Skip to main content

Shannon is 7

1 min read

P1020516.JPGSure, technically, Shannon turned seven a few days ago but last night was her party - not the boring party with her family but the fun one with her friends from school. This year she had an Idol Gives Back party to coincide with the American Idol event of the same name. The last couple of years she has tried to do something charitable and it has gone over pretty well.

Last nights party was also Shannon's first where she just invited girls from her class and not every friend she has. Thus, Emily and I were locked up stairs while the gaggle of 7 year old girls screamed at the TV when Mylie Cyrus came on and each of them had little make-overs. It sounded like they had a great time.

This past weekend we had a little family event for her with a Carvel Ice Cream Cake. This weekend Lisa's parents are going to visit so we will probably have some other little shin-ding for her then as well. I'm sure, if anyone wants to visit the following weekend, Shannon would be happy to continue the celebration through the end of the year.

My Friend Fred

5 min read

P1020513.JPGBack in the early 90's when I was in the Army I had a bunch of good friends; however, one stood out - Marcus Fiumefreddo. He is a German born guy who ended up living in the states and enlisting in the US Army while still a German citizen. Our first meeting occurred one morning when he was on "Fire Guard" and I was late for PT formation due to excessive partying the night before.

All the guys in our unit called Marcus "Fred" because the letters "fred" were buried in the middle of his last name. Typically, in the Army everyone is identified by their last name but his was so long we just shortened it to Fred. He is also an artist - though he never seems to want to admit it - specifically he typically drew fantasy art; dragons, elves, superheros, etc. It was his drawing ability that drew my eye to his desk that first morning we met. I was rushing to get out to PT and he was doodling on a notepad. I think it was a dragon but whatever it was it was cool enough to stop me in my tracks and, subsequently, get me in more trouble for being even later to PT because I was gawking at a piece of paper.

Pretty much, from that morning on, the two of us were inseparable so long as we (read: he) were not dating anyone. We did everything together; partied hard in Juarez, went to Saudi and gave Spc Livengood endless hell, got in trouble, nearly wrecked a few different trucks, painted lines in remote parking lots, played chicken, had rock fights, went to concerts, and generally just had fun.

One of his favorite stories to tell is of when we first got back from Saudi. We all had some money saved up from our sixth month deployment so Fred went out and tried to buy a new car. I think it was a Hyundai. It was late on a Friday when he went to the dealer so they couldn't process his financing application in time for the weekend. However, the dealer was certain he would be approved and suggested he take the car home for the weekend. It was our first weekend back in the states and everyone in the unit was eager to get some booze and party. I had bought a small bottle of vodka and a small bottle of gin and a big thing of juice which I subsequently drank before we even went out to the club - I was feeling really good.

Once we got to the club I opened a tab and we started to drink and found some girls to dance with. Things were going great - though I was getting really, really drunk. Finally the girls suggested we go somewhere else (back to the barracks I think) and Fred and I were ready to go. The three of them stood up and then looked at me enquiring if I was coming. I said "sure" but didn't move. I was too, I'm ashamed to admit, too drunk to really be doing anything at that point. The girls were disappointed and left. Fred got the bouncer to help get me to his sparkling new Hyundai and into the passenger seat. I buckled up. He told me that I was not allowed to throw up in his car. I assured him I would not. He drove through the parking lot, hit a speed bump, and I immediately threw up. I tried to aim out of the window but I'm not sure it was open. His new car was scarred. You can't get that smell out. It just can't be done.

That night I was as drunk as I have ever been. Once he got me back to the barracks he had the fire guard that night help drag me down to my room. I tried to refuse to get out of bed for the rest of the weekend but he and our friend Spc Meadows insisted I get up and get some food. Fred tried to clean out his car but couldn't. It was still nasty looking and stinky when we got up for work on Monday morning. When we got back from the motor pool for lunch Fred had a message waiting for him from the Hyundai dealership - his credit had been denied. That afternoon Fred took the car, vomit and all, back to the dealership. It was priceless.

I got out of the Army back in the mid 90's but Fred stayed on. He was working on getting his citizenship (if he got out beforehand he would have had to go back to Germany). I pretty much lost contact with all of my Army friends; Fred, Ellington, Oswald, Epps, Turner, Anderson, etc. They were all great guys but it just wasn't easy to stay in touch. However, every once in a while Fred and I would still communicate but that was very sporadic and only happened once every few years. Fred in the meantime got stationed in Hawaii, deployed to Haiti, got his citizenship, stationed in Colorado, deployed to Germany, and stationed in Ft Hood Texas.

Yesterday, however, we spoke on the phone again. I really don't remember the last time we spoke - though I think it was before Emily (now 4) was born. It was good to hear from my old friend and to know he is doing well. He only has a few more years left before he can retire from the Army now; which is kind of crazy to think about (I'd be a year or two closer to retiring if I had stayed in) and I'm only 35. Hopefully, this time around, we do a better job of staying in touch.

This Joe Was A Pro

8 min read

Last Friday I was presented with an unusual opportunity - I could go to the Troy Brown Fantasy Football Camp for free. Someone had paid but couldn't attend so I got to fill his slot. The camp spanned Friday night and Saturday and normally would have cost me $1000 to participate in as a player. Normally, I could never afford to go to such an event so this was a real once-in-a-lifetime type deal for me. I was, as you might imagine, very excited.

Friday night's event consisted of a reception in the Big Green room at Marshall University's Football Stadium. My wife, my kids, and I all went. We didn't know anyone there so it was a little awkward going to a party as a stranger; especially when it was apparent everyone else there knew each other (or at least most of them did). However, the food was good and the music was nice and the girls had a lot of fun. My eldest daughter particularly liked going to the bar and ordering her Sierra Mist.

Saturday morning started bright and early. I had to be at the team breakfast at 7am which was served at the local culinary school. After breakfast we were chauffeured via stretch Hummer limo to the football stadium where we took part in a mock NFL combine. The combine consisted of five different events; vertical leap, broad jump, 40 yard dash, 20 yard shuttle, and the bench press. My performance was pretty ordinary and I didn't particularly excel at anything. My vertical leap was 21" which is about what I did a few weeks ago when I was starting the P90X. My broad jump was 7' 4" (which I was actually pretty happy with). My 40 time was a pitiful 5.5 sec while my 20 yard shuttle matched it at 5.5 seconds. Finally, I managed to eek out 6 or 7 bench presses of 135 pounds each. On most of the events I was pretty average though I think most of the people there did better than me on the bench press (not too surprising really).

During the combine I did manage to pick up a nickname - "Socks" - because I was wearing tall soccer socks. I had thought we would be outside all morning and it was cold so I wore the long songs to stay warm. However, all of the combine took place inside so I was on the receiving end of some good natured ribbing.

After the combine we went outside and watched the Marshall team participate in their first pads practice of the spring and their annual "Hoot and Holler" event. The "Hoot and Holler" is basically a scenario in which the offense needs to try to move the ball down a 15 yard long alley (about 10 yards wide) and the defense tries to stop them. In reality it is an exhibition of the two sides of the team hitting each other as hard as they can and a whole lot of yelling and screaming. It was pretty cool. After the "Hoot and Holler" we had lunch and then a "draft".

P1020449.JPG.jpgThe draft was really just an announcement of what players were on what team. The two teams were coached by Troy Brown (green team) and Chad Pennington (white team). I was on the green team. After the draft the officials came in and reviewed the rules (there were a lot) and then we headed outside for about 2 hours of practice. In the practice session I learned some new names for some passing routes I had already known of by different names and we came up with a collection of offensive plays. At this point I was feeling more than a little awkward as I was moved to a offensive guard position (even though I was running my routes well and not dropping any passes). However, I think, because I was an unknown - and most of the other players knew each other - it was sort of like showing up on a new playground as a kid - I was unproven and thus not reliable yet. Next we started defensive practice and I was put on the defensive line (2 of us) and charged with blitzing the QB. In this game there are really no blockers and, in order to blitz, you need to start 7yards off the line of scrimmage. I had a lot of fun rushing the QB and trying to disrupt the plays. Likewise, I was able to drop back in coverage at times as well and break up a few passes.

Finally, the game started, and I was happy to see my dad and my youngest brother, Chris, were able to show up along with Lisa and the girls. During the first quarter I played solely on the defensive side of the ball. However, in the second quarter I was put on offense as well (as the fifth receiver) and I played pretty much the rest of the game going both ways (though I did take a few small defensive rests). However, being the fifth option the QB really didn't have many opportunities to find me behind the secondary; particularly in the second quarter. During the half time break I took a couple passes from one of our two QB's in an effort to reassure him I could, in fact, catch the football. He rewarded that effort by trying to get the ball to me twice. The first time was a beautiful deep ball (he throws a really nice spiral) into the corner of the endzone but it was a bit too wide and landed about 5-6 yards out of bounds. It was a tough throw considering he had to throw down the field, and across it, about 40 yards in the air. The second throw to me was in overtime and was also in the endzone but was too low for me to get to (hitting the turf about a yard short of me). Again, he had to make a tough throw across his body and I doubt anyone who was playing could have made a better effort at it.

P1020459.JPG.jpgOn the defensive side of the ball I was involved in a handful of tackles, I had a solo sack, and I broke up 2-3 passes plus hurried the opposing QB into making some bad passes a few times. I was really happy with my overall performance and, even better, we won the game 20-14.

Our whole team played pretty well I thought. We were up 8-0 at the end of the first half but even so we barely forced the game into overtime thanks to a last second stop on the 1 yard line when they were driving for the win. In overtime they had the ball first but an errant pass by their QB was tipped and then intercepted by our team. We then drove the ball down the field where one of the oldest players on the field caught the game winning TD (he is in his 60's). It was a great moment and a really fun game.

That night we had a formal dinner banquet and awards ceremony. Each of the guys who did the best in the combine were given a trophy and our game winning receiver was awarded the game's MVP award. I was also able to get Troy and Chad to sign a football I had previously gotten signed for my eldest daughter by Byron Leftwich. The dinner was really good and the company at our table was very friendly. By the end of the event I felt like I at least knew the majority of the guys I played with well enough to greet them on the street. Chad, Troy, and Mike Bartrum (another of the green teams coaches) were all really friendly and seemed to be genuinely nice guys.

Also during the ceremony when each player was given their certificate for participating Troy or Chad said something about each players performance. I felt pretty good about how I played and, based on most of the comments, I felt like I did a decent job (of course it could have just been my socks; he got another jab in on those as well).

One of the organizers of the event asked me to come back next year - I told him only if I could get in the same way I did this time. I just don't have $1000 to donate to any charity, even one as deserving as the Child Development Academy at Marshall University I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another fluke opportunity!

There are additional photos in this album.

A Neat Use For Twitter

1 min read

I signed up for a Twitter account a long time ago but I have never really seen much value in it. Perhaps it is because I live in a small town, or maybe it is because I have no social life, but really the micro-blogging aspect just hasn't made much sense to me.

I've tried to find a reason for it in my life. And I even occasionally use it. But until today I hadn't seen an application for it that I saw provided any value - either practical value or purely entertainment wise. However, today I came across the site StrawPoll Now which uses Twitter to broadcast a simple poll everyday and then everyone who wants can participate in it. Sure, the polls can be pretty stupid - but they are still somewhat entertaining and the implementation of the website is pretty slick.

As a technical aside StrawPoll is actually hosted by the same folks who host this website so if I had to guess I would bet the site is built in Ruby. Regardless it's a nice front end and the idea is sort of fun.

Anyone Using NetFlix?

1 min read

My older brother and I both use netflix but I'm wondering if anyone else who reads my blog uses it? They have a "friends" feature on there that could be cool for using in getting recommendations to other movies based on the stuff your friends like. So far just 2 of my brothers are on there as my friends so it would be cool to add a few more. I'm not sure of the best way to connect with others who are using netflix already but hopefully we can figure it out. I know you can click on this link to be my friend I'm just not sure if it is reciprocated or not automatically.

Skiing Fools and a Bunny

4 min read

A couple weeks ago a bunch of us went skiing. A few months ago Lisa and I had bid on a condo package at Snowshoe Mountain here in WV at the March of Dimes Chefs Auction. The condo accommodates 6-8 but I think we had 11 of us stuffed in there. The floorplan had a second floor loft bedroom with a double bed and a set of bunk beds. Lisa, Shannon, Emily, and I slept up there. The first floor had a bedroom in the back and Dad and Patty slept back there. The Joe, his girlfriend, Chris, Justin, and his fiancee' Jules slept in the common area. The quarters were pretty tight for sleeping but overall they were still pretty nice.

P1020420.JPGJoe, his girlfriend, Justin and I didn't spend much time in the condo as we tried to get a lot of skiing in. Dad and Chris didn't show up until late Friday night (we had arrived Wednesday night). Jules tried to have Justin teach her to snowboard but that didn't work out too well so she ended up taking lessons which was much more successful. Joe really didn't know much about snowboarding when he started on Thursday but he got substantially better over the four days we were out. Dad is, sadly, out of shape (or old) and couldn't ski too much on Saturday or Sunday. Chris, it turns out, doesn't really know how to ski as well I was led to believe and he almost killed himself when I took the crew of people who claimed they could ski to a black diamond run called "Cup". Cup is one of my favorite runs and I held off on going to it until I knew Joe could handle it. Sadly, however, neither Chris or Dad told me Chris couldn't ski (well, he can ski he just can't turn or stop). Cup is a pretty easy black diamond but the surface was very icy and he just barreled down the mountain scaring the shit out of me. He eventually crashed (when he had to turn) and left his skis and poles way behind. He slid across the slope and crashed into the woods. Fortunately he was OK. A little shaken and sore but luckily alive and unharmed. I helped guide him down the rest of the mountain and then we left Cup behind for safer pastures. I went back to Cup alone on Sunday and Joe and his girlfriend also went there a bit.

P1020423.JPGOn Friday Shannon took some ski lessons and then on Saturday I took her out on "Cub" run. Cub is a pretty short green (easy) slope. However, on that day it felt incredibly long. I skied backwards and watched her. She would slide about ten feet and start to pick up speed and then start chanting "Oh My Goodness! Oh My Goodness" before catching up with me and holding on for dear life. She had a blast. My knees and feet however were taking a pounding from the way I was digging in to keep my speed down. We did one run down the hill and by then my body was so sore we headed back to the cabin for lunch. Then, on Sunday I took her back out. This time we went to the same hill she had taken her lessons on and instead of skiing in front of her I skied beside her and let her hold the handle of my ski pole while I held the other end to help control her speed. We did about 10 runs and had a blast. She gained more confidence on each run and she loved going up the chair lift. On the first run she was holding the pole with a death grip but by the fifth or sixth run she was barely holding it at all. It was awesome to see her improve and enjoy it so much. That morning was my favorite part of the trip. My knees were still really sore by lunch time but nothing like they had been when we went to "Cub" run (Cub is much longer than the hill we went on on Sunday).

Mike Huckabee on Saturday Night Live

1 min read

While there are quite a few places where Mike Huckabee and I don't see eye-to-eye I do have to say he is a very good public speaker and he has a lot of charisma. It turns out he also has a good sense of humor as well as evidenced by his recent appearance on Saturday Night Live.


[swfobj src="http://rawlinson.us/blog/documents/movies/huckabee_snl.flv" height="368" width="480"]

Good Times, Good People, and Good Hockey

7 min read

P1020310.JPGWell, 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).

Two ice hockey goalies facing each otherSaturday 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.

P1020359.JPGAs 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.

Patrick KaneThe 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.

P1020379_smoothed.jpg

Rock on the Range II

1 min read

Rock on the Range FlagMark 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!

IQ Test

1 min read

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!