Well, I'm running behind a bit on this post so not only is it late but it will probably be a little short. Near the end of January Lisa and I traveled down to Atlanta for the NHL All-Star game and skills competition. We left on the Thursday before the weekend began because we mistakenly thought we would be able to go to some of the special events surrounding the weekend such as a concert on both Thursday and Friday night. Even though we couldn't attend the concerts we still found plenty to do to fill the time and, in the end, to have a wonderful trip.

We arrived in Atlanta near rush hour on Thursday and made a mad dash for the hotel that you had to go to in order to get your tickets. We were in a rush because we thought we could go to the nights concert. Lisa begged and pleaded to get the tickets from the office (it was closed by the time we go there) and her pleas worked! Once we had the tickets though we were informed that they didn't include tickets to the concerts. So, that night we walked around a bit, found our hotel, and then went to Ted's Montana Grill which was a pretty cool restaurant that featured a bunch of different Buffalo meat entrees. The coolest part of the joint to me was their insistence on being "green". For instance the table-cloth was a big sheet of recycled brown paper and the straws were paper coated in wax. We actually arrived pretty late so the restaurant was fairly empty so service was really speedy and the food was pretty good too!

On Friday we went downtown again and walked around a bunch. We went to the Centennial Olympic Park and then the World of Coca Cola. At the park we checked out a bunch of the engraved bricks and even found one from Huntington, WV. At the Coke place we did everything; watched a 3-D movie, toured a mini bottling plant, watched a ton of commercials, saw a bunch of old collectibles, and tasted around 70 different soda flavors from around the world. We drank a little bit too much soda but we still had a good time.

In the afternoon we headed up to the Lenox Mall near the Buckhead portion of town for lunch and shopping. We ate at the California Pizza Kitchen which we have seen a bunch of times before but had never eat at. It was good (I had a spicy chicken pizza). I also bought a nice coat while we were there, a badger hair shaving brush and Lisa got a pair of boots and some neat Lush products (soap, bath salts, and stuff). Eventually we left the mall (when it was closing) and headed back to the hotel and then a casual dinner at Gorden Biersch (a brewpub restaurant).

Saturday and Sunday were dedicated to the All Star events. We headed up to Phillips Arena for the Skills Competition on Saturday but we arrived pretty early and took part, sort of, in the card-trading/memorabilia show (we just walked around and checked things out) and then we took a tour of the CNN headquarters (not worth the money) which is attached to the Phillips Arena. Eventually we got into the Arena and had a great time watching the Skills Competition. Our Seats were AMAZING - we are on the blue line about 10 rows behind the players. It was great. We are also surrounded by a lot of people who all seemed to know each other - and a bunch of them all kept stopping by to talk to the guy sitting behind us. We were intrigued.

As the night wore on the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp.) stopped by to interview the guy behind me. So I looked behind me and saw that he was short and kind of old but he was wearing a huge Carolina Hurricanes championship ring. It turns out the guy is Jim Rutherford the GM and part owner of the Hurricanes. He is also an ex-NHL goalie who played most of his career with the Red Wings. We spoke with him and his wife (they were both really nice) and another couple they were with (from Cleveland and loved ribbing me about the Bruins).

On Sunday we didn't really do anything special before the game except go back to the memorabilia show. While we were there we got Patrick Kane's autograph (#1 draft pick last year), and Todd McFarlane's autograph (creator of a bunch of figurines and comic book artist) on a figurine of Marian Hossa. I also bought an old fact book for the Red Wings from 1976 that had a full page spread on none other than Jim Rutherford.

The All Star game was really cool. It had a bunch of extra stuff around it like a performance by The Hives before hand and Ne-Yo during an intermission. I also managed to get Jim's autograph on his page of the Fact Book and I had my photo taken with him. They four of them kept giving me a hard time about the Bruins, especially when Tim Thomas was in goal because he let up a bunch. However I had the last laugh because ex-Atlanta Thrasher and current Bruin Marc Savard scored the game winning goal. A neat bit of trivia I gleaned from Jim was that he actually coached Tim Thomas when Tim was a kid and came to Jim's goalie camp. Needless to say I ribbed Jim a little after Tim gave up his 3rd goal and the group kept harassing me - they only had Jim to blame for Tim's skills. Overall it was a lot of fun and the end of the game actually gave Lisa the highlight of her night when she finally recognized a guy sitting in the section next to us.

Lisa used to watch a lot of Soap Operas, especially when we had the Soap Opera channel and it turns out the guy in the section near us is a Soap Opera star named Thorston Kaye. He has been a doctor on General Hospital and, once his character was killed, he came back as his dead characters brother on a spin off show called Port Charles. It turns out Lisa is a big fan of this guy (basically she thinks he is hot) and so she wanted me to take his photo. I did but some friend of his spotted me acting like a paparazzi and pointed it out to Thorston. Now, Thorston isn't some weak little actor boy - instead he is about my height but has been a collegiate decathalete and a professional rugby player. So I smiled at him and asked if it would be cool for Lisa to have her picture taken with him (I still didn't know who he was, I thought maybe he was an ex Penguins player she knew). He agreed and was really cool about it. He waded through the departing crowd, gave her a big hug, and then gave the camera a real smoky gaze. It was hilarious and Lisa loved it.

#Sports #FunStuff #MyLife #Travel #Photos

Mark your calendars music fans because Rock on the Range is back for its second iteration and this time the lineup is even bigger and better than last year. In the first Rock on the Range it was a one day show filled to the brim with rock music from a bunch of bands. This year the event is being expanded to take up two days - which means I'll be heading up in the morning for day 1, then rocking out for 2 days, and then driving home in ear-ringing bliss at the end of day 2 (or maybe on the morning of day 3).

It would be great if more people I know can go this year. Last year was a blast with just the four of us (hopefully Joe won't get the boot 2 times again) so I imagine it would rock even more with a whole gang going up. The show is in Columbus again (at Crew Stadium) and is on May 17th and 18th this year. I'm stoked and can't wait to exhaust myself again. Bring on the Rock!

#Music #FunStuff #MyLife #Travel #Entertainment

I took an interesting IQ test today that was, I thought, pretty hard. However, after much mental crunching I managed to get 15 of the 20 possible questions correct. After that, with the help of two guys I work with we managed to get 18 of them correct. The only 2 we didn't know where the #1 and #20.

I've never seen an IQ test quite like this one and I don't really know how valid it is but it was a fun puzzle to try and solve. See how many you can get right. Here are the numbers of those I solved without help, then those with help.

Without Help

2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,12,13,14,15,17,18

With Help

11,16,19

I did find out what the answers to #1 and #20 are later but I won't post them here, or how I found out the answers, so that you won't be tempted to spoil the fun!

#FunStuff #Entertainment

I haven't seen the movie The Golden Compass yet but their website has this neat tool that pairs you with some kind of animal spirit called a daemon (pronounced just like demon). In the fantasy world the movie is based on each person is split into a physical form and a spiritual form - their human body is the physical and the animal is their spiritual half. On the website they have a 20 question personality quiz that they use to match you up with a Daemon. My daemon is currently a female lion (daemons are almost always opposite gender to the physical half) named Theonella.

However, it is possible I don't really know myself as well as my friends and family do. So they have this add-on questionaire that you guys can answer to help better identify my daemon. So, if you don't mind please just answer these quick questions and we will see how it ends up. We only have 12 days to further refine my daemon before it is finalized so please just take a moment now to complete it. Thanks

#Movies #FunStuff #General #Geekiness #ThisSite

I just saw this cool image linked from someone else's blog and figured I would post it here because I think it is really cool. I know I never would have thought to take these photos and I'm not sure I would have had the patience to find the exact right spot/distance to take them from. Kudos to the photographer. You can click on the image to see a larger version.

#FunStuff

My friend Ryan has attacked the Patriots again - except this time he is being more brutal. Sure, this video is just wrong, but it's still kind of funny (in a sick way). Enjoy!

#Music #Sports #FunStuff #Entertainment

Last week Shannon had a couple days off school so I took the same days off work and the four of us headed to Cincinnati for the weekend. We left on Thursday with the plan of leaving kind of early and getting there in time to visit the zoo for a few hours. Of course the best laid plans rarely work out for us and this trip was no different. We didn't get out of Huntington until close to noon and then, about 3/4 of the way there we had a flat tire. I had Lisa set the parking brake and then pulled the jack out so I could change the tire. However, we were stopped on a long slow incline so as soon as the tire left the ground the van still slipped back a little bit and actually bent the jack up. So I quickly finished jacking up the van and replaced the tire with the spare and we got back on the road.

Eventually we ended up in Newport, KY (by now it was too late to go to the zoo) so we stopped at a Graeters Ice Cream shop for a snack. We had been looking for a Goodyear so we could buy a new tire so I asked the girl behind the counter and, as luck would have it, there was one immediately next door to the ice cream shop. While our tire was being changed we went to this little mall that was mostly restaurants and looked around. They had a Halloween shop where I bought some stuff for my costume this year (I'm going to be a "nice" werewolf according to Emily). We also stopped by a book store and bought a cookbook that is laid out in a nice format for planning meals - it does it for you. Each meal is broken down with a main and a side dish so all we have to do is shop and cook without thinking about the menu. Each meal is supposed to be a "20 minute" meal to make so it should be convenient.

Finally we got the van back and headed to the Millennium Hotel which we had booked on Priceline for $50/night - a great deal considering we were right downtown. For dinner we headed to a pretty nice seafood restaurant McCormick and Schmick's. Eventually we ended the day and went to sleep in anticipation of going to the Newport Aquarium the next morning.

The Aquarium was pretty cool. They had a ton of different fish and just as many different turtles it seemed. Emily was proud to let me know they are called "Tortuga's." We also paid a little extra for a "Penguin Encounter" which let us go back to a little room that three penguins live in and we got to pet them while the lady (Rebecca I think) taught us about them. These penguins were pretty neat and were from South Africa. Because they are from S. Africa they really challenged my idea of penguins. In my mind they are always from some frozen iceberg but these guys live in temperatures up to 110 at times. they were pretty cool and they really liked to play with the wrist strap on Shannon's camera.

After the Aquarium (which was right around the corner from the Ice Cream shop) we stopped at a German restaurant called the Hofbrau House for lunch and a big stein of beer. Lisa was driving so she made me drink most of her beer so I was feeling pretty good by the time we left. The food wasn't that great - but their weiss beir was pretty good.

On Saturday we headed to Kings Island for a day of fun (from 12pm - 7pm). We spent most of our time in the Nickelodeon part of the park riding rides that both Emily and Shannon could ride. However, there were also a few rides there that were perfect "in-between" rides for Shannon. She is too small to go on most of the Adult rides but she is too big for most of Emily's rides. Instead they had some rides like "The Avatar" and "The Raptor" which were perfect for Shannon. The Avatar is a big sled that spins and slides back and forth on a ramp. It spins pretty fast and the ramp goes up and down so it was pretty thrilling for her. Then the Raptor was a suspended roller coaster. It didn't have any big spins or loops but it went fast and was, by far, the biggest roller coaster she has been on so far. She really seemed to enjoy both rides which was cool because she wouldn't have even thought about going on them last year.

After we had fun on the rides we played a few different midway games and everyone ended up winning at least one prize. Overall it was a cool day at the park. However, at around 7pm they start to shut down the kids rides and start to turn the entire park into a haunted house throughout the month of October. At this time the employees all start to show up dressed in costume and with pretty good fake injuries on their heads and stuff. While the girls dealt with seeing them OK I'm sure they wouldn't have liked it when the employees tried to scare them so we headed out. We ate dinner across the street from our hotel and then headed to bed again for our final morning before heading home.

Lisa had planned a nice surprise for the girls on Sunday and we headed to the US Bank Arena for the Disney Princesses On Ice show. The show was OK if you like watching figure skating and the girls seemed to really enjoy it so that was cool. Before the show started (we got there a little early) we actually got to see the Cincinnati Walk for Breast Cancer. It was huge - there had to be thousands participating. There was a small group of young women at the end cheering and yelling and just getting the crowd fired up. They had some pretty funny chants - one was "No Bikes, No Scooters, We're Walking for our Hooters" they were really into it and it was cool to see.

Here are some photos of the walk

#Family #FunStuff #MyLife #Travel

Thanks in no small part to the old adage "It's not what you know but who you know" I recently had the opportunity to go to the NHL Entry Draft. A friends brother is an executive with the NHL so he provided my family with amazing tickets that put us in the front row of the section reserved for draftees and their families. From this vantage point my two youngest brothers, my father, and I witnessed the first round of the draft. While, in all honestly, it did get a little boring at times (it is just a sequence of names being called out) it was still pretty interesting and a neat experience that I don't regret going to at all.

We arrived just before the actual draft began so we missed most of the Commissioners opening remarks and basically just had to wait a few moments for the Blackhawks to make their first selection - a young American named Patrick Kane. He was sitting in another section reserved for players exactly opposite us inside Nationwide Arena (in Columbus, OH). In fact the first five selections were all on the opposite side of the stadium. The third pick, Kyle Turris by the Phoenix Coyotes, was upstaged by the man who announced the draft pick, none other than "The Great One" Wayne Gretzky. I believe Wayne received the loudest and longest ovation of the night - even surpassing the announcement by Commissioner Bettman that the local team, the Blue Jackets, were on the clock.

I have been a lifelong Boston Bruins fan. My seat, however, was directly behind the Montreal Canadiens table. This is their "War" table where about ten team executives sit and debate who their next pick will be. If you know anything about the Bruins you know their natural rival is, none other than, the Canadiens. While the Bruins were able to pick with the 8th overall selection (Zach Hamill) it was the Canadiens who occupied most of my attention as I regularly sent out "boos" in their general direction. Their first pick was the 12th in the draft and they picked a guy right out of high school - Ryan McDonagh. I thought that was pretty cool, but interesting all the same. The NBA recently put a block on drafting kids out of high school yet baseball and hockey continue to do so. There was an uproar when kids were drafted into the NBA - so why is the media so silent on the same drafting policy of major league baseball and hockey? Inquiring minds want to know.

I took a lot of photos of the event but many didn't come out very well because I am a poor photographer however I put up the best ones I had in an online photo album. You can also read a much more humorous review of the draft over at Page 2 on espn.com courtesy of Bill Simmons

#Sports #FunStuff

Well Shannon's birthday celebration is finally complete! After three long weeks she is finally, officially, 6. She had three celebrations, three cakes, and eighteen candles to blow out but eventually she got there just in time for her 11 day spring break to end and for her to head back to school. I think she enjoyed all of the events and all of the gifts she eventually received.

As I have already discussed she had her fairie party with all of her friends. Then last week, on Easter Sunday, we had a Carvel Ice Cream cake when my Dad, step-mother, and youngest brother (Chris), came over for dinner. This past weekend we had the official family party for those family members who could reach our home. My father and his group were back down (sans Chris) with a friend from Oregon, Lisa's parents made it as well, as did Patti and her friend from the convent Barb. It was a nice little get together and Shannon was the recipient of a bunch of nice loot. She got some new clothes, some new bedding, some nice toys, a tinkerbell necklace, and some neat art supplies. As an added bonus both Emily and Shannon got a special treat from my dad and step-mother, Patty.

When Lisa was little she had a step stool that also could act as a small seat. The back folds down over the seat so a little person can more easily carry it. My dad borrowed the stool and managed to duplicate it exactly in size, scale, and shape. He made one for each of the girls. Then Patty brought her decorative painting skills to the table and with the help of all the party goers she managed to transform them into really pretty Tinkerbell and Bambi stools. Lisa's Mom traced the art onto thin vellum, I printed out a bunch of stuff on the computer, Lisa, Patti, Barb, and maybe even Joe all got involved in the painting process, and then Patty put the finishing touches on them that completed the transformation. They look really good. I'll put photos of them up later today (when I am back at home).

#Family #FunStuff

This past Saturday we began the celebration of Shannon's 6th birthday. In what seems an unusual trend we are having multiple parties for her this year. The first was her "friend" party in which all of her school friends, and other kids her age, came over to play, eat cake, and have fun. The second party will be more sedate as it will have more adults will focus on family members who can make it in town (the weekend after Easter).

This past weekend was the friends party and Shannon planned most of it with just a little guidance from Lisa and myself. The totality of my input was that it would be a "no-present" party. She has so much stuff, and always gets so much from her family, that her friends really didn't need to be getting her anything. If any of her friends families felt compelled to get her a gift then we would donate the gift to a local charity that helps out needy kids. Many of the parents were a little put off by this stipulation but, in general, they did a good job of respecting our wishes.

The theme for the party was "Peter Pan" with a focus on Tinkerbell and fairies. Most of Shannon's classmates and friends are girls so Shannon decided she wanted to have a costume party were all the kids would dress up as fairies. If anyone didn't want to dress up as a fairy they could dress up as a pirate or a lost boy from Peter Pan. In general all of the girls dressed up as a fairy (with one exception - she was Wendy in a dress her grandmother made just for the party). There ended up being just about 20 kids and nearly as many moms on hand for the event. Needless to say the house was full of fun.

We had a play dough table setup, tents and tunnels they could climb/crawl though, the Wii was setup for some of the adults to play, we had hopscotch on the porch (it rained a bit), and pin the wings on the fairy (another great Shannon idea) as well as pin the hook on the pirate (for the boys - she is very thoughtful).

I don't know if you have ever had apx 20 5-6 year old girls in your home before or not but let me tell you - they can be loud. They run, they scream, they scream, they scream, oh and they scream. They had a blast. Little kids in tights and wings fluttering around the house with about four pirates/lost boys tormenting them. It was hilarious and fun to watch.

For the first hour of the party though the true hit was Joseppie the Clown. Joseppie made balloon animals and took the demands of the kids in stride all the while wearing a huge red smile. He had a pretty good repetoire of animals as well; he made dogs, mice, giraffe's (a big hit), swords, and even one crown. He was a great help and we really appreciate him not just doing it but volunteering for the role in the first place. Shannon loved having a clown at the party and, for as long as we can keep it, she won't know his true identity. The other parents were all really impressed by Joseppie and I think he could make some good money if he were willing on occasion.

Eventually we had the cake and ice cream and then we ended the party with a mad dash for candy from the Pinata. Every kid had a ton of fun and I think the party was a huge success. Most kids parties now-a-days are held at party places like Chuck-E-Cheese (Billy Bobs Pizza here) or a Bowling Alley. By having the party at our house though the kids all got to actually play together and just have fun. Plus, with having a no present policy but having it be a dress up party all of the kids ended up getting a gift of a costume (if they didn't own one already). One of Shannon's friends, who normally won't go to the parties (due to lack of funds to by a gift) was able to come which was really cool.

Shannon was great. She was totally cool with the idea of a no present party, she seemed to play with everyone and made an effort to make all the kids feel welcome, and even shared most of her candy from the Pinata with kids who weren't able to really get any in the mad scramble. I often say she reminds me of Lisa and in this regard she is no different. I don't think I have ever met two nicer people. Now if only I could get her to give a natural smile for the camera. There are a couple more photos in our online album.

#Family #FunStuff #MyLife #Photos