10.25 price, oh I forgot, + $2.00 because I got egg whites. When we asked if my daughter could have a refill for her chocolate milk, the waitress said "NO" almost in a tone that I thought she was joking, she wasn't. She said she would have to charge us for the refill. Well, with tip and everything, the breakfast came to $65. That is when I realized that Aspen was way too expensive for my tastes.

Our horseback ride was fun. However, the horse I was on had two speeds, slow and stop. Regardless, we all had a great time. After the ride, the kids went swimming for a little while, and then I took them to go see "Despicable Me." Brenda met us after the movie, and we had dinner.

This morning we got up and moving relatively early because we were heading into Colorado Springs. My whole goal of this trip was to make it past Independence Pass alive, and with no damage to the bike. Some of the corners looked familiar, but I was not able to pick out where I had dumped the bike before. The road going up out of Aspen was a little harrowing at times with it narrowing around corners, and multiple corners and S-turns. However, after making it to the top at 12,000 ft+, going down was easy. Oh, the bike and I made it in one piece. We stopped for an early lunch in Salida, then went to the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park. We took the tram across, walked back across the bridge, where the kids had a good time seeing all the state flags, and we went on the vertical train. We left the Royal Gorge around 3:00, and decided it was just best to follow the GPS to get to the hotel, instead of taking the scenic route through Cripple Creek and the mountains. We made it to the hotel, relaxed for about an hour, I showered, and we went to dinner.

Tomorrow is Pike's Peak, possibly Garden of the Gods, and Santa's workshop. Once again, I'm still working on posting pictures, I just keep doing these entries on my computer, and all the pictures are on Brenda's.

Roaring Through the Rockies, Day 3 & 4

2010-07-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

After waking up and getting moving yesterday, we went and had an excellent breakfast at The Mountain Home Cafe in Estes Park. The Huevos Rancheros were out of this world, and the pancakes were phenomenal. After breakfast we went to our ghost tour at The Stanley hotel. The tour was very informative about the history of the Stanley, and gave some ghost stories. We just didn't expect it to take as long as it did. After the tour, we had lunch, and got on the road. Even though it would have been nicer to get an earlier start, we actually got going probably closer to 2:00 - 2:30.

We headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park, and the ride up was really good. However, once we got closer to the top of the mountain, they were doing road construction. Thankfully, the construction crew wasn't out yesterday. However, the road was very gravelly(sp?). The road condition made it very difficult to find the "sweet spot" in the road. I made it through, and probably got a couple of people behind me upset for going so slow, but, oh well. We made it to the top, and made a pit stop at the tourist center. On the way down, the road was at least paved, but once again, I was taking it slow and easy. Then the deluge began. Rain on a mountain doesn't start as a drizzle, and get progressively worse, it starts hard and gets harder. Additionally, my brand new rain gear was in the car with Brenda and the kids, who had gotten ahead of me due to people either coming out of the tourist center, riding their brakes and stopping down the mountain, or stopping to take pictures of moose. With the rain, it also got dark, combine that with a tinted shield on my helmet and wearing sunglasses, and well, it wasn't a pleasant ride. by the time I passed where Brenda had pulled over, and I found another spot to pull over, I was already soaked, and just wanted to keep moving to get out of the rain. She said at one point the thermometer in the car read 45 degrees, picture that temperature being cold, wet, and moving at about 40 MPH. Yeah, as cool as the ride was, that part wasn't fun.

We got out of the park, and did the remainder of our driving for the day and got to Winter Park at about 5:15. The kids did a "Child's Night Out" where they had dinner, played games, and made S'mores while Brenda and I had dinner and walked around the village. The condition was that we spent $60 ($30/child) in the village, and the child care was free. Well, considering the village is almost a ghost town in the summer, luckily, the dinner was $50 alone, so we just had to spend an additional $10, so Brenda got a couple of magnets, and we had coffee.

We really (Brenda especially) like the hotel. She said in a couple of years she would love to go back there with the kids for skiing in the winter. If you want to check out a nice hotel, look at the Zephyr Mountain Lodge.

While we were walking around the village, we asked someone working in the gift shop where a good place to get breakfast would be. He suggested Carvers. Carvers is not easy to find if you don't know it's there. The restaurant had about 10 tables inside, and maybe that many outside, I didn't really see. The breakfast once again was amazing. I had an egg white omelet with blackened chicken, avocado, cheese, and some Mexican type sauce.

After breakfast we got on the road to head towards Glenwood Springs. We were following the map I plotted out, but somewhere missed a turn and got to I-70 about 15 miles east of where I wanted to get it. Unfortunately, we didn't follow the Colorado River as much as I wanted to, because we missed the sign for the Colorado River Road. Regardless, the drive was very scenic, and even the drive on I-70 was scenic, it was very interesting going through some of the tunnels with my sunglasses on, but I just kept at a constant speed and followed the person in front of me.

Once I got to Glenwood Springs, I was sort of on my own. Earlier, before we actually got on I-70, we stopped for lunch. As we were eating, I noticed some very ominous looking rain clouds and really wanted to get going to avoid them. Brenda said to get going and she would catch up to me. As cautious as I have been going, and with her in the car, I figured she would catch up to me before the 41 miles it was to get here. Well, even though she was going over the speed limit, and I was going under, she didn't catch up, so I didn't know the exact way to get to the hotel. Additionally, the signage after getting off I-70 sucks to say the very least. I should have taken a left, and took a right. I finally stopped and asked, and realized where I should have taken the left. Once I got to the road the hotel was on, the signage on the hotel wasn't very good because the words blended into the building, so, I still drove past it. Well, I finally made it, and now I'm posting this blog, and the kids are using the indoor pool.

I'll try to put up some pictures later, they are all on Brenda's computer.

Roarin' Through the Rockies Day 1 & 2

2010-07-09T19:40:00.000-07:00

I'm combining the first two days, because the technical first day was just the flight into Denver. During the flight, I was speaking to the guy next to me. I told him about the route I was going to take, and he made a suggestion to go through Boulder on the way up to Estes. I'm glad we did. To start off with, the flight was uneventful. We made it into Denver with no problem. After getting our luggage, we went to get the rental car. I had originally reserved a midsize car. When I went to the lot to get it, I asked which had the most trunk space, since we all had our own suitcase, and a couple of carry-ons. The person told me to get the Dodge Caliber, since it was a hatchback. Well, I pulled it around to put the stuff in there, and it couldn't even fit the two big suitcases. I then went inside to get a bigger car, well, we ended up with a Chevy Tahoe.

The hotel was just outside of the airport. We had dinner at Ted's Montana Grill. Brenda's steak was really good, and I entered the clean plate club with the Bison meatloaf. Needless to say, we may go back there when we get back to Denver next Saturday.

After we got up and had breakfast, we went to go pick up the bike. I knew I had to get new rain gear, which I did (and will probably pretty much guarantee it's not going to rain). I also got a new jacket. The jacket can be used in cold or warm weather as it has a removable liner. I got the bike, and headed out to Boulder. We stopped and went to the Pearl Street Mall, and had a really good sandwich at snarfs. After lunch we walked around the mall a bit, then took off towards Estes Park. We both enjoyed our first taste of mountain roads, and I'm really looking forward to tomorrow and beyond. In a way, it's sort of like being on a roller coaster that you control.

After getting into Estes and checking into the hotel, we went for a ride on the Estes Park Aerial Tramway, where we were able to feed chipmunks peanuts by hand. After the tramway, we had a B-B-Q dinner at Smokin' Dave's. The St. Louis ribs were really good, the Bison baby back ribs were a little tough and not very meaty. Although there is a rodeo in town, we decided to just come back to the room and relax.

I've had a headache today, and I'm not sure if it's from a lack of caffeine, or if it's the altitude. A couple of Tylenol seems to have helped.

Tomorrow it's a ghost tour at the Stanley Hotel, the ride into Winter Park, then "Kid's Night Out" where Brenda and I can have dinner together while the kids do activities and make S'mores.

Here are some pictures:

Vacation all I ever wanted

2010-07-07T06:31:00.000-07:00

I guess the name of my blog should really be "Very Select Days in the Life of Evan." I tend to get caught up in every day life, such as working and getting my kids to whatever activity they need to be at, and forget for long stretches to actually post something on this blog. Well, once again, the best laid plans may or may not come true. We are going on vacation, as I think I may have put in an earlier post, the vacation is going to Colorado with me on a motorcycle, and the family following in a rental car. I am hoping that I can post a daily recount of what we did each day. We'll see how tired we are at the end of the day, and how much the kids will actually let me get on the computer at night. To begin with, here is the map of our trip.

As you can see, I am trying my best to avoid any major highways, and get some nice twisty, scenic mountain roads. I had some pointers on places to go from Brian Ibbott who has a podcast called Coverville, you should really check it out, he does a great job. I also got some last minute pointers from Ken Bingenheimer, who I found his blog about Motorcycle riding in Colorado. Ken said I had a good route picked, but let me know that the last leg between Royal Gorge and Colorado Springs looked boring, and I should try an alternate. Looking at the map, I think he definitely made the right call, and I'm glad that the last bit won't be boring.

We are planning on a ghost tour of the Stanley Hotel, which is where Stephen King got the inspiration for The Shining. We are also planning a horseback ride when we are in Aspen, and a cuckwagon dinner in Colorado Springs. Aside from that, the only other plan I had to make due to the possibility of it selling out was to get Brenda and the kids on the Pikes Peak Cog Railway so I could meet them at the top when I ride the bike up there.

Brenda did make it clear that she didn't want me making a lot of plans, and didn't want to be forced to be at a certain place at a certain time. Considering how I usually plan things, this is tame for me, and Brenda was agreeable.

Anyway, I'll do my best to blog from the road, and hopefully upload some pictures along the way.

What a difference a week makes

2010-02-09T11:48:00.000-08:00

After my previous post, and asking a few other people, namely my Father who had been to a Super Bowl before, I decided to go. I figured I would be happier at the end of the year (10 years, 20 years, etc.) that I went to the game rather than save the money. Now I can cross one thing off my "bucket" list.

All in all, it was a great day, and really an experience I won't forget. I left my house at 8:30 am to drive to Eric's house which is about an hour away. I got there at about 9:30 and we went to breakfast, then picked up some stuff at Publix. At around 11:15 we decided to leave his house and head over to the stadium since the parking lots opened at 11:00. Being that we both went to the Pro Bowl the week before, we knew there was really nothing of interest in the "Fan Experience." As we got closer to the stadium, there was absolutely no traffic to speak of. We got to the parking lot, and just hung out for quite a while. The rules from the NFL were originally no tailgating, then they changed to limited tailgating with no tents and no grills. We watched as the parking lot filled up more, and many people started arriving around 1:00. I think there were two ticket-holder lanyard vendors for every person in the parking lot. We did purchase those and the program in the parking lot. The lanyards were just as good as the ones inside, plus they included a pin. The programs, I came to find out, and a different cover than the ones inside. The picture was the same, the ones inside had some metallic printing. Oh well, everything else I have proves I was at the game.

As we headed inside at around 3:00, we went through the four layers of security, this time with an added metal detector (which did not pick up the batteries Eric had in his pocket). They were giving away free Pepsi Max inside the fan experience. We hung out for a bit, watched the back of Daughtry, and then went to the store, where I got an overpriced embroidered t-shirt. We then walked around the 100 and 400 levels of the stadium, while taking pictures, including pictures of the CBS broadcast, and enjoying the crowd. We got to our seats and there was a Bridgestone bag with a towel inside attached to every seat. More and more of the crowd made their way to the seats and of course, every seat was filled. We noticed how the stadium was almost divided between Saints and Colts fans, each on their respective sides, however once everyone was seated, the Saints fans really seemed to way outnumber the Colts fans. We were sitting in a Saints section.

Once Queen Latifah came out to sing "America the Beautiful," everyone stood up, I don't think anyone sat down again until about half-time, after that everyone stood up again. The stadium was louder than I had ever heard it before. After one of the touchdowns, the stands were shaking. I told Eric the only time I had felt that before was when the Dolphins won their one game of the 1-15 season. The crowd was definitely into the game, and that made for a much better experience than the Pro Bowl where pretty much nobody cared (even the players).

The half-time show was very cool, and it was neat watching how they construct and de-construct the stage. We were also wondering how much they must have spent on that stage for it to probably never be used again.

The Saints were very unimpressive during the first half, but they came to play in the second half, which made the crowd even louder. The whole day was truly an experience. Although we didn't hang around to see the trophy get awarded, everything else about the day is something I'll remember for a long time to come. I'm going to try to post pictures (and a video of the fly-over) tonight. The only other thing I can say is that I don't think I need to hear "Who Dat" anymore in my lifetime.

You can read about Eric's take on the day here and here

Bucket List

2010-02-02T06:19:00.000-08:00

I got a call yesterday from a really good friend. This friend gave me what I feel is a unique opportunity. I have been going back and forth for the last 18-24 hours debating on whether or not I should take said opportunity. I'll go into more detail in a few minutes. However, with this, I have also started thinking about what might be on my "bucket list," what I have done on that list, and what I still have yet to do. I will start by saying that this friend has also given me opportunities in the past that I would not have been on the "bucket list" only because I would think there is absolutely no way I would ever be able to do those things. Two of those items were going on the team plane with the Florida Panthers to watch them play a game in Atlanta, and going to Las Vegas to see the first ever showing of "We Will Rock You" with Brian May and Roger Taylor sitting one section away from us. First, let me get to what my first thoughts of my "bucket list" items are, even some that are completed, and not in any particular order.

1. See a Space Shuttle launch from Kennedy Space Center (done, 2 times)
2. See a Super Bowl live
3. See a Stanley Cup game live
3a. See the Panthers win a Stanley Cup (this may never happen, but I can't control it)
4. Go to the Winter Classic NHL game
5. See Mount Everest (possibly even go to "base camp")
6. Go to New Zealand
7. Stay in a castle
8. Have an overseas vacation
8a. Go to England
8b. Go to Ireland (Brenda's bucket list item)
9. Graduate college (done, M.B.A. in 2007)
10. Get Married (done, and can happily say I would only do it again with the same person)
11. Own property/house in Colorado
12. Motorcycle riding in the Rockies (done, but really want to go again)
13. Go to Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio
14. See "We Will Rock You" in London (done)
15. Drive a Lamborghini

Those are the items that I can think of right now. The reason this is coming up is because my friend I was speaking of earlier has two tickets to the Super Bowl, which is being played in Miami this coming Sunday. He called me yesterday and told me he would sell me one for face value which is $800. I immediately called Brenda, and she said to go for it (She really is a great wife and I couldn't ask for anyone better). I started thinking that it should be a "no-brainer" because this is something I really would like to experience once, and if the Dolphins or Texans were in the game it definitely would be a "no-brainer." However, I can't say that I care who wins, and am only rooting for the Saints because it's their first time there. Then I started thinking about what else I could do with that money, such as take a weekend in Vegas with Brenda, or get Disney season passes for the four of us, or keep it aside to try to take my son to the Winter Classic this year. Now I'm wondering for the 4 or 5 of you that may actually read this, what would you do?

N FaiLure

2010-02-01T07:44:00.000-08:00

When the NFL announced that the Pro Bowl would be played outside of Hawaii for the first time in years, and would be played in Miami, I thought that it would be a very cool experience. Boy was I mistaken. OK, I can't say it was all bad, actually for the most part we really had a good day and a good time yesterday.

We started out the day in our normal busy manner. First my son had a hockey game at 10:00 and my daughter had a birthday party to go to at 12:15. As I was taking my son to the game, Brenda was making her famous macaroni and cheese, and marinating the burgers and pineapples for our Hawaiian burgers at the tailgate. After the game, I picked up the two girls and dropped them at the birthday party. I got back home and noticed that the tire on the van was almost flat. I rushed my son through his bath that he was taking as I was loading up the van. We then went to Publix to get some onions, swiss cheese, and fix-a-flat. Two out of three I guess ain't bad when you're in a rush, but this Publix didn't carry fix-a-flat, or any automotive stuff for that matter. We then went to CVS, thankfully they had the fix-a-flat. We got back home and used the can, then hopped in the van to go to the gas station to finish filling the tire up with air. The first station we went to had their air out of order. We then had to go to Mobil who charges $0.75 for air (quarters only). I had two quarters and had to go inside to get a third. Of course (since I was already late), the lady could not open the cash register without someone buying something, so I had to wait. The first guy bought a carton of smokes with a debit card so she couldn't open the register. The next lady was getting random items, then the cashier asked me why I needed the quarter, I said for air, she used her remote then told me to go on outside because it was on.

I then picked up the girls, and my sister, brother-in-law and nephew and we were on our way, and only about 20 minutes or so later than we originally planned. We were meeting Eric and Karen at the parking lot, and Eric was calling me freaking out because of the amount of traffic he was already enduring at 1:30, so we all thought the parking lot would be full by the time we got there. It turns out that was the original "surge" and the parking lot didn't actually fill up until close to 4:30 or so.

We "tailgated" for a while. I made the above mentioned Hawaiian burgers, and everyone really enjoyed them. I think it may be something I will try again. We decided to walk in to the stadium around 4:30 so we could spend some time enjoying the atmosphere around the game. As we walked up to the gate, we first went through 4 different layers of "security." The first layer was someone verifying we had tickets for the game. We then went through the "Disney World" maze to get to the next layer of security who verified we didn't have any outside drinks, and directed us to the next layer of security, which was the "pat down," from there we arrived at the fourth layer of security which was the bag check. At the bag check they then informed us that the backpack my son was carrying (the same one we bring to all of the Dolphin games) was not allowed in the stadium. I then had to go backwards through the security, back to the car to put the backpack away, then back through the same four layers of security, bitching at each one of them to let them know they should tell people not to bring backpacks into the stadium. We took some pictures, but didn't really participate in the "activities" because the lines were too long. I'm glad we spent our time tailgating instead of going inside immediately upon arrival. As fun as the atmosphere was, there really wasn't the need to spend hours inside there.

We decided to go into the stadium around 6:30. Once we got in and as we were walking to our seats, we passed the designated driver stands that were handing out free soda coupons for anyone over 21 and putting your name and whatnot on their form. We got the coupon then made our way closer to the seats and saw another one of the designated driver tables, so we filled it out again and got another coupon. Considering sodas were $6.00 each, we just saved $24.00. When we got inside some teeny bopper Jonas Brother wanna be band was playing. They were pretty pathetic, turns out, they were also the ones singing the National Anthem. At least there was a F-18 flyover after the anthem. That was cool as always.

I know the NFL All-Star game is meaningless, and usually a snore fest, and this one lived up to those expectations. Starting off, when the players were announced, instead of running out of the tunnel in the normal fashion, each player strolled casually through the line to their respective benches. The most excitement was when the Dolphins players were announced, then again when the Jets and Patriots players were booed, oh, and the mascots, that was about it for the night. The remainder of the night just seemed to be people on the football field trying not to get hurt or exert any energy whatsoever. The halftime show was a marching band out of Daytona, and I think they brought the most physicality to the field. We left at the end of the third quarter.

I know the pro-bowl will be back in Hawaii next year and I say let them have it. As interesting as it was to be part of the "history" the game itself is quite boring, and the fact that the Super Bowl teams did not participate made it even more so.

On an unrelated matter, the scumbags who stole Brenda's purse last year are back and are trying to change the addresses not only at the old bank, but also at the new back. Somehow they called the new bank, got an ATM card and withdrew money out of our account on Friday. We put even more protections into place, but these assholes are like cockroaches and they will not die. One of the addresses they changed our accounts to is 12124 NE 5th AVE, Miami FL 33161. I would think nobody actually lives there, but if they are going there to pick up the mail, someone should be waiting for them.

Mini Olympic Sized State of the Union

2010-01-27T17:24:00.000-08:00

I was going to comment on the "new" Mini-Stanley the Panthers introduced a couple of weeks ago. To give a bit of background, Mini-Stanley was originally introduced to help the younger kids feel more comfortable around the mascots. The character was (and still is) played by a little person. The original actress has moved on, and a new person is in the costume. At a game a couple of weeks ago, the Panthers had a video set-up of Mini-Stanley being sucked into the engine of a Zamboni, then needing reconstructive surgery to repair the face. They unveiled the new mask, and it looked like it had zombie eyes and very bad botox. I'm not sure if it was because of the mascot or the comments from friends that we sit next to, but my son had nightmares that night because of the new mask. I e-mailed the Panthers, and got a typical response of how it was not their intention to freak out the kids, and they hoped that my son would come to love the new Mini-Stanley just as much.

Moving on, but staying on a hockey subject. I have been trying to get my son to go skating more for public skating sessions, and he doesn't like doing that. He says it's boring just going around in circles. So, when we get a chance, we do "stick and puck" together. This is basically ice time where fathers and sons can get out on the ice and play hockey, practice different things, or whatever, without figure skaters, or random other people getting in the way. This past weekend, we went to a new rink in West Palm Beach called Palm Beach Ice Works. This rink only has hockey and figure skating with no public sessions. The rink is also Olympic sized which means it is bigger than a typical hockey rink. When we arrived at the rink, the person in charge didn't know they had stick and puck scheduled. As we were paying, one other person showed up with his son, and one of his son's friends came as well. So, after the Zamboni cleaned the ice, we were the only five people out there. After about an hour, nobody else showed up, and the guy and two kids left. Therefore, Shane and I had a full Olympic sized hockey rink all to ourselves. I think that is the most fun I had skating, it is just so cool having a rink to yourself.

I just finished watching the State of the Union speech. My first impression is that I'm glad he basically challenged both parties to get things done, especially the Republicans. I'll have to let it sink in a bit more to give more of an opinion, and wait for Fact Check to say what's true and false. I'm also glad he made a point to call out the Supreme Court for the decision last week to overturn centuries old laws and essentially stating the corporations have the same rights as people. That's all for now.

Phantom (again)

2010-01-10T13:21:00.000-08:00

Last Monday, our CFO received a call from our bank offering two tickets to see Phantom of the Opera on Saturday (1/9/10). She knew Brenda was a huge fan, so she asked me if I wanted the tickets. I called Brenda, and even though we had just taken the kids to see it, she said she would of course see it again. Stupid me for even asking.

We had dinner at the Himmarshee Bar & Grille prior to seeing the show. The dinner was very good, and a good pre-theatre dinner replacement for the River House which is closed. I started with the soup of the day which was "5-alarm" chili. The chili could probably be considered 2 alarms, it had spice, but wasn't uncomfortably spicy. It was also nice considering it was very cold outside. Brenda started with the crab cake, which also came with a nice salad. Four our main dishes I had the buffalo short ribs which came with a gouda mac 'n cheese with spinach and ham mixed in, the entire dish was very good. Brenda had a skirt steak which she also enjoyed. Brenda likes having dessert when we go out to a nice dinner, so the waitress talked us into a piece of carrot cake made by "We Take the Cake." The cake was good, but nothing really spectacular, and I was so stuffed after the dinner it was hard to really enjoy it.

After the relaxing dinner we trudged in the ~40 degree rainy weather (I swear the wind chill was in the low 30's) to the theatre. We arrived there between 7:30 and 7:45, so just enough time to get a drink, use the restroom and get to our seats. I thought this performance was better than the one we saw last week. I don't know if it was the excellent (free) seats we had, the lack of kids, or the evening vs. matinee performance, but it was nicer.

The kids spent the night with my Mother, and she brought them home this morning. Aside from playing Wii, and watching football, I have done absolutely nothing today. Sometimes that is a nice thing to do.

Silly Slovakians, Explosives are meant for Terrorists

2010-01-07T11:38:00.000-08:00

I heard a story on Morning Edition this morning (Jan. 7, 2010) about the Slovakian police and their training practices. You can read and listen to the story here. I don't know why, this comedy of errors just amused me this morning.

I have really enjoyed the last couple of days of cool weather, it's nice to get a break from the 80+ degree weather once in a while. I also find it amusing that when the temperature dips into the 40's and 30's here, it is the top news story for days and they take up at least 10 minutes of the 30 minute news cast on just that. I have lived here in Florida for a while, but still in my travels, I have experienced weather much colder than this, hell, standing in the new hockey rink for my son's game is colder than this. Additionally, there are many people from up North that live here, I'm sure they have experienced weather colder than this. Unless it starts snowing (which apparently it did one time back in the 70's), just report what the temperature is and move on. There is absolutely no reason to show some reporter bundled up to explain that it's cold outside. Just enjoy it while it lasts because 80+ degree temperatures will be back before you know it.

As a follow up to my last post. I think I have come to the conclusion that New Zealand may be too far of a trek to try and go for a week. I think that's a trip that will stay on my "bucket list," but won't be happening this year. I also think I would need to go for more than a week. I'm back to two choices, and focusing more in on one rather than the other. My mother told me Paris, and other parts of France are nice. By the same token, one of my friends was sort of turned off by the touristy parts of Paris. I'm tending to believe someone around my own age this time. The trip I'm really sort of focusing on right now is England. I think we could go to London for a couple of days, see a show or two (or three). I want to see Billy Elliot, I'm sure Brenda would love to see "Love Never Dies," and I'm always up for going to see "We Will Rock You." Additionally, I was looking at side trips out of London to go to Stratford upon Avon, maybe spend a night in a castle, and go back to Rules to have another great meal. I think this is something more reasonable that I can still get a sense of history, and Brenda and I can enjoy ourselves. This way, we save Ireland for a couple of years down the road and take the kids. We just have to discuss it more and work out some things. We'll see.

Hockey starts again tonight. I may look into joining a novice league after this session.

Where to go, what to do?

2010-01-03T07:58:00.000-08:00

I think this is a record, two posts in one day. I just had more to say that I thought would go better in a new post rather than continue with the previous post.

While I was at my mother's house for New Years Day, after Brenda had left and the football game was on, my mother, sister and I were talking. Sometime in the conversation, my sister started talking about overseas trips, and in the conversation I just piped in with a joking comment about how I wanted to go. My mother then stated that my sister set a precedent for her 40th birthday by having my parents pay for a trip for her to go to Italy, and I would be afforded the same opportunity to go where I wanted.

I was speaking with Brenda last night over dinner. I'll admit, I would love to take my kids with me, but I think at this age, wherever we would go outside of the U.S. may be too much for them. Additionally, I don't think they would be able to sit through the type of meals that people are used to in other countries. I haven't traveled that much, but I do know that for occasions like going out to dinner, one is expected to sit back, relax and enjoy their meal. Essentially, once a person reserves a table, it is theirs for the night. At this age, the kids are lucky to make it through a meal that lasts longer than 30 minutes. Knowing that, and just trying to have them appreciate any culture, I think it may be a couple of more years before we even think about taking them overseas.

Sorry, bit of digression there. As I was saying, I was speaking with Brenda, and I think there are two places I would really love to go. The first place is taking a true vacation to the British Isles. I would think at least a week in London, then heading to Ireland, maybe Scotland, and possibly even go into Paris depending on how the logistics could be worked out. The problem with this trip is that I know Brenda wants to take the kids to Ireland, and we are saving up all of our coins, etc. in a 5-gallon water bottle to try to pay for at least part of this trip. The more I think about it, the more I think this trip may wait until the kids are a bit older and we can actually take them there.

The second trip I would love to take is to go to New Zealand. I know this sounds really geeky, but when we were watching "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, I was just fascinated by the scenery in which the movies were filmed. Yes, I know there was CGI involved in certain spots, and don't expect to see Mt. Doom, but it just seems like it would be a cool trip. I think it could be enhanced by getting a Lord of the Rings tour to see where many of the scenes were filmed.

Aside from those two, I guess it's just a matter of watching the Travel Channel. I mean there is always Berlin, Venice, or trying to stay at the Burj Al Arab in the UAE. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments.

Happy New Year, Good Riddance to 2009

2010-01-03T07:27:00.000-08:00

As I stated in the previous post, we had a busy week ahead of us. We started with the lunch and circus. The lunch was actually nice. I met some cousins I didn't know I had, and actually after talking with them they were interesting people. One of my cousins teaches math in New York. I gave him my e-mail address, and I hope to get him some samples of our new Math Fundamentals guides to look at and possibly test in his classroom. The circus went well. We were a couple of minutes late because the kids were riding on the golf cart with John. The show was different this year, which was good. We also had good seats although slightly blocked by a pole. But, for $14 what can you expect?

Tuesday I got my car washed (as of yesterday [1/2/10], it now has bird crap on it). I then took the kids to lunch and showed my wife how much I loved her by taking the kids to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Squeakuel." Needless to say, I am amazed that it got a 22% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Wednesday, after spending most of the day at home waiting for the plumber, we saw Avatar. Overall, I thought the movie was good. I thought some of the camera angles with the 3-d actually made the viewer feel like they were in the movie. I'll admit I thought the story line was a little thin and predictable but overall worth the price of admission and definitely worth seeing in 3-D.

Thursday I took the kids skating. The rink was incredibly packed. I suppose during holiday breaks from school and being New Year's Eve day, it could have gone either way, but was more than likely to be crowded, and it was. After skating we flew to Montreal. Now, we didn't actually go to the airport or anything. We went to the hockey game. The ticket said it was a home game for the Panthers. Unfortunately, nobody told the 80%+ of the people that were in the sold out arena that the Canadiens were the visiting team. I blame 10+ years of piss poor management of the Panther team for this madness. Quite frankly, it was embarrassing as a Panther fan to be there. After the game we came home and had our Chinese food.

Friday we went to Mom's house for a New Years lunch. Brenda left early because she went to 101 Dalmatians with our daughter. I decided that I was just getting burned out. I discussed it with Brenda and the kids. Brenda decided she wanted to go anyway. Since there was hockey practice 8:30 on Saturday, I was happy to stay home to get our son to his practice.

We finished the practice, came home for a little bit, then went to see Phantom of the Opera. Brenda of course loved it, the kids and I enjoyed ourselves. At the show I saw someone I hadn't seen in a long time. I thought it was nice to catch up with her and meet her husband. After talking for a bit, and knowing what she's been up to thanks to Facebook, Brenda and I both, along with Michelle and Shawn thought it would be nice to get together with the kids. So, hopefully we will try to do that in the near future.

We wrap up today with the hockey game between the Panthers and Penguins. Hopefully there will be more of a home crowd, but I won't hold my breath since it is a "Steel City" Sunday here in South Florida. Brenda decided to skip the football game.

Now I'm looking forward to getting back to work so I can relax a little bit.

Look Ma, Another Post

2009-12-28T06:31:00.000-08:00

We had a great Sunday yesterday. Started off by going to the Dolphin game (OK, the first half pretty much sucked ass [depending on your perspective]). After picking up my sister and nephew, we stopped to get gas.

I must digress, Mobil obviously does not give any type of IQ test before hiring employees. I tried to use my "speedpass" at the pump which is connected to my current Mobil credit card. The speedpass did not work at the pump. I then tried to use my card, which I realized I have an expired card in my wallet. I tried the speedpass again, and again the light would not come on. After going inside and explaining to the woman behind the counter that I wanted to fill-up the tank using my speedpass, we had a discussion which was essentially her saying my card was expired, and I had to explain multiple times that the card I was using was not the one that was tied to the speedpass. She finally understood and let me use my speedpass inside. However, she asked how much I wanted to put in the tank, I said I didn't know, I just wanted to fill it up. She said she couldn't do that. I said again that I didn't have a set amount, I just want to fill up the tank. Finally after realizing she was more of an idiot than I originally thought I said $45. Turns out I only put $40 in then had to go back inside. So much for speedpass at that station. End of digression.

So, while I was getting gas, my phone rang, my sister answered it then gave the phone to Brenda. The person on the other line was Ed. Ed is one of those friends who is loyal, will always be there for you, and is almost like a brother, but if you get on his bad side, forget it. Ed is currently living in N. Carolina, and although we keep in touch, I think it's been at least 2 years since I've actually seen him (maybe more). After exchanging holiday pleasantries, Ed asked me what I was doing for dinner. I was shocked and happy that Ed was in town, and we decided to get in touch after the game to hook up. Ed also let me know that Joe was going to be at the Dolphin game. Joe and Ed are cut from the same cloth, although Joe lives a little bit closer, with our schedule and his schedule it's sometimes hard to get together.

Turns out Joe and Tracey were sitting a couple of sections over from us at the game. I went over there during half-time, then Brenda went over for part of the third and fourth quarters. I just have to say no matter where it is, it's always nice to see good friends during the holiday's, well, any time of year really.

After the game we came home and found Duke tangled in the curtain in the playroom. Luckily, he was caught in his backside, so he was OK. The neighbor said they heard him "crying" most of the day, and people on our block were concerned. We gave the neighbor our cell phone numbers, thanked her, and let her know the dog was fine.

I got back in touch with Ed and we made plans to meet for dinner at Boca Wings and Ribs. Food was mediocre at best, as was the service, but the company was great. We ended up talking until close to 10:00. If we go through with my first thought about heading up to Virginia for a summer road trip, we will try to get to Ed's place on the way back home.

Overall, it was just a really nice day. Now I get to start a busy week with the kids. Today it's lunch at my Mom's house, then we are going to the circus. Tomorrow we have a haircut appointment (I may try to take them to the movies), I also need to get my car washed and take the dogs to the vet. Wednesday, we are planning on seeing Avatar, Thursday it's the Panthers and Habs (and New Year's Eve), Friday we are taking the kids to see 101 Dalmatians at the Arsht Center. Saturday, we have a 8:30 hockey practice, then tickets to see "Phantom of the Opera" at 2:00, Sunday, it's 9:00 am hockey practice and Steel City day for the local sports. Half of us are going to the Dolphins/Steelers, and the other half are going to the Panthers/Penguins game. I don't think I'll get much sleep or be able to enjoy the < 80 degree weather and get out on the bike. We'll see how it goes

It's Been Such a Long Time. . .

2009-12-24T05:28:00.001-08:00

When the titles to my blog posts seem to be almost the same, I suppose I really need to take Eric's advice and try to post more often. Yes, there has been quite a bit going on in the past two months, I just have a difficult time trying to find the extra moments to actually write.

Let me start with this year's version of the TSO show. The first half of the show was the same as in years past, which is what one would expect when going to this show. The good thing about the show this year is that they actually came here after Thanksgiving, which was more appropriate for the holiday season. During the second half of the show they played more songs off their "Night Castle" album, which they finally released after working on it for 6+ years. Additionally, they said they would be going on a Spring tour, which will be the first non-holiday tour for them. I think that will be interesting, and I'm sure we will go, although we may not take the kids that time. We'll see.

Last weekend we tried a new restaurant called Rock 'N Roll Ribs. The restaurant is partly owned by Nicko McBrain, who is the drummer for Iron Maiden. They have not had their grand opening yet, so when we went there, Nicko was there still hanging stuff on the walls and visiting with every table. I was in such awe because I grew up not only listening to Iron Maiden, but playing along with them when I was practicing my drumming. For those that don't care too much for the whole 80's metal thing, the ribs were fall off the bone good. Actually all of the food was really good. I didn't even feel the need for additional sauce on the ribs. We will definitely be back there, even if Nicko isn't there.

Lizzie, much like every other young girl, saw a commercial and told Brenda she wanted a Zhu Zhu Pet. For some reason this is the hot toy of Christmas. Enough so that people are waiting in lines, waking up extremely early and paying major money to get one. I told Brenda I would not go out of my way to get one, but if I had the opportunity, I would get it for Lizzie. Yesterday, I had to go to Wal-Mart to pick up a present we ordered for Shane and had it shipped to the store (Nerf Wii game for those that care), which we saved $20 from the price elsewhere. On the way to the "Site to Store" shelf, I had to go to the restroom. As I was walking to the restroom, amongst all of the whacko last minute shoppers, I passed by about 20 of these Zhu Zhu Pets. I took care of my business, then went back, and decided to buy two of them. Although I did end up going 10 feet out of my way, I got two of the "hot" toys, and spent a grand total of $16 to get them. I feel bad for all the schmos who went crazy for these things, no, actually I don't, they're idiots.

I hope everyone had a happy Festivus yesterday, has a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year. Here's hoping that 2010 is much better.

Grandma Sally and other stuff

2009-10-05T12:27:00.001-07:00

Wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since I made a blog post. I don't think I have that many followers, and haven't gone to the extent of installing a counter or tracking visitors, so, I don't think anybody has missed me. That's not to say that I haven't had things going on in my life, just haven't really had the time to stop and think about a blog post. Regardless, the most recent unfortunate event occurred last Tuesday (9/29) when Grandma Sally Sinnreich passed away at the young age of 96. Grandma of course was greatly loved and will be missed, and I feel very lucky to have had her around as long as she was and am very glad that she was able to see her grand-kids grow up and meet her five great grand-children. I'll paste my eulogy at the end of this post. Right now, I'm just looking forward to 2009 being over.

On a lighter note, my new car is running great, and I'm enjoying every minute driving it. If anyone is in the market for a very nice car, do not overlook the Hyundai Genesis. The car has every amenity one would want in a luxury car and it costs much less.

I took Shane to see Toy Story/Toy Story 2 in 3D this weekend. I'm still trying to figure out what the point was in having these two movies in 3D. The best part of the 3D experience was the preview for "A Christmas Carol." I also thought there was supposed to be more of a sneak preview of Toy Story 3, but the only thing they showed was in the trailers, and it was the same teaser that has been shown previously and can be seen here. Considering we own the movies, this really wasn't worth the price of admission. However, Shane enjoyed it, so I suppose that makes it somewhat worth it.

I'm going back to NYC in December for the AEP CEO Roundtable. I'm considering seeing Billy Elliot, I'm just not sure about going by myself. I have not seen the movie, but I have heard many great things about the show. I figure considering I would only buy one ticket, I can take a little more time deciding.

Before going there though, we have Shane's birthday trip to Disney and the Thanksgiving cruise to celebrate Brenda's birthday.

I'm looking forward to the Panthers home opener on Saturday.

If anybody would like to join Brenda, the kids and I for the Leukemia and Lymphoma "Light the Night" walk, please visit http://pages.lightthenight.org/pb/BocaRatn09/BarCharts and sign up to be part of the team. The event takes place October 24 at 6:00 pm at the Sunset Cove Amphitheater 12551 Glades Rd. in Boca Raton.

Eulogy for Grandma:

I’ll start off by saying that Grandma lived a long happy life and it’s obvious by everyone that came in to town that she will be missed. I was trying to think of what I could say about Grandma. From my perspective she always had a story to tell, and in recent years, it always seemed to be the same story, at least to me. She always spoke about when I was a little boy in the hospital and wanted her to stay with me. I’m glad I was able to make her happy then and I can only hope that through her life I continued to make her happy. She had other stories as well, including being a member of the CRAFT club, and she always said exactly what CRAFT stood for. Unfortunately, with the kids here, I will not be able to repeat it out loud. One story that I have thought of in the last couple of days is actually a story that I never really heard from her perspective. We had just recently moved to Florida and were living in Big Pine Key when I found out that a band I wanted to see, Iron Maiden, were coming to Hollywood. Being in the Keys, and before the Internet was an option, I did not have easy access to purchase tickets. Well, Grandma went to the mall every Tuesday back then, and I asked her if she could get me tickets, which she did. I can only imagine the look on the person’s face when they saw this Grandmother buying tickets for Iron Maiden. The thought of the look alone is priceless.

I have also been thinking of stories that I didn’t hear her perspective. However, it’s just fascinating to think of the incredible amount of history that Grandma lived through. For instance, in the year that she was born, Woodrow Wilson was President and Ford began using the 1^st moving production line to produce the Model T. Throughout her life she has seen women receive the right to vote, the first coast to coast and around the world flights, television being invented, the stock market crash of 1929, the Empire State building being open, the Hindenburg, and the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. All of this occurred before she became a Mother herself in 1943. She had seen D-Day, the sound barrier being broken, the first McDonalds being open in 1955, Sputnick, Hawaii and Alaska being the 49^th and 50^th states, the first American in Space, Kennedy, the Beatles coming to America, Woodstock, Apollo 11, the first woman on the Supreme Court, the Space Shuttle, and the Berlin Wall coming down. All of these things occurred before she invested to help start BarCharts.

Through her working career, she was a nurse. Just knowing her from a Grandson’s perspective, I’m sure she made an excellent nurse. She had that cute sing-song voice that even if she got mad (which I don’t think I ever saw) her voice was just a calming influence. There were times when she would say something I didn’t necessarily agree with on one subject or another, but with that sing-song voice I couldn’t really get mad at her. I’m sure that was very calming for the patients she had to deal with, and they probably appreciated her for it. The work that I did get to see her perform was her counting skills when counting out charts to rubber band into groups of 10. She started counting when BarCharts was still in the house in the “shipping room,” which was actually my old bedroom, and continued counting until she was replaced by a machine a couple of years ago. She was happy to be able to work at BarCharts and see the company that she helped plant the seeds for grow into what it has become. She also loved the fact that she gained an additional 40+ grandchildren, and always told people that she had that many grandchildren.

All things considered, she was very lucky. She had a wonderful marriage, raised two great daughters, saw her four grandkids grow up and loved her five great-grandkids. She also gained over forty grandkids by being herself and doing what she could to help her family. Grandma lived a long and happy life, and she will be missed.

It's Been a While

2009-08-01T17:40:00.000-07:00

OK, well, it's been a while since I posted something to this blog, and quite frankly I have a lot of updates since the last time I posted. I'm trying to prioritize everything, I can't say which is really top so just take this in any order you would like.

I'll start off with an update from one of my last posts which was the whole idea that Chase sucks the big one. After closing out our original account, and opening a new one, three weeks later, we get told that they are closing our account due to fraudulent activity with Brenda's on-line access. Well, that was from the original account and not the new one. We thought that got cleared up, then WAMU made the conversion to Chase. On Saturday, July 23, our cards were working properly, I went to Border's and Brenda took the kids to lunch and everything. Then, on Sunday the 24th, everything was blocked, we couldn't use the cards for groceries, gas, ATM, nothing. On Monday, we were told again that we had to move everything to a new account. This time we listened to them and moved everything to Bank of America. If it wasn't for my mortgage and HELOC, everything would be gone from Chase. They successfully did in less than a month what City Federal/Great Western/WAMU could not do in many years, which was lose a loyal customer. I would highly suggest against anyone going to Chase ever.

Second, after 6+ months of research, last night I got rid of my 2002 Ford Explorer and got a 2009 Hyundai Genesis v6 with the Tech package. The new car has everything one could ask for. The car is titanium gray metallic with black interior. The amenities are endless, including heated and cooled driver seats, bluetooth connectivity, XM Satellite radio and navigation, iPod connectivity, back-up camera, three zone temperature control, leather interior, steering wheel controls, automatic and turning with the curve headlights, and automatic wipers just to name a few. I feel like I got a good deal, according to my research, I was about $300 over dealer invoice, but according to the actual invoice they showed me I was $400 below. I'm sure it was somewhere in the middle, and at the end of the day, we were both happy. It's already dark outside so I can't get a picture of it right now, but I'll try to remember to post one later.

Third, I was supposed to be joining Shane, Lizzie, Boom, and my parents on a trip to Washington D.C. tomorrow. I was really looking forward to having some family time, and Brenda was really looking forward to a couple of days by herself, which I think she really needs since she hasn't really gotten that since Barbara passed in June. I was also looking forward to seeing the kids reactions to the history and museums that surround that town, and trying my best to explain what some of the history means. Additionally, I was looking forward to meeting up with Meghan (Brenda's cousin, Lizzie's Godmother) and finally paying her back for the dinner I owe her by going to Zaytinya, which is a phenomenal Mediterranean style restaurant. Unfortunately, extenuating circumstances beyond my control have forced me to stay home and have my parents take care of all three kids. I'm sure the kids will have a blast, and I really wish that the circumstances that led to my staying home could have been taken care of earlier, but this only came up yesterday even though it had been brewing for two weeks. I'm sure it will work out eventually but it just really sucks right now, especially with the possibility that part of the kids' memories of this trip will be the fact that Daddy wasn't there.

Finally taking a page from Eric, I'll do a couple of "shout-outs." First to Eric who is having a difficult time this year as well, it will get better eventually. To Brenda, even though it's out of my control, I'm sorry. And to Beth Schopler, you better check e-mail addresses closer.

Why Chase Sucks

2009-06-22T18:03:00.000-07:00

Aside from my Facebook status, I had not posted the events that occurred on the way to Barbara's viewing. In addition to helping take care of all the arrangements, we had Lizzie's graduation from VPK, Shane's championship hockey game and Lizzie's dance recital. As an aside, the graduation went fine, Shane won his championship, and Lizzie danced her heart out (with a little help from Daddy[no videos will be posted]).

Following Lizzie's recital, we had to go to the funeral home in North Miami for the viewing. On the way we decided to stop for (Lunner, Dinch, whatever). We stopped at a Chinese buffet on N. Miami Blvd. While we were in there, some scumbags did a smash and grab on Brenda's van. People inside the restaurant saw them, but only tried to call the manager. After the smash and grab, it started to downpour, so in addition to having her purse stolen, the inside of the van was soaked.

Once I saw that the van was broken into, I went back inside. The manager called the police while I was on the phone with the bank cancelling Brenda's debit card. We got everything cancelled, put a fraud alert on her credit report, and moved on.

Well, a couple of days later, I noticed two charges for Chevron on our bank account that we did not make. I called up the bank and they reversed the charges, and sent me a letter that I need to fill out (it just came in the mail today). I was hoping that was the end of it, I was mistaken. I have alerts on my checking account that e-mail me and text me when certain things happen within the account. On Thursday the 18th I received one of these alerts stating that a Withdrawl larger than $200 was posted to my account. I knew that all bills were already taken care of then, so I checked it out. It turns out there were two deposits on my account ($1400, and $2400) and a deposit reversal of $2400. There was also a hold of $2300 on my account. I immediately called the bank to let them know that I did not make those deposits and I was very concerned because of Brenda's purse being stolen. They said they would investigate, and put a fraud alert on the account.

On Monday, the 22nd, after paying my bills in the morning, I received another e-mail saying there was a large withdrawl from the account. I thought, it's probably Brenda's car payment but let me check to verify. It wasn't the car payment, it was a "customer withdrawl" of $1800. I was now livid and called the bank again. They said I would have to talk to the branch where it occurred. They transferred me to the branch and the guy who answered the phone said he could not give me any answers and I would have to go to a branch to discuss the situation. I flew out of my office and went to the branch across the street.

The manager at the local branch (David) was very understanding and helped me out. He said he saw the fraud alert on my account and couldn't understand why the idiot at the Weston branch (teller 109) would release the money to the person in the drive-thru. He called the other branch and asked why the teller did that. The teller said that the person had ID that said she was Brenda and she was driving a Cadillac. I said that was impossible because Brenda drives a toyota and was at work all day.

I spent the rest of the afternoon (with a break to pick up the kids) at the bank opening a new account, trying to only leave enough in the old account to cover everything that I had already written a check for, or initiated a payment for, and tried to figure out who I had on an automatic withdrawl. David and Jaime were very helpful where the rest of Chase I feel failed miserably. There is now another alert on the old account stating that either Brenda or I must be called before any withdrawl. Let's see if that happens.

Barbara M Fogg 9/28/1949 - 6/5/2009

2009-06-08T17:17:00.000-07:00

I have other updates to come later, but I want to give my thoughts on my Mother-In-Law.

I could start into a long diatribe with things such as she was born in 1949 in Miami and never left (except for vacations), then in 1969 she had a daughter, etc. but I only had the pleasure of knowing Barbara for just about 10 years. I met Brenda on April 16, 1999 so I know I had to have met Barbara a month or so later.

Barbara Fogg always did things on her own terms. If you were dealing with her in a business sense, or actually in any sense, and you told her "no," she would explain to you why you were wrong and give you 5-10 reasons of how you would correct your mistake. She would not take no for an answer and sometimes, yes wouldn't be good enough either. If you worked for her and did not do exactly what she wanted, or screwed around, you would be fired. However, she was also fair, and I have heard of many times where some "long-term" employees would either be fired or quit and come back a week, month, year later.

One thing that was very evident from Barbara, if she didn't like you, you knew it (sort of, because she still kept her southern roots), and if she liked you, she loved you. However, Barbara had her own way of showing love, it was usually by speaking her mind whether it hurt your feelings or not. I found this out by the multiple times that Barbara would be hitting the wine bottle (or even when she didn't) then called Brenda to discuss the way she was raising our kids, or her job, or any other various subject. I also found out in the last couple of days that if Barbara or her mother (Mozelle) did not like who their kids/grandkids/nieces/nephews were dating they not only let them know, but the person they were dating. I suppose I was very lucky in the sense that they liked me, because they allowed me to marry Brenda. The idea of the Father being in charge of the daughter was definitely not the case, and the women were definitely in charge in the Miller-Fogg family. That continues to be the case with Brenda and Stacy.

Barbara really was the best Mother-In-Law that a person could ask for. She was really down-to-earth, and just an all around cool person. After knowing her and Brenda for a while, she took me up in her plane. She told me to make sure I had air coming in on me so I wouldn't be nauseous. When we were up in the air, she tried to tell me to open the window by pointing out where the crank was. The only thing I saw was the door handle, and I wasn't about to open that while in the air. She then turned the plane around and landed before I got sick. For one reason or another, I never got another chance to go flying with her.

Barbara also showed her extreme coolness when it came to shopping. She didn't get stuck going to malls or any "girly" type stores, it was usually going to the cool places like BJ's and Best Buy, you know, places that had "toys." This also showed through when it came to Christmas time, she would usually get herself something, like a Wii, a 400 disc DVD changer, or GPS, and she would in turn get the same thing for her girls. I'm sure it was to make sure her girls got the same enjoyment that she did out of whatever it was. I'll also forever cherish the gifts that she found for me including the motorcycle rider and the huge "pocket" knife that are sitting on my desk at the office.

Barbara of course loved her grandkids and would always be there whenever she was called either to babysit or attend whatever function they had coming up. The one thing about her though, you always had to let her know well in advance, then keep reminding her, because she would never put anything in any type of calendar. Many times the week of whatever was going on turned into a mad scramble because she forgot, or we forgot to remind her. Regardless, she would always come through when needed.

I'll also always be impressed with her memory skills when it comes to her personal business. For instance, she would remember who was programmed into her phone, even though the name was spelled incorrectly 9 times out of 10. Additionally, she was always able to log into her various accounts even though she had 20 different passwords for 20 different accounts. I'll never figure out how she was able to keep everything together.

Barbara was diagnosed wit Leukemia in early March, 2009. She spent 72 days in Baptist Hospital in Miami. After two rounds of chemo, none of the Leukemia cells went into remission. Barbara was released from the hospital just before Mother's Day. She was no longer a candidate to go to Moffitt Cancer Center for a bone marrow transplant. On Mother's Day, Brenda, the kids and I went down to their house in the Redlands. We had a great day, we took Barbara to BJ's to get everything she needed, we went to Best Buy to get a couple of universal remotes so she could control everything in the living room and her bedroom. Barbara watched the kids go swimming and ride their bikes. As an aside, Lizzie today said that was one of her best memories, having her Nanny watch her ride her bike. It was just really nice to spend the day with her. Sure it was somewhat shocking to see her without hair and everything, but under the circumstances, I thought she looked great.

Soon after Mother's Day, Barbara decided to try again with an outpaitient chemo treatment, and blood transfusion and getting platelets. A day or so after getting her transfusion and platelets, she said her leg was bothering her. Her doctor said to go back to the emergency room. The pain was not a blood clot. She ended up getting admitted to the hospital and placed in the ICU because of her very low blood pressure and various other things. She was coherent and understood what was going on. In the end however, she just wanted to be comfortable, and she was not comfortable in the ICU. Brenda, Johnny and Stacy arranged to have her moved to another room. They were planning a meeting with Hospice on Friday, June 5 to try to get Barbara home, just to abide by her wishes. On Thursday afternoon, Brenda received a call from the nurse at the hospital telling her that she did not believe that Barbara would make it through the night. We ran down there and sat with her. She was there but not there. We originally thought she was waiting for Stacy to arrive from Orlando. After Stacy arrived, we thought she might be waiting for her brother to arrive from Minnesota. Jerry arrived around midnight, and I was sent home around 12:30 - 1:00. Brenda, Stacy, and Jerry, Jr. sat at Barbara's bed side all night. In the end, Barbara decided she would once again do things on her own terms and not let anyone tell her what to do. She proved the nurse wrong, she waited until shift change, saw the light of day, then passed away at 7:30 am on June 5, 2009.

Barbara will be deeply missed by her immediate, and extended family and by everybody who ever came into contact with her, possibly even the people who told her no.

p.s. Please either join a walk, or donate to my team on Light the Night which is sponsored by the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. http://pages.lightthenight.org/pb/BocaRatn09/studyaid

Busy, Busy, and other stuff

2009-06-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

The kids and I had a busy weekend this past weekend, and next weekend is going to be even busier. We started off on Saturday with Lizzie's dance class in Coral Springs. While she was in Dance, Shane and I ran some errands, then got back, picked her up and bought a hockey bag at Play it Again Sports which is right next to her dance studio. Quick plug, if you ever need skates sharpened, or reasonably priced equipment, go to Play it Again Sports in Coral Springs. He really knows how to sharpen skates. Anyway, after that, we went home for a short bit, then had to go to Shane's hockey game. Shane played great, his team was outstanding, and the goalie was phenomenal. Shane's team won 7-1, and Shane scored on a shoot-out goal. After the game, we had dinner, then went home to watch game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

On Sunday, we had to wake up early because Shane had practice at 8:25. After practice, we saw 'Up' with Eric and Dave. I thought it was good, and there were parts that the kids probably did not understand. Overall a well-done movie, and we will probably see it again so Brenda can go. We had lunch at Cracker Barrel after the movie then went home. I seriously thought I was going to fall asleep on the drive home. After relaxing for a couple of hours, we had some great ribs with Mom and John, then finally got home just in time to go to bed.

Next weekend is Shane's championship game on Saturday, and Lizzie's dance recital on Sunday. This of course doesn't count the dress rehearsal tomorrow, skating Wednesday, and hockey Thursday. Sometimes, I just want to strap a bed to my back so I can sleep wherever I am.

I haven't really done this yet, but I wanted to give my opinion for some things happening in the news. First, I'm very pissed off at the stupid fuck who thought it would be a good idea to kill a doctor while he was at church because he performed late-term abortions. Give me a fucking break. I can't speak from experience, but I feel that 99.9% of the time a woman has an abortion performed, it is a heart-wrenching decision. I really don't think that people use an abortion as a crutch or as birth control. I also don't think that an abortion performed after the first tri-mester is something that somebody wakes up 6 months into a pregnancy and decides that they no longer want the baby. I think that if the health of the mother, or child is in question, there are extreme thoughts that go into any decision of that matter. To say that this lunatic was justified because of the services the doctor performed is insane. I think if these people are true Christians and they want to make sure no abortions are performed, they should help the mother through the pregnancy with anything she needs, then adopt the baby once it is born. Additionally, these are the same people that don't want homosexuals to marry or adopt kids. Seriously, it's a no brainer, let the gays adopt the kids, then there will probably be less abortions. If these people just thought about things rationally, then the world just might be a better place. I could go on. . .

Another thing that is pissing me off is this whole idea of people on the right calling Sonia Sotomayor a racisit because she essentially said that her life experiences will help her reach conclusions. At least that is my interpretation of what CNN wrote in its story. If Sotomayor is a racist for that comment, what does that make Clarence Thomas during his confirmation hearings? Rush Limbaugh and the others calling her a racist should shut the hell up and let the Senate do their jobs. I did not elect Limbaugh, the senators are the ones who need to be asking questions, and let the facts speak for themselves.

I just found out that Jacques Martin is no longer GM for the Panthers. The Panthers let him walk out of his contract with no compensations from the Canadiens so he can now coach the Habs next year. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I think he has done a serviceable job as GM, could be better, could be worse. I will say that if the owner brings back Mike Keenan as GM, I will find a new team to support.

Random Updates

2009-05-24T08:53:00.000-07:00

I forgot where I left off. I guess the most important thing that has happened in the last week or so is that we got a new puppy. We got Duke last weekend from the Animal Rescue Force. Duke is a Labrador/Basset Hound mix. He's doing good right now, is still having a few accidents in the house, but what can you expect from an almost 4 month old puppy? Lizzie and I had to rush around to get him. After her dance class ended at 11:00 in Coral Springs, we ran up to Delray, met my Mother and decided he would be a good addition to the family. After that we had to rush back to Coral Springs to do the rehearsal for the Dad's dance at Lizzie's recital. Before you ask, there will be no videos or pictures posted.

I've been skating a lot, due to a learn to skate lesson on Wednesday, learn to play hockey on Thursday, and usually one public session during the weekend. I am really liking this, but my wrist has been bothering me this weekend. Everyone at learn to play was asking me if my legs hurt the next day, they didn't (even though I usually work out my legs on Friday morning), but my wrist is. Hopefully I'm not falling apart.

Which reminds me, I want to send a good luck for a speedy recovery out to Erin. Even though her ankle should be telling me that I'm too old to learn how to play, I am still going out and doing it.

Brenda and I saw "Angels and Demons" last weekend. I have to preface the review with the fact that I had "read" (audio book) prior to seeing The DaVinci Code. I thought for the most part the DaVinci Code followed the book, however of course there were some mental images I had that the movie did not follow. Regarding Angels and Demons, I have not read the book. The movie was for the most part entertaining. However, there just seem to be some contrived hokey parts that just wouldn't make sense in real life. I am not sure if those same parts are in the book or not, so I can't say whether it was Dan Brown, Ron Howard or a combination that put those parts together. I would definitely see Star Trek first, but if you have nothing else to do, this is a serviceable movie.

Another serviceable movie that we saw last night is Wolverine. This pretty much did what the title said it would, which was to set up where Wolverine came from (for the most part). The story somewhat jumped and didn't really set up much character development outside of Wolverine, and even with him, there seemed to be something missing from the movie. Once again, the entire movie was a nice escape, but not as good as some of the other X-Men movies. I'm tending to side with Rotten Tomatoes for some of these recent movies.

I think we may see Night At The Museum tomorrow, but at least with that I pretty much know what to expect which is something similar to the first one. The kids will probably really enjoy it. They will also enjoy spending the afternoon with Eric. I'm really looking forward to seeing Up next weekend.

I'm getting a little tired of some in-fighting at work with certain sales people arguing over what goes in which territory, and the fighting is over what I feel are secondary, or even tertiary markets. I feel like there is a huge primary market with low-hanging fruit and nobody seems to want to go after it. I will change this way of thinking this week. I'm also in the process of negotiating a new licensing deal, we'll see how the other company continues to respond.

Mother's Day Weekend

2009-05-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

In addition to the hockey which I spoke about in my previous post, we had a good time this past weekend.
Brenda and I had arranged for my mother to baby-sit so we could go out on Saturday night. We sort of had an unsaid understanding that my mother would not leave the kids on the leash. Anyway, we had dinner at Bogart's which is located in the upstairs section of what used to be Muvico, but is now owned by Cinemark. The food as always was good, I had the turkey meatloaf, and Brenda had one of their specials for the night which was the kobe beef brisket. I don't think it was real kobe, because it was a large portion and only cost $16.95, regardless, it was a good dish. After dinner we saw Star Trek which was a very good movie. I was never a huge Trekkie or anything (I was always more of a Star Wars geek). I thought the movie and the story were well done. The special effects were great, but really the fact that they were somewhat not noticable speaks to the way the story was done. I thought the overall movie was well cast, although I kept thinking of Sylar when Spock was on screen, and couldn't get Harold and Kumar out of my head while Sulu was there. Anyway, if the same cast and crew does another Star Trek movie, I will definitely go see it.

After the movie, we went and saw some old friends at a local bar. My friend Dave, who I would say I hadn't seen in 10 years, and his band were playing at Turn 3 in Boca. In addition to seeing Dave, we also caught up with more friends who I would say some of them I have seen more recently, others it has probably been longer. I guess I can thank Facebook for putting me back in touch with old friends. Around 1:45, we figured it was time to leave because. . .

We got up Sunday morning to meet my Mother for breakfast at 8:00. After breakfast, we drove down to spend the day with Brenda's mom. All things considered, Barbara looks great. I just hope we didn't push her to do too much on Sunday. After going through some things, and having Brenda help her Dad with some paperwork for the home health agency, we went to pick up some lunch. We got the KFC grilled chicken, which was pretty good, considering it's KFC. After luinch, we all went to BJ's so Brenda's parents could stock up on some stuff. Brenda's Mom, I think, was just happy to get out and about. She got one of those electric carts, and was just tooling around the store with her "bird flu" mask on, and her oxygen tank in the basket. After BJ's they went back to the house, and I went to Best Buy with Johnny to buy them some new remotes. We got back to the house and I was in charge of programming the remotes. The kids went swimming, rode their bikes, and played the Wii. I got the remotes working for what they needed. we hung around a bit longer, then took off around 8:00. After getting home at 9:30, I sat down and watched/skimmed the Celebrity Apprentice, then went to sleep. I think I still need to catch up on some sleep tonight.

Learning to Play Hockey

2009-05-12T11:17:00.000-07:00

I'm not listening to the inner voice that sounds like Erin telling me I shouldn't try to play hockey. Instead, I'm trying to learn how to skate and learn how to play. On Friday I went to Glacier for their "beginners" clinic. The beginners in the class were me and one other guy who had only started trying to ice skate earlier last week. The other guys in the class seemed way more advanced and were there for some additional ice time. They were nice in the sense that they let us try to work through our incompetence, and they still did all of the drills and such they wanted to. After that ended at 11:30 pm, I went home and went to sleep because I promised Shane that we would do the stick and puck thing on Saturday morning. I find it is somewhat easier to skate in full pads because I am not as concerned with falling, and the shin/knee guard help stabilize my ankles a bit more. I just need to find a way to keep the velcro straps closed. The pads I have seem to be somewhat odd for anyone with slightly bigger calves. If I can't work through it with these, I may have to find other ones that fit better. Well, this week it's skating again on Wednesday, maybe doing the adult learn to play at Incredible Ice, then possibly doing the Friday night thing again, and seeing if Glacier is offering stick and puck again this weekend.

Lizzie's Birthday

2009-05-12T10:41:00.000-07:00

As I stated in earlier posts, we went up to Universal Studios for Lizzie's 5th birthday. We headed up on Friday night (5/1/09) and arrived at the hotel around 10:00 or so. The drive up was uneventful except for the construction on the freeway exit we had to use, and closed roads to get to the hotel, but we made it there. The hotel was nice, we stayed at the Royal Pacific hotel on Universal's property. I noticed the "pet park" sign and wondered if we could have brought our dogs. We checked in and got to the room, which was comfortable enough, definitely a hotel I would stay at again.

On Saturday morning, Lizzie woke up and started opening the curtains because it was "morning time, and time to get up." We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and took the boat to Universal Studios. There was no crowd to speak of, which seemed odd for a Saturday, but considering the economy, and the swine flu, I guess people just decided to stay home. We were able to use our room key as an express pass, which made life a little more convenient, but if we had paid for it, I probably would have been upset, since there were really no lines anywhere. When we first arrived, I noticed the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit. The coaster looks phenomenal and I cannot wait to ride it. We did all of the rides the kids wanted to, including Jimmy Neutron, Shrek, and Disaster. During our walk around the park, my Mother called to let me know that the dogs got out and ran around the neighborhood for a little while, but the neighbors helped get them back. She said she just wasn't fast enough to get in the front door without letting them out. I said that we would just look for another option next time. After we finished Universal Studios, we went over to Islands of Adventure and rode Spider-Man, then we went back to the hotel so the kids could go swimming.

As the kids were swimming, I stayed in the room just to relax a little bit. While I was watching The Matrix, my phone rang, it was my mother calling. I asked her what happened now, did the dogs get out again? She said that Carsen was gone. I said gone? She said gone, gone. She had put them on the leash outside (there is afternoon shade based on how the house is set up) and left water out there for them. She left for a little bit, when she came back, she saw Carsen laying there motionless. We are still not sure what happened, whether he got into something when he was running aorund, the heat, or if he tried to get out of the leash. I had to go downstairs and tell Brenda. We didn't know what to do, but we didn't want to break it to the kids then, and ruin Lizzie's birthday, so we had to keep it from them the best we could.

We all got back to the room and got ready for dinner, I had made reservations for the character dinner at our hotel. The only characters were Shrek and Fiona (as a human). The waiter we had was really good, and got Lizzie a chocolate cake for her birthday, and was just all aorund very attentive.

Sunday morning, for Lizzie's actual birthday, we had the character breakfast inside Islands of Adventure. Brenda and I were still obviously torn up about Carsen, but, we had to try to have a good time so the kids would enjoy themselves without knowing. The breakfast was a small buffet, one item they had which was actually quite good was the green eggs and ham. I'm assuming it was eggs with food coloring, a slice of ham, cheese, on a bun. The characters that came to the table were Spider-Man, who oddly enough carried on a conversation with the table (you don't normally expect that out of characters), The cat in the hat, and thing 1 and thing 2. After breakfast we started on the rides, I went on Hulk while Brenda and the kids did the storm force accelatron . After that, we started towards Spider-Man but is was closed. We went to the water rides and I rode Dudley Do-Right where I lost my Dolphin hat, with Shane while Lizzie played in the water, then we all went on Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges. After we were significantly soaked, we tried to talk the kids into going on Jurassic Park, Lizzie went, and I was stuck going on Dudley Do-Right again. We made our way around the rest of the park including doing both Fire and Ice on Dueling Dragons, and the whole Dr. Seuess area. We got back to the water ride area, and I was stuck doing Popeye with Lizzie 5 times in a row as Shane and Brenda did Dudley Do-Right again. We rode Spider-Man, then because I had to dry off, I did the Hulk two more times.

When we got back to the car, we had to break the terrible news to the kids. We hated ruining Lizzie's birthday, but it's the only thing we could do. Everyone cried for a few minutes, then we were on our way home. We are still deciding what to do next. Sandy seemed a bit depressed for the first day or two, but she seems ok now. We still want to get her another friend, but we need to find the time to actually go out and look.

Random stuff

2009-04-27T08:51:00.000-07:00

Bill Collectors suck ass. I am so fed up of seeing the same number come up on my caller ID, usually 2-3 times in the span of about 15 minutes. It is getting to the point of harassment. I want to be clear though, we are not late on major bills like car payments, mortgage, or being threatened with having any utilities, etc. turned off. The companies that are calling are these minor credit card companies constantly calling for $50 or so. They just need to chill the f**k out, I pay my bills in order, when the bills come in, they get put into the stack based on the date they are due. I'll get to it when I get to it, I am not forgetting about you (whoever you are), you are in the stack, you'll get paid, leave me alone.

I just got off the phone with Ed. It's always nice to hear from him and make sure he's doing ok. He let me know of his blog, which I am now following, but I am not going to post a link here. If you know him, call him up and ask him where it is. Good luck with everything Ed.

We're still waiting to find out when Barbara will be moved to Moffitt. There have been no major developments, so we are just continuing to wait and pray for her to be in remission.

I did the stick and puck skate with Shane on Saturday morning, and had a great time trying to skate in full equipment for the first time. I'm looking forward to doing that more often with him. I figure with a few more lessons, open skates, and stick and puck sessions, I may be ready to do the adult learn to play lessons. I still need to work on trying to go backwards though. I'm up to somewhere between 5-10 feet now, so little by little, I'll get there.

Murphy joined us for breakfast before skating yesterday. He brought the jacket that he found in a local thrift store. The jacket and Murphy both rock!

We are heading up to Universal this weekend for Lizzie's birthday. We are staying on property, which means we are not paying extra for the express passes, so we should have no problem riding the rides we want more than once. The hotel has what looks to be a very nice pool for the kids. I also have a character dinner and breakfast reserved for her.

I am borrowing the BarCharts iPod temporarily, so at least I have something to listen to at the gym. I'm also still working on what to do for Brenda for her birthday, she's not helping me. :-)

The week that was

2009-04-20T07:57:00.000-07:00

Let me start off with a week ago Friday (4/10/09), Brenda was on her way home from seeing a patient, had just merged onto the Turnpike and hit a storage container that somebody had not secured properly. She was blocked in by the guy backing up on the right to pick up the container, and traffic on the left, her only option was to hit. Brenda is fine, her car sustained about $2500 worth of damage, and the guy who dropped the container will have to pay.

The following day, we went to Enterprise to rent a car. We didn't care what they put us in. The did not have the Genesis to rent (I don't think anyone does), so they put us in a Dodge Journey. Quite frankly, I don't like this car at all. I really am not sure what Dodge is thinking with the cars they are putting out. I mean fine, you get some of the "cool" factor with the Charger, Challenger, and somewhat the Magnum, but really most of their cars just suck. Last year in Chicago, we rented a Grand Caravan, on the inside it was mainly plastic, and the back hatch would not shut (we had to secure it with a rope). I rented a Magnum in D.C. last year and it just felt cramped. For this Journey, the set-up is weird in the sense that the A/C controls are pretty prominent to look at, but the radio controls (which would be used more often) are really far down, somewhat blocked by the gear shift, and not at all convenient to change unless you are stopped at a light for an extended time. On top of all this, the gas mileage on this car sucks (the web site says 25 mpg, I think that is false), I think it is worse than on my 7 year old Explorer. All in all, I wish Dodge luck in their bankruptcy.

Brenda stayed home last week which was nice for me and the kids. I just still hope and pray Barbara gets better soon. I think Brenda needed that time at home, but by the same token, I think she wanted to be with her Mom as well, and I don't blame her one bit. We only have two more Tuesdays until Brenda's semester is over, and at least that will take one thing off her plate temporarily.

I had one of the best weekends I have had in a while. Brenda gave me the opportunity to go out and ride with Joe and a couple of other people in a memorial/charity poker run. The weather was great on Saturday, and it was just nice to get out on the bike. At the end of the run I ended up with 3 Queens. We hung out for a little bit, but one of the guys we were riding with had to get to work, and we all decided to take off. Joe and I spoke with one of the organizers of the run, because we had no idea how long it would take them to figure out who won the run. Considering it was a biker thing, we figured it would probably be 10 or 11 at night, and there was no way we were hanging out. I asked how much the winner of the run would get and he said it would be 30% of whatever was raised, with the rest of the money going to the kids. So, I did what I thought was right and told the guy that if I won with my 3 Queens to just give it back to the family. It turns out about an hour later, Joe got a call and I had come in second. I would have won $120. Oh well, I hope that little bit helps the family.

The $120 could have gone towards my new iPod fund. Last Wednesday, I was at the gym and accidentally dropped my iPod in the toilet. After storing it in rice for two days, then opening it up and drying it over the weekend, it is 100% dead. I need to find a way to get a new iPod, doing cardio with nothing to listen to really sucks.

Yesterday, the kids and I had brunch with Johnny and Liz at the Olympia Flame diner and then went skating at Glacier. Overall, we all had a great day. Lizzie was a little trying in the morning before we headed out to do everything, but everything was fine after that. My skating is improving little by little, I've started to take 1/2 hour lessons during the public skate at Incredible Ice on Wednesday evenings, we'll see how it goes this week.

Control

2009-04-10T05:24:00.000-07:00

Well, thanks to the Canadiens and Rangers and no thanks to the Bruins and Flyers, the Panthers were officially eliminated from playoff contention last night. Over the past couple of days I have started to think, why do I care? I guess I have been thinking more about the bigger picture, and question why I put energy into a sports team that always seems to find a way to dissappoint in the end.

Cheering on a sports team is something that gives one a great escape for a couple of hours, days, months, however you want to look at it, but, once again, the outcome is out of an individual fans control. Just because I drink out of my Panther coffee cup, or someone else has their lucky lunch, each individual can not effect the outcome of the game that night.

While thinking about the idea of a sports team, and how that is beyond my control, I of course stopped thinking about the idea of sports, and started again focusing on other issues that are occuring, or have occured that are either in or out of my control.

For instance, one huge thing occuring in my life right now is something that really bothers me that I have no control over. No number of lucky coffee cups, or lucky lunches will have an effect, the only thing I can do is hope and pray. My Mother-in-Law is currently battling Leukemia. She has already gone through two rounds of chemo, and is getting her counts back up over the next week or two before moving to Moffitt in Tampa. I am extremely concerned, but the only thing I can do is let Brenda spend as much time with her while I stay home and make sure the kids are taken care of. I feel terrible that I have not visited her yet, but once again, it's more important for Brenda to be there. I have also signed us up for the Light the Night walk, which occurs in October. If anybody would like to donate or join my team at the walk, please visit http://pages.lightthenight.org/pb/BocaRatn09/studyaid. I do appreciate the help and support we have received so far, the people at light the night said they would send Brenda information. Additionally, I just received and e-mail from Kathy putting us in contact with a friend of hers that has gone to Moffitt and come through with flying colors. I'm just glad that Barbara is such a fighter, so I'm hoping for a positive outcome.

Another thing that I realized was out of my control, was that I have a friend that was working through some things. The only thing I could do was be there and listen. I hope it helped, but aside from my control of listening, whatever they decided was their own decision. Right now, it seems like they made the correct one, and once again, I hope for the best.

I can't control the economy, but I can do my best to control what happens at my company. For instance, we are coming out with some great looking titles that cater more towards grades 5-8, and I like to think it's because we all agreed that this was a logical step for the company. By the same token, I didn't think that expanding with a new product in a new market that required deeper discounts was the best move for us right now, especially because the person requesting it could not show the research done, or the viability. I did agree to let them do a test as long as it didn't cost us too much money, but I still believe there are other places to expand without changing our business model.

Bringing this back to sports, the last thing that I realize I can control is learning how to skate and learning how to play hockey. I want to do this for me, and to also allow me to let my son teach me something. I went to the open skate at Incredible Ice on Wednesday evening, and found out that the public skate is $6, but for $10, I could receive a lesson during the public skate and get a free drink at the end. I think I may try that out so I can learn to skate properly. Glacier also offers an adult learn to skate program on Tuesday evenings, but I have to wait until Brenda's semester is over before doing that. Once I can get my skating down, I plan to learn to play.

I don't have anything else, I have to take a shower and go to the doctor who once again will tell me I'm too fat(even though I exercise every day), which is one other thing I can control.

Our Universal Spring Break Trip

2009-04-07T08:58:00.000-07:00

Since I started with the whole Universal thing for an entry or two, I figured I might as well let you know how the trip went.

We started out by heading up to Orlando late Wednesday morning. After the 180 mile trek on the Turnpike with a stop for lunch, we first went to Downtown Disney, then went to the hotel. At DD, we bought Lizzie a new "Belle" doll, since she lost her other one. We also got the passholder pin, and saw a new store called "Tren-D." Tren-D is very similar to Vault 28 in DD in Anaheim. We saw the shirt that I got for Brenda in California, we also saw a dress that I told her I was considering getting for her, but didn't want to guess on the size. She tried it on and loved it, so we got it. When we got to the hotel, I could have sworn I specifically booked the Holiday Inn across the street from Universal so we could save on the parking expense. When we arrived at the hotel the desk clerk told me I was not booked there and I was booked at the Holiday Inn Express which was about 1/2 mile away. I was sort of upset but after re-looking at the confirmation, I realized I was incorrect.

We arrived at the Holiday Inn express about a minute or two later, and checked in without a problem. The room was nice enough, and big enough for the four of us. The room was a typical suite, two double beds, fold out couch, table, microwave, mini-fridge, and a coffee maker. The bathroom was kind of small, and the sink was out in the main room. One good thing was the wireless internet was free, so we were able to get on-line with Brenda's laptop.

I checked out the restaurants at City Place and made reservations at Pastamore, so we could have something to eat before going to see the Blue Man Group show. We got to the Universal parking attendant at 5:48, and saw that the rates were $3.00 after 6:00, but before 6:00 it was $12.00. When we pulled up, the attendant told us it was $12.00, we decided there was no way we were going to pay $12 for parking when it would be 1/4 of that in 12 minutes. So, Brenda told me to just valet. The valet rate was $20. I then proceeded to drop them off and just wait the extra 9 or so minutes to save the $9.00. I realized there were about 20 or so other cars waiting in line for the same thing. Once 6:00 rolled around, people started going through the gate. I didn't realize they were such sticklers for time at Universal.

I met up with Brenda and the kids at the restaurant. Brenda had already ordered some bruschetta and a glass of wine. Turns out, the bruschetta was the best part of the meal. Brenda got the pesto pasta with chicken (it was a very crappy creamy pesto sauce, and I'm not sure what kind of pasta it was), I got the Chicken Picatta (it looked like a very bad fried thin chicken breast with a little sauce on it and some pasta). The kids both got pizza. The portions were small, and they had no taste. I would not suggest going there if you have a choice when at City Walk. The bill with tip came to $81.50, it really wasn't close to being worth it.

We then went to the Blue Man Group show. There were some elements that were slightly different from their other permanent shows in Vegas and Chicago (I have not seen the NY show). The show overall did not disappoint, and the kids loved it, so if you have not seen them, you definitely need to go.

The first full day, we went to Islands of Adventure with express passes in hand. We first turned in our flyers that we received from the Super Bowl ads without a problem. We got our meal plan tickets as well. As an aside, the meal plan is only worth it if you purchase one adult plan, or one adult and one child. Since we purchased two adult and two childrens meal plans, we did not save any money. In addition, we paid extra for the refillable drinks. The meal plan allows you to go through the line as many times as you would like throughout the course of the day at one of three different restaurants. If you buy one for everyone in your party, you would need to eat at least three times during the day to make it worthwhile, unless you only buy one and the same person keeps going through the lines multiple times to get meals for everybody.

At Islands, we started by going to Spider-Man and stood in the regular (10 minute) line so we could use our express passes later. After Spider-Man, we went to the Pteredon flyers in Jurrasic park, because we thought the kids would like that. The problem with that ride, it has three "flyers" which are two seats each, and the entire ride lasts 1m10s. So, even at that early part of the day, there was still a 45 minute wait. From there, we went back to Dudley D0-Rights ripsaw falls, Shane loved it, but Lizzie was not quite tall enough. So, Shane went twice, once with Brenda then once with me. Since we were already wet, we then went on Popeye and Bluto. Once again, the comparable rides are better at Universal, you get much wetter at Popeye and Bluto then you do at Kali River Rapids. We then decided to have lunch. After lunch, we tried to get the kids on the Jurassic park river ride, since they like water rides, they just didn't want to do it, probably because of the fake dinosaurs, go figure. Brenda then went on Dueling Dragons, and took the kids to the Seuss area. When they left, I went on both sides of Deuling Dragons. I like "fire" a little better because you seem to get weightless, where "ice" has more twists and turns. Either way, they are both good. We went on the Cat in the Hat, and the train ride. Brenda took the kids to the Seuss playground, and I went on the Hulk, twice. When I got back, Brenda went. We then grabbed something else to eat just to try and make use of the meal plan, then went on Spider-Man again. From there it was back to the hotel to relax for a bit, grab a light dinner, then go to sleep.

Friday, we did not purchase the meal plan, but we did get express passes again. The day started out kind of rainy, but once we got in the park, it wasn't bad. We went to Universal, we started on Jimmy Neutron, which was actually a kind of cool ride. It is a "movie" ride, where you sit in seats in a car that bounces around and moves to the movie, kind of like Star Wars at MGM, or The Simpsons. After Jimmy Neutron, we went to Shrek, then Twister. From Twister, we started watching the Blues Brothers show, then I took off to ride the Mummy. When I was done, the show was too, so Brenda rode the Mummy. After that, Lizzie and I did the Disaster Movie ride. For some reason, Shane did not want to go, so he and Brenda stayed outside. We then rode Jaws and grabbed lunch. After lunch, Lizzie insisted on getting her picture taken with the shark, so we did that then rode Men In Black. Shane and I then rode the Simpsons, when he told Lizzie about it, she decided she wanted to go as well. So, Brenda took Shane to the Curious George water park, and Lizzie and I rode the Simpsons. When I met up with Brenda and Shane, Lizzie already had her bathing suit on, and they played around there for a while. We then got them dry and rode ET. After ET, we used our express passes to ride Jimmy Neutron and Shrek again, then went back to Islands to ride the Seuss rides again. Spider-Man had a 45 minute wait, so we decided to skip it. We had reservations at Margaritaville and had dinner there. After a couple of Margaritas, and a Cheeseburger in Paradise, we went back to the room.

We drove home Saturday to get Shane home in time for his hockey game. Overall, we had a great trip, and I'm looking forward to doing it again.

By the way, I had posted riddles Shane had to answer during spring break. I'm reposting the riddles with our answers and the correct answers. Shane came in 2nd in number of correct answers for the class.

What is green and sings?
Our answer: Michigan J. Frog
Correct answer: Elvis Parsley
What do you call a cow on a roller coaster?
Our answer: Milk Shake or Beef Jerky
Correct answer: Milk Shake
What did you use yesterday but made today?
Our answer: Time
Correct answer: your bed
What can go up the chimney down but not down the chimney up?
Our answer: umbrella
Correct answer: umbrella
What is more astounding than a counting horse?
Our answer: a spelling bee
Correct answer: a spelling bee
What goes up and down but stays in one place?
Our answer: Temperature
Correct answer: escalator or elevator
What keys are too big for your pocket?
Our answer: The Florida Keys
Correct answer: The Florida Keys

Skating, Spring Break, Disney and birthday

2009-03-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

If you read Eric's blog as well, you'll have a good idea how we spent our day today, 3/29/2009. After getting to bed late last night, we got up and had breakfast at the OPH. After we went skating on what Johnny described as late season pond hockey skating, because the entire ice was wet, with very large puddles on one end of the ice. Pines should have said something about the chillers not working before we paid to get in, but of course they didn't. Even if we checked out the ice first, we probably would have seen that it was wet and thought that for once they actually ran the Zamboni over it before the public skate. The slush was terrible, and I'm looking forward to trying out Glacier's public skating tomorrow.

Speaking of Glacier, Shane got to the locker room for his first game yesterday and found out he had been traded from the Panthers to the Lightning. He didn't mind, all he wanted to do was play a game. He ended up scoring a goal, and got a goal in the shoot-out. The final score was Lightning 12, Panthers 6. A shoot-out wasn't necessary, but they have one at the end of every game anyway. Brenda taped the game, and I'm going to try to put some "highlights" together and post up to YouTube. Unfortunately, Brenda realized too late that it would have been better to sit in the penalty box to get a better video. We'll try that next time. I didn't go to Shane's game because I took Lizzie to a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese.

I have this week off work because it is the kids' spring break. We are going skating tomorrow, then Shane has hockey practice. On Tuesday it is haircuts an oil change for Brenda's van, and the Panthers/Senators game (I don't know why I am putting myself in the situation of going, but I'll hope for the best). Wednesday we are heading up to Orlando and going to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. We'll see how the kids like those parks, it's something different for them, and Brenda and I will be able to ride the cooler roller coasters again. I'm still debating whether or not to take the kids to see Blue Man Group. This is something I haven't even suggested to anyone, but it may be a cool little show for them.

Speaking of Orlando, I think we are going to let our Disney season passes expire, then renew them (or get new ones) after the summer. We like being passholders, and we really enjoy going to the parks with the kids, we just have other things coming up that need to be paid for and we would be blacked out all summer anyway. So, we'll just change our anniversary date to make it more reasonable regarding the blackout dates, and when other things such as the Dolphins and Panthers are due.

I'm researching various trip ideas for Brenda's birthday, I've thought about Vegas (Venetian, Phantom), London, and Dublin, or a cruise for everyone. I'm just trying to get an idea of what she really wants to do, and the cost and time involved in each of the options. I am also holding off while we wait for Barbara to get better.

Speaking of which, please donate either money or join my team for the "Light the Night Walk" for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in October. Just in case you can't click on the above link, please go here: http://pages.lightthenight.org/pb/BocaRatn09/studyaid

Skating, Good Books, Movies, and Spring Break

2009-03-22T11:11:00.000-07:00

Today is Sunday, so that means ice skating with Eric and Johnny, or at least that's what it typically means, and today was no different. We started with the normal breakfast at The Original Pancake House, where Lizzie continued to do her best to make as much of a mess as possible. Even though the apple juice spilled, she was actually a bit cleaner than normal, especially with her chocolate chip pancakes.

After breakfast, we headed to Pines for the Sunday skate. I had a bit more difficult time both on and off the ice. Off the ice, I kept trying to keep an eye on both kids, after about an hour, Shane decided he wanted to skate, so I had to go out to the car to get his skates, then try to keep an eye on Lizzie while we were all skating. On the ice, I was starting to get aggravated because I should be a little bit better by now. Sure, I'm not expecting to speed around the ice, but, I thought I had my balance down a bit better. Yes, I can somewhat blame my two falls on the potholes in the ice, and the fact that Pines goes 3-4 hours in between cleanings, I just didn't feel as comfortable by the end, what with skating through all the snow and divots. If I get a chance, I may try to go to some weekday evening open skating times, depending on when a closer rink offers the time. My goal is to learn how to play and possibly join an over 40 league or a C2 league, depends on when I'm actually ready. I'm buying equipment piece by piece, and right now all I need is shin guards, elbow guards, socks, and a stick.

We saw 'Race to Witch Mountain' last night with the kids. I suppose for the kind of movie it is, it was acceptable. During the trailers, I realized I am really looking forward to seeing 'Up.' Also, judging by the comments of the Panther game last night, I think we made the correct decision to go to the movies, and not use one of the multiple options we had for free tickets. I hope the Panthers wake up out of whatever dream world they are in to maybe play a hockey game tomorrow.

I bought the book 'Under and Alone' in LAX for my flight home. This turned out to be a very good book. I tend to like the true life tales, especially when they are well written, much like 'Into Thin Air.' The book is about an undercover ATF agent who infiltrates a motorcycle gang, and ends up spending over 2 years under cover with them. The book hooks the reader from the beginning. I would definitely recommend this book for those that like true life stories.

Shane is at the tail end of his extensive ice time weekend. He started on Thursday with his lesson, then he had Mites practice Friday and Saturday. Today is the last Atoms session, then tomorrow he has Mites practice again. Saturday is his first Mites game. We are all looking forward to it. I just hope he doesn't get worn out. Due to the fact that the rink where he is dong Mites is still building their program, there are only a limited number of kids on each team, which means a lot of ice time for all of them.

We got our free 7-day passes for Universal in the mail, so we will probably go there for Shane's Spring Break. We still have to pay for the kids, and hope that a passport is a valid photo id, but, in the end we are saving $200, so that's good. Speaking of Shane's spring break, his homework over the break is to figure out some riddles. I think I have figured out the last two, but if anybody has the answers to any of the others, please feel free.

The riddles are:

What is green and sings?
What do you call a cow on a roller coaster?
What did you use yesterday but made today? (I don't think this has anything to do with a b.m., so let's move on from that answer)
What can go up the chimney down but not down the chimney up?
What is more astounding than a counting horse?
What goes up and down but stays in one place? (Temperature?)
What keys are too big for your pocket? (The Florida Keys?)

Visiting the Left Coast Mouse

2009-03-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

After a long day at CAMEX (9:00 - 5:30), I decided to head over to Disneyland. I figured since the park was less than a mile away, I might as well visit, since I didn't have anything better to do on Sunday night. I bought the $48 one park twilight pass, my only other option was the park hopper for $90 and I wasn't sure if I had the time to do both parks, and the only thing I really wanted to ride in California Adventure was 'California Screamin.'

I got inside Disneyland around 5:40 (ok, I was able to leave the trade show a bit early). I was told to try to go to Space Mountain and get a fastpass, since they run out early. When I got there, the line was 60 minutes, and the fastpasses were gone. I decided to come back later. I then went to the Finding Nemo submarine ride. Once again, the wait said 60 minutes. I figured I might as well wait, considering the park was open until 12:00 and I only had a certain number of rides I wanted to try to get on, I would wait. The wait was actually only 40 minutes.

The Finding Nemo ride was better than the one at EPCOT, in the sense it was in a submarine, where EPCOT has it in clamshells that are much like the cars at Haunted Mansion. The ride lasted about 10 minutes or so. The downfall between this one and the one in EPCOT is at the end of the EPCOT one, you actually see real fish where this was Nemo characters and movie like throughout. I think the kids would have really loved this one, and we would probably have to ride it every time we went.

Next, I went to the Matterhorn. I was standing in line and realized that the line or the ride wasn't moving. Nobody could say when the ride would start going again, so once again it was time to move on.

I then walked towards the Indiana Jones ride and saw that once again it was a 70 minute wait, and had no fastpasses available. I moved on to Pirates of the Caribbean. The Pirates in Anaheim started out in the New Orleans bayou. I'm not sure what that had to do with Pirates, but OK, to the right there was the Blue Bayou restaurant, I wondered how cool it would be to eat there, and figured I would check after the ride since it was about 7:30 now. The ride started by going through some skeletons by treasures and things like that. The ride then went down two flumes, instead of one back home. From there, the ride was very similar to the Pirates in Orlando, including Captain Jack, so nothing necessarily different, the ride then went up the belt drive and around by the entrance before getting out and in the hallway that led out with a shop on the right and the Blue Bayou restaurant on the left.

I went to the restaurant and asked how long the wait would be for a table for one. The hostess said she would see if they could accept a walk up then. I was thinking if they do, great, if not, I can very much find something else. She came back and said they could. She took my name and said to wait in the lobby. Within a minute, they called my name, and I was sitting at a table. Now, for what people probably usually go to that restaurant for, which is to see the Pirates ride, I had the worst seat in the house. I was in the back table next to the door and stairs, but I was just enjoying the ambiance. The restaurant itself was pretty cool. The food was nothing to write home about. I had the Chicken Gumbo and the Beef Short Ribs. Once again, if the kids were with me I probably would have researched and reserved the best table in there, since they weren't, it was ok, nothing great, and nothing terrible, but the scenery was really cool.

After dinner, I continued to realize that Southern California nights got very cold, and I had to buy a sweatshirt. I got a gray hoodie with Grumpy on it, I'm sure I will wear it again. From there, I went back to Indiana Jones. The wait was still 60 minutes, but I asked the girl at the front if they had a single rider line. She gave me a piece of paper and told me to go in through the exit. I got in, and probably within 10 minutes I was on the ride. The ride itself is extremely similar to Dinosaur in Animal Kingdom. The Indiana Jones theme is cool, and that in and of itself, probably makes this ride just a bit better. Also, I think the kids would like this a little more because I believe it is a little less scary than Dinosaur.

I then walked back towards the Matterhorn, and people were starting to line up for the fireworks show. I thought that would be great becuase it might mean the lines will start getting a bit shorter. Once again, the line was only a 5-10 minute wait, so I rode the Matterhorn. The Matterhorn is very much a kiddie roller coaster. This is tamer than Big Thunder Railroad in Disney World (I did not ride BTR here).

After the Matterhorn, I tried to find Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. After looking and looking, I asked and realized it was closed because it was in the "blast zone" for the fireworks, and would reopen in a little bit. I decided to go back to Space Mountain. The line was still listed as 55 minutes and no single rider. I got in line while the fireworks were going on, and I think I actually waited about 45 - 50 minutes. Most of the line was outside. Once you get to the section where Stand-By and Fastpass meet, there is a long switchbacked hallway that looks like a spaceship. Once you finally get to where the cars are, you walk down, over the track, then down the ramp to get in the car. The car is side by side seats instead of single seats. The cars also have speakers behind your head, much like Rockin' roller coaster. The actual ride is better than Orlando, it starts off where you have the perception of going through a spinning tube, then, the tracks are hidden much better because it is darker where it actually looks like you are in the stars, and can't necessarily see where the track is going next. The music helps the whole ride, and since the music is right by your head, it's even better. There are still no major drops or anything, but overall a better ride. I'm really looking forward to the refurb in Orlando when it is complete.

After Space Mountain, I decided to go to Star Tours, just because there was no wait. The ride was exactly the same as Orlando, so, nothing to see here. From there I went back to Mr. Toad. Mr. Toad was pretty cool, although still very much a kid ride. The ride is just a car going through various rooms and scenes, somewhat similar to every other kid ride (Snow White, Pooh, Peter Pan, etc.)

By now it was about 11:00 so I thought I had done everything I really wanted to and it was time to head back to the hotel. On the way out, I decided to walk through the store just to see if there was one last thing to get the kids. I saw the jewlery section and found something that Brenda and I have been looking for forever. I finally found Belle earrings. I bought them and got Shane a Jedi Academy pin. I texted Brenda with my excitement, and if it weren't 2:00 am back home, I would have called. I'm sure Lizzie will absolutely love them.

All in all, I would say that Disneyland is much more compact than Disneyworld. I have to respect the original, but I still think that Disneyworld is better. With four parks, and more to do and see, I like it more. If I had more time, I would have really concentrated more on everything Disneyland had to offer, but in a way I was rushed. If I come out here again, I will try to bring the kids, but I would not make a specific trip for Disneyland. I was also told for coasters I should go to Magic Mountain or Knots Berry Farm.

Travel, Cars, and Hockey

2009-03-12T16:48:00.001-07:00

It's been about a week or so since I've written anything, so I figured now is as good a time as any. I'm heading out to L.A. (actually Anaheim) tomorrow for a couple of days for CAMEX, which is the trade show for College Stores. This is our core market, so it's one of those trade shows we need to be at. Next year it is back in Orlando, so that will make life much easier where we won't have to worry about flying or anything.

Speaking of flying, I am looking forward to the business-class upgrade on the 777 tomorrow. I flew on one of those going to London 2 years ago, and it was really comfortable, I guess since I have to fly in and out of Miami, I can make it worthwhile by flying non-stop on a comfortable plane in business-class.

Shane tried out at the other rink for Mites, and the guy running the program said "no problem" and couldn't understand why Incredible Ice thought he wasn't ready. After he was out there, we signed him up for the program. The real evaluation is tomorrow, but we already talked to Mike S. and he said it would be ok for Shane to go to his regular lesson, and they would be in touch over the weekend to give us the team he will be on and schedule. This is actually more convenient, since Brenda will have to take him to the lesson, then go to Chuck E Cheese afterwards for our nephew's birthday.

Shane and I went to the Ft. Lauderdale Auto Show today. The show is much smaller than the one in Miami, and since we went on the opening day and got there areound 4:00, there was really nobody there. We were able to sit in all of the cars on my list, or at least the ones that were actually there, and Shane graded all of them. Shane at first said he really wanted me to get the BMW 328i because it was the smallest. I told him to think of how his mother likes to have more space, and he changed his mind. He did like the Genesis, and the Nissan Maxima. I thought the Genesis, Acura TL, Infiniti G37 and Lexus ES350 were comfortable, but in the end for what you get for the money, I think I am sold on the Genesis. Once I get closer to the actual buying mode, I will take it for a test drive and make sure Brenda comes with me. I may take some of the others for a test drive as well, just for a point of comparison.

We had Mexican for dinner at this new Mexican restaurant on Clint Moore and 441. The food was good, they changed their menu a little bit, but it was still a good meal.

I'm going to go watch the Panther game and finish packing.

Random Stuff

2009-03-04T06:48:00.000-08:00

I continue to realize that I hate not being able to control certain things. I also hate not being able to do anything. Right now, I can only do what I can do and help those involved. I'm not going into more details.

I'm still pissed at my iPod. I thought I had gotten over the issues of the battery dying randomly, but apparently it is still happening. I had it on the charger yesterday, the screen said it was fully charged, then when I got to the gym this morning, it said it had no charge. I then rebooted it when I got to the office, and it had plenty of charge, then when I hooked it up again, it only took about 5 or 10 minutes to be fully charged. I'm sort of thinking I may need to get a new iPod eventually, but I still want to see if I can hold off that expense for a little while.

Lizzie got tested for being placed in the gifted program next year in Kindergarten, which would also put her at the same school as Shane and be convenient for Brenda and I. She had to be in the 90 percentile or higher in either math or reading, and have an IQ of 130+. She was in the (if I remember) 84th in reading and 93rd in math, and she has an IQ of 141. So, she should have no problem getting placed in the gifted program. With this, even though the expense killed us, I am really happy with Kinder Care, and the way they helped with the kids' development and with their VPK program.

I have TSN streaming in the background all day today following the NHL trade deadline day.

My Ford Explorer has had a butt crack for a little while now. I never knew where it came from, but I now found out that it is a design flaw that Ford will do nothing about. I guess I'll just live with it and hope it doesn't affect the trade in value.

That's all I have for now.

Youth Hockey, Part III (The Final Conflict)

2009-02-26T09:45:00.000-08:00

This is not really a conflict, I just thought it sounded cool, sort of an end of the trilogy type thing. Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone know how the whole situation ended. After Brenda did some research Tuesday night and I followed up Wednesday, we thought Glacier Ice Arena would probably be the best option. I asked Shane what he wanted to do, and gave him the three options. One being staying with Atoms, two being do the 8 week "Learn to Play" at Incredible Ice, and 3 being playing Mites at Glacier. I also let him know that whatever he chose, we would still be taking lessons from Avi every week. Shane chose to play Mites (big shock). I spoke with Mike at Glacier, and he said that they had kids younger than Shane who were playing in Mites. He asked what Shane's hockey experience has been so far, I told him that he did the camp last summer, and has had 32 weeks of Atoms plus private lessons on a weekly basis. Mike thought 32 weeks of Atoms was way too much for a kid of Shane's age. I of course agreed. Mike told me they are much less strict about who gets on the team, but he still wants to evaluate Shane, probably for placement more than if he is qualified. Since we already have Avi scheduled for tomorrow, we will probably go over there either next Friday or on the 13th for their evaluation date.

Glacier has three separate Mite programs, one is Mini-Mites that I believe is a half-ice type of league, then there is Mites which is full-ice, and travel Mites that I guess he tries to arrange games with other local rinks. Mike said they are trying to build the program and get more kids there. I think in the couple of Atom sessions that Shane has left, I will let other parents know if their kids would like to do a team/game thing, they should check this out. The cost is $350 compared to almost $700 at Incredible Ice, and they are more open to letting the kids just play and have fun. For now, we will check out the 10-week season that starts in mid-March and see how it goes. I think during the summer if there is no league, we will just take hour-long lessons from Avi, then decide what to do in the Fall. All of this of course is contingent on how Shane feels, but I think once he actually gets to play games on a team, he will love it even more. I'll keep everyone up to date.

Youth Hockey, Part II

2009-02-25T07:55:00.000-08:00

I had to post a follow-up to yesterday's entry. Shane and I went to the evaluation at Incredible Ice. We got there early enough to get his skates sharpened and get him ready to try-out. When we got to the bench, I gave him some simple instructions, keep both hands on your stick, do everything the coach tells you and have fun. Unfortunately, or fortunately, he took the have fun comment seriously. He did everything that was asked of him, he just wasn't the most intense skater out there, and at some points he seemed to be playing in the same way he does when he is in the Atoms program. I think he may have been thinking he is doing the same drills as Atoms and not realizing (possibly by my not enforcing it) how important this was for him to move to Mites. Anyway, when he was finished, I asked him to go ahead to the locker room so I could get some information from Phil who was doing the evaluating. He asked my if my son was out there, I said yes, he asked me his name, I said Shane, his response was "Not a chance."

I am so glad that I sent Shane to the locker room because that response was entirely out of line. He could have said to try again next time, he could have qualified that with something like he needs to work on "x" instead all I got was, "Not a Chance." I'm still trying to figure out what to tell Shane because there is no way I am going to tell him that the person said he didn't have a chance.

I spoke with Avi afterward, and I guess we do have options. We could sign him up for Atoms one more time, and he could do the same drills he has done before. We could sign him up for Learn to play hockey, but I think that will be the same as Atoms. We could not sign him up for anything, and just let him keep taking lessons from Avi, or we can go to a different rink and see if he can play in Mites.

Brenda spoke with Shane this morning and she said when she told him he didn't make Mites, he just had this dejected look in his eyes. This is where it really sucks that Incredible Ice is the most convenient rink. All Shane wants to do is play on a team where he practices during the week and gets to play a game. Being that Shane is 6, I think he wants to be an NHL star. However, being that Brenda and I are older than 6, we have a good feeling there is a pretty good chance that he may not reach that level. I'm not trying to be negative, just realistic. I will definitely encourage Shane in any endeavors he undertakes, and stand behind him 100%, and if it turns out he is good enough to try for that level, I will encourage him. For now, I am trying to do whatever I can to get him to at least play on a team.

I have e-mailed another rink that is not as convenient, but may be more open to letting kids play instead of expecting them to be the next Sidney Crosby or Wayne Gretzky before they are allowed to take the ice on a team. I believe Shane is at the point that even if he is not the best kid on the team, he will be challenged and step to the challenge by being on a team. He is no longer being challenged in the "drills and scrimmage" classes. When Avi sees him on Friday's, he challenges Shane, and Shane does great. When it comes to Sunday's at Atoms, Shane does well enough, but seems to be distracted and bored. The evaluation yesterday was much like Atoms drills.

We will see what happens from here when the person at Glacier responds back to me, but as of right now it seems like my $695 for my son to play in Mites was not good enough for Incredible Ice, maybe the $325 that Glacier charges will be good enough for them.

Youth Hockey

2009-02-24T10:24:00.000-08:00

The last thing I want to do is become one of "those" parents. However, I feel like with the rules and people in charge of certain things, I may end up doing exactly that. In the end, I want what every parent wants from their kids, I want my kids to learn, have fun, grow, and not become bored when pursuing whatever activity they decide to undertake. I feel this way for both kids, but this post will concentrate on Shane because of the experience occurring right now.

Shane has been skating since he was about 3 1/2 or so. He has really done well, and progressed. Once we saw that he was getting somewhat bored with the regular skating lessons, we started him with hockey. He had one or two sessions of just playing around during the regular skating lessons, then he went into the week-long camp last summer. He had a good time there, but I felt like some or most of the other kids had more hockey training. I spoke with the parents at that camp and realized there were two separate programs he could go into at Incredible Ice. One was a "learn to play" program, the other was "Atoms." Although just like with everything else around Incredible Ice, and this subculture of youth hockey, the answers and information varied widely. In the end, we signed him up for Atoms. During the first session of Atoms, we found he really liked one of his coaches, and we found out that Avi gave private lessons. So, in addition to the Atoms every week, Shane has also been taking private lessons. We have seen a very big improvement in all aspects of his skating and his hockey skills. So, we decided to look into the next level of youth hockey which would be the Mites league.

Well, I e-mailed one of the people in charge of the youth hockey and without even seeing him (or any other kid for that matter) play, she immediately said he is not ready. I e-mailed back and said if he's not ready, then let me know what we need to work on to tryout for the next season of mites. She never really responded, but Avi spoke with another coach of Atoms to try to figure out what to work on. Avi feels like Shane is ready to at least get evaluated for Mites. Today is the evaluation for the Mites, and I asked on Sunday during Atoms if there was anything I needed to do prior to coming there. Someone from the office came out, watched the kids play for a couple of minutes and said he didn't think any of them were ready and I essentially shouldn't waste my time going there.

After speaking with Brenda and Avi, we decided that I will bring Shane anyway today. We are all looking at it from the sense that if he makes it, great, if he doesn't then he got an extra 30 minutes of ice time he wouldn't have had anyway and we see what they are looking for during evaluations.

My whole thing is that hockey just seems to be so much different than any other kids sport. In pretty much any other sport, kids can sign up, get on a team, and practice and play. With hockey you need to go through very specific steps before you should even consider having your child on a team. I understand there is more skill involved than with a kids soccer league, or even with baseball or football, but there should still be something for the kids that may be more advanced than the "drills and scrimmage" of Atoms but not yet ready for Mites due to age or some other factor. We can really see that during some of Atoms Shane looks a little bored. We feel that he is ready to have the weekly practice and game like in soccer, it's just that Incredible Ice is very specific with the way the kids progress from one stage to the next.

I can understand if a parent is getting fully entrenched in that sub-culture, and wants their kid to do travel, and possibly compete for upper level leauges or the NHL one day, but that is not my intent. I want Shane to have fun and learn. I am not expecting him to be in the 2021 draft class, I hope more that he is in the 2025 graduating class with a Master's degree. For now, he is enjoying hockey, and I want to see him happy, and I believe that will be actually playing on a team. I'll let you know how it goes later

Disney, Disney, Disney

2009-02-18T08:03:00.000-08:00

As you can tell from the title, this is going to be about Disney. To start, we decided to take advantage of the three-day Presidents Day weekend and head on up the Turnpike to go to Disney again this past weekend. I had been in contact with Courtney, who I have known since High School on Facebook and through e-mail, and she decided to take the drive over from Tampa to meet us there. Part of the reason was because I didn't meet up with them at Busch Gardens back in December, and part of the reason was because I thought they were getting moved to Alabama. Turns out at least temporarily they are staying in Tampa until Che gets other orders. But, I digress, I'm glad that they met us there. Madi ended up being almost like a big sister to Lizzie, I think Mike had a better time after he got to go on the Star Wars ride, and Angie just makes me feel old, since I saw her as a preemie 18 years ago.

We went to Animal Kingdom on Saturday. We rode the Kali River Rapids first thing, I'm still questioning why, but really, the kids love it. Since I was the one that didn't really want to go on the ride, I of course was the one that got soaked. After riding Everest, and 2 - 3 hours, I think I was almost dry. We left the park to head back to the hotel to take a shower and have dinner at Jiko in the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Dinner was very nice, the kids were a little tired and it showed. We found it somewhat difficult to have a Valentine's dinner with tired kids, but we made it through, and all in all it worked out ok, and dinner was pretty good too, I would go back there. After dinner we tried to go to Downtown Disney, we realized that was a mistake and just went back to the room.

Sunday we headed to Hollywood Studios (MGM for those that don't know of the name change). The lack of a crowd on Saturday made me think that maybe the weekend wasn't going to be that bad. I found on Sunday that I was mistaken and the crowd was bad. We went to the Toy Story ride first, and got fast passes for 12:50, by the time we got off the ride the fast passes were for 6:30, they soon ran out. Courtney and I rode 'Rockin' Roller Coaster' while everyone else watched "Beauty and the Beast." Courtney was pleasently surprised because although I mentioned the coaster went upside down, I forgot to mention how it took off. She in turn forgot to mention that to Angie when she rode it with Brenda. Whoops. We got to do everything we wanted to do by 5:30 and had dinner at Hollywood and Vine (buffet) with everyone before Courtney and her family went back to their hotel to head back over to Tampa first thing in the morning.

On Monday, Brenda and I decided we might as well sit for the sales pitch of the Disney Vacation Club. Just for sitting with them, we got 4 3-ride instant fast passes to use whenever we wanted. In the end, we feel like the DVC could be a good deal, since we go up there 5+ times per year, but we are going to hold off for now. With the amount of points we could afford right now, we would only be able to use them for 3-4 trips, since weekends are more points. We may see where or if it falls in the budget next year.

After the DVC, we went to Magic Kingdom. As busy as HS was on Sunday, MK was worse on Monday. We could barely move with the amount of people that were inside the park. Additionally, we are just spoiled, because we have gone to MK for the various parties they host there (Pirate and Princess, Halloween, Christmas) and we rarely have to stand in any line. When we got there, we got fast passes for the Jungle Cruise, used our instant fast pass on Big Thunder Mountain (which Lizzie for some reason decided she didn't like it anymore), we then went back to the Jungle Cruise, walked across to Tomorrowland for lunch, rode Stitch, Space Mountain, and Buzz Lightyear, then decided it was just too crowded and time to go home. After stopping for ice cream for the kids, we got on the bus back to the hotel around 4:45 and made our way back home.

This was our first time staying at Pop Century. The rooms were comfortable enough, and considering we don't spend that much time in the room, we figured we could save a few bucks and continue going there, as long as the "premium" rooms were available. The premium rooms put you closer to the front, and the bus stops, but there do not seem to be many rooms that are convenient to the parking lot. I still wouldn't mind going back to Carribbean Beach and seeing one of the pirate themed rooms I have read about.

If there is any lesson that I learned from this weekend, it is that I will not upgrade our seasonal passes to annual passes. Sure, we are blacked out of some times at the parks, but those are very busy times, and quite frankly judging by the crowds of this weekend, I don't care that we are blacked out.

As an aside, Eric, the group that plays that song is E.S. Posthumus and the name of the song is Pompeii.

Work, Skating, Bicycles and Mini-Stanley

2009-02-08T10:57:00.001-08:00

I haven't posted anything in a little bit. Mostly because I was thinking of throwing something up here, then work issues got in the way and I got pissed off. I'm sure throwing my thoughts up here may have helped, but for now, I just let it stew. Essentially, after a lot of fighting with the owners of the company, we made what I feel is a premature overreaction to the external situation currently occurring in the economy. I can somewhat understand, but I think it is something we should have done later if some of our other measures didn't have the desired result. Anyway, it's done, it's over, and I just need to move on and continue to grow the company. Given that, make sure you visit BarCharts and buy a guide or two.

I went skating today with Eric and JohnnyB. I am definitely feeling more comfortable on my skates, but still have a little way to go before I can try to play hockey. Anyway, that's my goal for this year to be able to at least try and learn with other old people like me and eventually play in a local "old guy" league.

After skating, I was thinking about wasting time and test-driving a Genesis. I have put together a spread sheet with various cars I am thinking about getting when I replace my Explorer later this year. Hopefully a few months after I don't have to spend the ridiculous amount I am every week for day care. Anyway, The Genesis ended up on the top of the list both with and without personal preference added in the scoring. I called Brenda as I was leaving the rink and she said Shane had something to show me. I figured anything Shane had to show me was way more important than wasting time for something I'm not ready to commit to yet. It turns out what Shane had to show me is that they took the training wheels off his bicycle and he is starting to learn how to ride without them. He made it up and down our street with Brenda next to him. I am really proud and impressed, we just got the bike for him for Christmas and he already has the training wheels off. I guess all that balancing on skates helps him.

I want to give a huge shout-out to Eric. Although it was due to unfortunate circumstances on both peoples parts, Eric has been talking to the person that plays "mini-Stanley" at the Panther games. During those conversations I believe Eric let Mini-Stanley know where we sit and we received a visit from Mini-Stanley during the Panthers/Islanders game. Shane absolutely loved it. I'm now off to the other rink because it's time for Shane's hockey. I'll try to be better at posting on more regular intervals.

The Rio and Criss Du Soleil

2009-01-28T16:04:00.000-08:00

I am in Vegas for work purposes, I came out here with a new sales guy to walk a trade show to decide whether or not we would sign up for it next year. As much as I would love to sign up for any reason to come to Vegas, there is no way we would sign up for this show. Our offerings of CBT would get lost in the crowd, there is not enough attendance, and there are a total of 60 vendors if they are lucky. This is a very small show and would definitely not be worth the cash outlay to do it.

Even though the trade show is a bust, I am staying at the Rio for the first time. The rooms are nice enough. They are very big with a nice king-size bed, a L-shaped couch, a refrigerator, and an ok bathroom. I find it sort of odd that there is a window in the shower that looks out into the main room. I suppose one could watch TV while in the shower. However, I am too short to really look through the window, and even if I were taller, I still can't see a damn thing without my glasses. So, the window makes no sense to me. As for an all-suite hotel, the Rio is nice enough, but for the hotels that I have stayed at here, nothing compares to the Venetian. I'm hoping to make a trip and stay there for Brenda's birthday, we'll see.

I also decided to go ahead and see the one Cirque show in Vegas that I had not seen yet, Criss Angel "Believe." I didn't know what to expect, especially when the guy I came here with was able to take advantage of an e-mail special and buy a ticket at 40% off 2 hours before the show started. The show started off with a typical Cirque show with some characters going through the audience as people were being seated, then Criss Angel doing some tricks and stuff that really reminded me of his "Mindfreak" tv show. While he was doing that, I started to remember why I stopped watching "Mindfreak." He is about as narcissistic as Barry Manilow, where everything is difficult and deadly, and "I am so great" for being able to do this (whatever it may be). After about 10 minutes or so of that, it took a turn towards a Cirque show with some odd characters dancing and getting into a story. Throughout the show the story continued essentially being Criss trying to find the girl while somebody else was standing in his way of getting the girl. There were some tricks throughout, and some nice show elements. The show ended after 90 minutes with him asking if we wanted to see one more trick, then he did his disappearing trickby just throwing the sheet up, then he was gone. All in all, I would say if you have seen the other Cirque shows here, then yes, go and see that once. If you haven't seen some of the other shows, see "Love," "Ka," "Mystere," or "O" first.

Finally, it seems as though Mama Mia is no longer playing at Mandalay Bay and The Lion King will be moving in.

Huh, I don't understand how I can get onto Southwest's on-line check-in the second that I can and I end up with number 47. Hopefully I can still have a decent seat. Now I'm off to dinner at Mesa Grill and to walk around the strip for a bit.

Family, Hockey, and Obama

2009-01-21T07:16:00.001-08:00

Ahhhhh Family, you can't change them, and you can't kill them. I'm currently dealing with some family issues, and just feel like some may not see the bigger picture of the problem. Oh well,k I'm sure eventually this will work itself out. I'm not going into any details because although only a couple of people may be reading this now, you never know, so, we'll just leave it where it is.

I'm ecstatic that the Panthers are in a playoff position. I fully blame their whole downfall on Bush (and to a lesser extent Mike Keenan). I find it amusing that the last time the Panthers made the playoffs was in the 1999-2000 season, and they have not really been in a playoff position until this year. Additionally, they were actually in 8th place yesterday, January 20, 2009, the day George Bush left office. Unfortunately, thanks to the Hurricanes playing the Penguins last night, the Panthers are back in 9th. Maybe they can pick up two points tonight against the Stars.

I was watching the Inauguration yesterday, and was very happy. I really hope Obama can finally help bring this country into the 21st century. Watching the reaction of everybody, seeing that huge crowd and understanding the historical significance of yesterday just really makes me proud to be an American. I'm still concerned about where this year will take us, and looking forward to what Obama does during his Presidency. As he said, it's up to all of us to work together, and I'm ready to help wherever I can. That is after I make sure to take care of my kids and family first.

First blog, let's see how it goes

2009-01-18T18:59:00.000-08:00

Brenda and I went up to Orlando for the weekend, because one of my friends from work was getting married. We decided to take advantage of the situation and head to Universal. It was a nice break, because we have season passes for Disney, and wanted to test it out to see how much was there for the kids. Well, it turns out that even though they have the Seuss area in Islands of Adventure, and the Toon area in Universal, the parks are not set up for kids the way the Disney parks are.

That being said, we had an awesome time today. When I bought the tickets, I also bought the express pass, which was well worth the money paid. If you ever go to Universal buy the express pass! We were able to get on all the rides we wanted, and I think the longest we had to wait was 15 minutes. We got inside Islands of Adventue around 10:00, we got through all of the rides we wanted to there, had lunch at Margaritaville at 12:30, and we were inside Universal at 1:15, and on our way home at 4:30. So, yes, the express pass is worth it.

One thing that I am now upset about is all the times I wimped out of riding a roller-coaster in years past. I have found that when I try a coaster now, even if I am or was intimidated before, by the time I get off the ride, I am ready to go back. today was the first time I rode the Hulk, Dueling Dragons, and the Mummy. I can honestly say that all three are excellent rides, with the Hulk being the best out of the three. I really wish I didn't wimp out before, I've missed out on so much coaster time waiting for other people to return from the ride. Oh well, those times are over. As for other rides in the two parks, Spider-Man is also still a phenomenal ride, I wasn't that impressed with the Simpsons ride, Shrek was pretty good, and Poseidon's Adventure was almost a waste of time. We didn't do any water rides today, because being from South Florida, 60 degree weather is cold, and we didn't want to walk around being wet.

after the day at Universal, we think we decided we will wait a couple of more years before bringing the kids there, because once again, for their ages, Disney wins hands down. So, it looks like we will be renewing our passes there for now.

aside from that, I'm happy the Panthers won last night, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow night's game.