Happy Graduation!

My friend Ryan graduated from his Masters program at BU yesterday. Congrats Ry! I am very happy for you. And his wife Alisa just found out she has a permanent teaching job. YEAH! We can't wait to celebrate with you guys!

Fantasy Baseball

Well, this year is beginning to look like the first year I had a fantasy baseball league for me - basement dweller. I am really hoping my pitching starts to look a little better, although at this point I would take anyone to look better. I think my downfall this year was that I didn't prepare for the draft and ended up drafting players I liked rather than knew anything about their stats. Oh well, I'm still having fun as I hope everyone else in the league is.

And at least my Sox are doing great! In 1st place!

Goodbye Gilmore Girls

This week hosted the series finale of Gilmore Girls. This was a fun show about a quirky town with crazy characters centered around a mother and daughter relationship with a few hot guys thrown in (see below, although Scott Patterson is only cute with the hat on).

I really liked this show because even though it was weird it was funny, dramatic, but not overly, and it was a nice escape from all the TV with people getting blown up or competing fiercely against each other to win some crazy prize.


Plus, this week, even though it was the last episode, was extra fun to watch since my friend LB threw a GG party where we all ate like the Girls (i.e. take out chinese, pizza, chicken nuggets, ice cream, cookies, brownies, mallomars, etc.)

I thought the show was well done considering it wasn't necessarily written to be a series finale. It was funny, yet sentimental and Luke and Lorelai kissed (YEAH!) For more recaps check out:

I'm sad it's not on anymore, but at least now I can cross off another show I am addicted to.

Pandora Internet Radio

So there is this cool site: Pandora Internet Radio. You just sign up for free, tell it what artists/songs you like and it tries to create a radio station based on what you tell it. Then you can rate the songs it chooses if you like them or not and it will customize even more. You can create many stations too, so you don't have to have Aerosmith and Bach on the same station. Try it out!

And the next item up for auction is....

This sweet ride.

A new place and festivities

Sean and I found a new apartment. This is good, because otherwise we would be homeless since our current place was just a winter rental. Our new place is really nice. It is actually a condo, but the owner is renting it out so it is more like a home than an apt. We have to move again, but the place is really nice so I think it will be ok.

Soon our wedding season will start. Next month I have a shower and wedding to go to. In June
there are 2 weddings on the same day, another shower and wedding in July, another shower in August, then one wedding in September and one in October. Woo hoo! It will be fun! I love weddings, they are so much fun and everyone is so happy.

Another fun thing that is happening is a very important graduation in May. Congrats LB!

I know it's been a while

For all of you who care about this blog, I'm sorry I have been such a blogging slacker. I was sick for about 2 weeks, we had to look for an apartment, I had a conference, it was Easter, blah blah blah.

Opening Day was amazing. I was sick but nothing was going to keep me from being there, even my own stupidity. We got there just about when the festivities were starting. We got to our seats when Harry Connick, Jr. was singing "America the Beautiful." Then the Blue Angels flew overhead. How those planes just don't crash into each other is mind boggling. Then 23 of the guys who played on the 1967 Impossible Dream team came out from behind the HUGE flag that was hung on the Green Monster. They all went to their respective positions wearing their old school unis and then they threw out the first pitch to the 2007 Red Sox. It was really inspiring. And of course, Robert Goulet sang, "The Impossible Dream."

The weather was dry but COLD. Luckily, our friend Jenny lent me one of her down jackets, otherwise I would've had to spent way too much money on a sweatshirt, blanket, etc. It was overcast, but when the sun came out it was really warm. At one point during the 7th or 8th inning when it was really cold, the sun came out a little bit and everyone cheered and started chanting, "Sun! Sun! Sun!" It was hilareous.

The game itself was really fun. First of all, we won 14-3. We were playing the Seattle Mariners, Beckett vs. Jeff Weaver (aka the sucky weasel). I hate Jeff Weaver. I don't know if it's because he was a Yank or his general overall "I deserve the world" attitude. After the game, I couldn't give two hoots about Jeff Weaver. He threw something like 48 pitches in the first inning and gave up 7 runs in the first two innings, so I was pretty happy. Beckett was on fire. Considering he had to wait for a LONG time in between innings he was very good with 8 Ks. He pitched 7 innings and then they brought Donnelly in. This was where it got interesting. Donnelly is ok. And apparently, he had a personal beef with one of the Mariners, who, when he was up at bat said some words to Donnelly after he was struck out. This P.Od Donnelly who proceeded to bean then next batter on the butt. This of course led to a scuffle including the emptying of the bullpen. And who was the leader? None other than our own J.P. Papelbon lept like a racehorse out of the pen stripping off his jacket as he sprinted toward the mound. Luckily, there were no fisty cuffs as the last thing we need is for our premier closer to break his hand. It was pretty funny though.

The game was followed by a nice dinner with Sean's parents at Brasserie Jo - Yum!

I live for this!

Yeah for strawberry daquiris!

Check it out.

More substantial posts to come.

OPENING DAY TICKETS!

Just got Red Sox Opening Day tickets! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It will be cold but I don't care, it's my only game this season. I couldn't even get Yankees tix since they occur on weekends I have much more important things to do (friend's weddings!) But Opening Day! I've never been to Opening Day before! I feel like Kermit when he's introducing the first act on the Muppet Show. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And joining the great ranks of parents of twins....

No, not us stupid.

My boy!

Man those are going to be some OCD athletic babies!

New post

posted here

Sorry it didn't show up as new. I created it a while ago and just decided to post it.

What Superhero are you?

Well, at least I'm not Batman.

Your results:
You are Superman

Superman 75% The Flash 75% Supergirl 60% Wonder Woman 50% Spider-Man 50% Green Lantern 50% Robin 42% Iron Man 40% Catwoman 35% Hulk 25% Batman 25%

You are mild-mannered, good, strong and you love to help others.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

Aerosmith is better than Aretha Franklin

Horrors! Gasp you might say! How could I say that ANYONE is better than the Queen of Soul? I apologize friends, but, quite easily. I TiVoed the RnR HoF ceremony and Ms. Franklin sang a few songs as a tribute to Ahmet Ertegun who founded Atlantic Records and who passed away last year. I forget the first song she sang which was great. She then sang her hit, "Never Loved a Man (the way that I love you)" which was covered by Aerosmith on their latest studio album, Honkin on Bobo, changing the title to "Never Loved a Girl (the way that I love you)." I just like Aerosmith's version better (at least compared to Aretha's live version during the ceremony). Maybe her album version is better. It just seemed this song was too low for Ms. Franklin's range. Maybe it used to be her range, but it's not anymore.

I can't wait to watch the part about Patti Smith (she also got inducted along with R.E.M., Van Halen, Grandmaster Flash and The Ronnettes).

I love Rock and Roll (and yes, I know that is a Joan Jett song).

How many times a day do you check your email?

I figured since I know I do this too often, I would try to count the number of times I check my non-work email in a given work day. I lost count during the morning, so I tried to estimate the number of times per hour. I still lost count, so I estimated 5 times in half an hour. Let's see, for a typical 8-hour work day, that's 16 half hours times 5 which equals.....80! I am pretty sure that is too many times.

The Happy Blues

For those of you who know me, you know that the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band is one of my (other) favorite bands. I just bought 10 Days Out, Kenny's newest CD/DVD set. I just put the DVD on while I was making dinner since I couldn't decide what to play on my iTunes library (sometimes too much makes it impossible to decide - one of the reasons I don't own an iPod, I can't decide what would be worthy enough to go on it). So I just finally sat down to watch some of it and I was just watching the part about Etta Baker. She is so cute and can play a sweet guitar. She learned from her dad, doesn't read music, and played her best song that came to her in a dream. She plays "happy blues" (aka Piedmont Blues) instead of the Delta blues. She is probably about 80-something years old and as happy as a clam (sidenote - are clams really happy?) I just love the blues. It can mostly fit any mood you are in: Happy, calm, mad, sad, agitated, gleeful, whatever else you can think of.

This is a fantastic disc. If you like the blues, or think you might like the blues, buy this CD.

Flatbread

Mmmmm. We are getting Flatbread pizza for dinner tonight. It is YUMMY! I love pizza. Pizza pizza pizza. Plus it's the weekend so I don't have to work, work, work. Tomorrow we are headed to the Boston area to have dinner with my In-laws (Weird, they are now my in-laws) since it is my FIL's birthday. I will also attempt to get my lazy ass to the gym since I haven't been in about 3 weeks. - Hey, at least I can watch spring training!!!

Buying a house is a nightmare

Some of you know we were in the process of looking for a house and actually found a decent one in Portland. However.......

Buying a house is a nightmare mostly because you search forever and find a house you agree is nice enough to live in, in a good enough area, and even though it has some cracks in it, as long as the seller installs a radon mitigation system, fixes the hot water heater so it's not a bomb and bolts the toilet to the floor, you are still going to go through with the sale. However, the seller and/or the seller's agent then decides to be a TOTAL ASSHOLE and refuses to negotiate with you any further. So then you try to terminate your contract and you basically have to sign all these forms that you will never go after the seller to try to get the money back you paid to have the structural engineer come out to tell you that even though the cracks in the foundation go all the way through, the house is still structurally sound; even though if you knew the seller and/or seller's agent was a LYING P.O.S. when they told you they agreed to your terms earlier, but instead they totally didn't, you never would have had the structural engineer come out to the house anyway and would have terminated the contract right then and there.

Fuckers.

On the upside - who needs to be saddled with a mortgage at this point? We can save so much more money by renting and then we can afford to buy something we REALLY like. We might even be able to go sweat out asses off during a stage of the Tour de France.

Quitting time!!

Yeah!!! Now I get to go to my job where I actually interact with people!!!

Loss

One of my best friend's dad passed away a little while ago. He had been sick for a while but it's still hard when the end comes. There was a very nice service and a loving eulogy was read. Despite the bitter wind, it was a sunny day. I just wanted to say we all love you and are here for you whenever you need us.

Being sick and wedding video

**WARNING** The first half of this post is whiney but I swear it gets better by the end.

Yuck. I have been sick for the past week and a half. I am starting to get better but now Sean is getting sick which is no good. When your sick, the whole world sucks. I didn't go to work one day, I left early another day due to a coughing fit I had on the phone, your nose gets sore from so many kleenexes and you're usually in a fog most of the time. Like I said yuck. But, soon it's over and you can get back to your regular life.

On a completely different note, we got our wedding video yesterday. IT IS AWESOME!!!! I am so glad we had it done. The woman who did it for us did a great job, she put a great soundtrack to it and used some cool effects. It was great to watch it and see how happy everyone was. It starts with the rehearsal and ends with the reception. I was really amazed that so many people were smiling so often. There are some pretty funny parts too, like I had asked Sean to get the loop for my wrist from my train, and he's searching for it with an expression on his face like, "Really, there's a loop hidden in all these layers?"

So thank you all again for being part of our wonderful day.