New TV

Erin told me to start thinking of something I would want for Father's Day and my birthday. Both are in June so she usually combines both days into one gift. I've wanted to upgrade the TV in our bedroom for a while.

Some nights I was forced to watch hockey up in the bedroom and I could barley see the puck from my bed. When the action would heat up I'd have to stand right in front of the TV to see the puck clearly. Very annoying. So I decided it was finally time to replace the TV.

Delivered to my door yesterday was a brand new 26 inch Panasonic LCD HDTV. I wanted to get the 32 inch but after measuring the cabinet it had to fit in, I was only .3 inches off from fitting it. Crushing. Erin chipped in for a third of the price and I'm paying off the rest. I ordered it using a special deal I get from work so we got a pretty good price on it.

It is our first LCD and HDTV in the house. We currently don't have HDTV service from Directv yet, so for now I'll just have to enjoy the LCD goodness of it. To enhance the signal that we are getting I hooked everything up with an S-Video connection.

The TV this one is replacing has to easily be almost 20 years old. The buttons on the front of it for power and volume are smashed into the unit.

The difference in clarity and quality of the picture between the two are amazing. Erin doesn't seem to be as excited as I am about it though. While I'm blown away by the picture and sound she just kind of shrugs her shoulders. Women.

Boys Weekend

This past weekend a few of my friends from high school came to Atlanta for a visit. This past fantasy football season there was a hefty bet made. Whatever team had the best finish, the others would have to buy him a steak dinner at his place of choice.

Charley, Lof, Lupo, and Nancy came down to celebrate me. Ezra and OP were also scheduled to come down but they couldn't make it. We dubbed the celebration "Boys Weekend."

Highlights from the weekend:

• Flights land Friday night, everyone arrives safely. I take Charley and Lof with me and we get out of the parking lot in no time. Buck drives Lupo and Nancy. He inserts ticket into the machine, it eats it, and the parking attendant won't let him out. What was gonna cost him 2 bucks will now cost him 28 for a lost ticket fee. They finally get the ticket out of the machine and then charge him 4 bucks to leave.


• My group makes it to Smith's Old Bar for some food and drinks. The second group shows up a half hour later because of the parking fiasco.


• BBQ at my house on Saturday afternoon. Everyone hangs out in the backyard drinking beers and eating dogs and burgers. Shannon plays with her new bubble machine. We broke out the photo albums and laughed at the outfits we used to wear to Steve Miller Band concerts.
  
• Dinner at The Palm Saturday night. 9 people total. I have the 28 oz Porterhouse. They have to pay for it. Food is good, not great. Appetizer platter of different seafood items was really good. Our waitress can't stop saying awesome. The bill comes out to over $1000 with tip.


• Out for drinks after dinner. We try to find a bar that has the fight on in Buckhead with no luck. So we go to an Irish bar named Fado for a few beers.


• Went to the Braves/Dodgers game on Sunday. Braves win. After the game we went to Centennial Olympic Park to walk around. There was a Hispanic festival going on so the park was packed with people.

Overall a great weekend for everyone involved. Lots of food, fun, and great friends.

Trip to Buffalo

This past weekend Erin, Shannon, and I went up to Buffalo to visit my family. The main reason we went up was to see the Rangers take on the Buffalo Sabers in game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

My dad won luxury box seats for the game and it was a very cool experience. I've never seen a sports event from a box so I was excited. Our seats were right at center ice. The suite was stocked with all kinds of food from chicken wings to jumbo shrimp to cookies. The beer was a plenty. Labatt Blue was my choice of drink as I relived some old college days.

The game was good. The Rangers scored first. Of course I was in the private bathroom and missed the goal. The Sabres came back and won the game in the end.

The most annoying thing was the walk back to the car. All the Sabre fans were beeping their horns to "lets go buffalo." The sound of the car horns echoed throughout the parking deck and seemed to get louder and louder.

iPod Habit

Is it wrong that I can't remember the last song I've heard on my iPod?? I listen to my iPod every day, but I can't remember the last song I listened to. I've been so fixated on podcasts that I almost don't listen to my music anymore.

I'm loving the free podcasts. I get to listen to New York sports radio like Mike and the Mad Dog and Michael Kay. Get my hockey fix from the Barry Melrose and my comedy from the Man Show.

I subscribe to most of these and when the update runs and a new episode doesn't pop up I get pissed off. Especially the daily ones. I feel like I'm getting robbed.

Podcasts currently on my iPod:

Barry Melrose
Mike and the Mad Dog
Michael Kay
Man Show
French Maid TV
Talking Metal
Opie and Anthony Experience

Good Job

A few words have been trickling out of Shannon's mouth from time to time. "No" seems to be one that she has the best handle on so far.

Just recently she started saying "good job." Usually when Shannon did something like shared a toy or stacked some blocks we would encourage her with a "good job" comment. Now when she does it herself she tells herself "good job." Very cute. It also reminds me that maybe she is paying a little more attention to the things that are being said around the house. Daddy is gonna have to start watching what he is saying.

Hockey

This the best time of the year for hockey. The playoffs bring out the fans and the intensity of the game. My biggest issue so far this playoff season is that the Rangers are playing the Thrashers.

The Rangers are by far my favorite team. the team of my childhood. The Thrashers are my hometown team, and because we live in Atlanta the team we get to see more often. I'd love to see the Thrashers do good, but not at the expense of my Rangers.

I went to both games 1 and 2. Games that the Rangers won. The building was electric. The fans were the loudest I'd heard for a hockey game ever. It is the Thrashers first time in the playoffs so people are excited. I didn't sit back in my seat once during the games.

I wore my Rangers jersey to both games and Erin and Shannon wore their Thrashers stuff. Since moving down here Erin seems to have more of a connection with the Thrashers now.

I don't see the Rangers sweeping but I do see them winning this series. Sean Avery is already under the skin of the Thrashers and it showed in Game 2. I love Avery. I didn't know much about him when the Rangers traded for him but he is awesome. He is the kind of guy you hate unless he is on your team. He pisses off the other teams so much that they get off their games and start going after him. If the Rangers had gotten him earlier I think they would have finished even higher in the standings. He really added something to the Rangers that they didn't have. An intensity that they had lacked for a long time.

So either way I can't lose in this round of the playoffs. I'd love to see the Rangers win it, but if the Thrashers win then I'll be happy to...and I'll get to go to more playoff games here in Atlanta.

2 Hours Of My Life

Yesterday I lost 2 hours of my life that I will never, ever, ever, get back. I actually got out of work a little bit early and had a few things I wanted to get done on my way home. I usually go right from work to daycare to pick up Shannon but I was hoping to squeeze in an oil change on the way.

So I hit the highway running and found out there was an accident up ahead. So I plugged in my navigator and started looking for alternate routes. I tried 3 different ways and each one was slammed with traffic. Apparently the accident had shut down the highway for hours and the backup had been building for a while. So the normally 30 minute drive took me 2 hours as I creeped along many different side streets in bumper to bumper traffic. I just wanted to shoot myself in the head so I wouldn't have to sit in it anymore.

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The drive back home this past weekend went smoothly. No problems at all. Shannon was pretty much tired of sitting in the car and let us know about it. We drove through snow flurries in both Virginia and Tennessee.

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Easter was good. Shannon hated having her dress on. As soon as Erin put it on her she started crying. She was pulling on the collar of it trying to get it off. We went to church but it was so packed we had to leave. It was so packed we ended up in a hallway where we couldn't even hear the service.

We then had some friends over for dinner. I got a Honeybaked mini ham and we made some side dishes. Overall it was a successful dinner considering we put it together in a few hours after spending a week away from the house.