Springfield, Vermont

For years the mystery to many a Simpsons fan was in what state they live in. The creators teased us many times but never spilled the beans. We were left to wonder where is this magically Springfield with Moe's Tavern, the remains of the once hyped monorail, and the Kwik E Mart?

Well wonder no longer for Springfield Vermont was proclaimed the Simpsons' hometown after winning an online poll to host the movies' premiere.

Springfields in Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon and Tennessee were also in the running but failed to get as many votes as the small town in Vermont.

Vermont's Springfield -- which has a bowling alley, a pub, a prison and a nuclear power plant just down the road -- wasn't initially part of the contest, but a local Chamber of Commerce
executive appealed to movie producer 20th Century Fox and the race was on.

Springfield Vermont has a population of 9,300 and the movie theater showing the premiere only has 212 seats.

Home Improvements

It was a busy weekend for me. Saturday Buck came over and put in some recessed lighting in our bedroom. We had 6 lights put in. 2 on the left, 2 on the right, and then 2 above our bed. The ones above our bed are on a different fader from the others. So that is a nice feature.

I "helped out" which consisted of standing there and talking to him while he did all the work. I'd had him a random tool or light fixture from time to time.

Our ceiling fan in the bedroom had been making noise on and off for a while now. Sometimes you wouldn't hear anything and other times there would be this loud clanging noise. It was so annoying that the noise would wake us up or keep us up to the point that we would have to turn it off. So I picked up a new fan from Lowe's and put it up myself. It took me pretty much all day to do cause 1) it was the first time I've ever hung a fan and 2) I'm not handy at all. The down bar on the fan I took down was smaller than the one I was putting up so I had to go back to Lowe's and buy a bigger one. So that took me a little while to switch out.

I got everything up and power to the fan. Knowing myself I was almost certain that when I flipped the switch it wasn't gonna work. To my surprise it came right to life, but it wobbles a little bit. So Buck is gonna come over today and try to balance it out for me. I tried for like an hour to balance it but just couldn't get it to be wobble free. I was proud of myself that I got the old fan down, the new one up and working and I didn't kill myself doing it.

Happy Birthday Shannon

Today is Shannon's 2nd birthday.

Happy Birthday to my little angel.

Best gifts so far, her Dora chair, the Cozy Coupe car, and a basketball hoop.

14 Years Of Bad Luck???

I know you get 7 years of bad luck for breaking a mirror, but what about a window?? Does that tack on another 7 years???

On Saturday we had a BBQ to celebrate mine and Shannon's birthday. We ended the night with some fireworks in the front of the house. One of them misfired and shot at the house. I didn't even see it happen cause it hit behind me.

Apparently it directly hit my guest bedroom window broke through the first pane of glass and then bounced off the second pane and landed on the ground and exploded. If it had broken through the second pane it would have exploded inside the house.

The worst part is that a few of my friends got hurt when the firework exploded on the ground including a little girl. It rips me up inside that someone got injured because of something I participated in. It was completely an accident and there was nothing I could have done but this doesn't help me with the guilt I am feeling.

The guilt has almost brought me tears several times because of what that little girl and her family must now experience. There is nothing that I can do and there aren't enough ways for me to apologize to make me feel better. She is gonna be ok but it will still be something that is gonna haunt me for a while.

This is something that has really shaken me up over the past few days. You never think that things like this can happen to you but they do. So on this 4th of July if you are gonna set off fireworks and watch them be more careful. Take an extra step back and be prepared for anything that could happen.

Was Gonna Happen Sooner Or Later

Check out what happened to my side view mirror today. Erin was pulling out of the garage and got a little too close to the right wall.

I've had the Jeep for about 7 months now and this is the second time we have to get something fixed cause of our own stupidity.

First repair was getting the entire back gate re-painted when I accidentally opened the garage when it was open. Metal met metal and the gate lost. Got this nice big long scratch in it that almost broke the back windshield if I hadn't stopped the door in time.

An Exciting Day

Yesterday was an exciting day for us. Shannon had her last orthopedic check up on her feet. The doctor said that everything looked fine and that she is pretty much done with the rehab. He recommended that we come back in a year for another check up if we notice any changes.

Shannon was born with her feet turned in (otherwise known as club foot) and needed to have them corrected. Basically her heel cords formed too tightly while she was in the womb and this didn't allow her feet to straighten out as she grew. Ever since she was a month old the correction process has been ongoing and finally ended on Thursday.

First came two full leg casts that were on for months, then a heal cord lengthening operation, then more casting. After the casts came off the second time she had to wear the famous Dennis Brown bar. This is a pair of shoes with a bar between them to keep her feet straight.



She wore this device for over a year. She had to wear it all day for the first few months and then only when she slept. As she grew, the shoes would have to be replaced for bigger one. We actually kept the smaller shoes and one of them is a door stop for Shannon's room.

After she outgrew the last pair we decided that it was time to go without them. She was walking and running without a problem. Both of her feet remained flexible although one is tighter than the other.

Yesterday confirmed what we thought and this almost 2 year process in over. A happy day indeed.

Lots Going On

I'm sure Patry is pissed at me for my blog absence of late but I swear I have been really busy. Don't hate me Dave. :)

June 6th thru the 8th I spent in New York City. Went up to the Time Warner Center to see how the Vista software is run in New York compared to how I run it here in Atlanta. I also got a tour of the whole place including all the sets and control rooms. As part of my trip I also got to sit in while the night time shows were being produced. It was a nice way to spend 3 days and have the company pay for it.

Other things:

• Saw Ezra twice during my trip. The first night we went out for some drinks at one of his favorite bars and caught the Yankees, Mets, and saw the Ducks win the Stanley Cup. On my third day there we went to an Irish pub for lunch.
  
• Second day I met up with my dad and step mom for lunch. Had my first Whole Foods experience for dinner. Good, fresh food and the place was packed.
  
• I stayed at the Hudson Hotel. Second time I've stayed here. First was for Lof's bachelor party. Strange hotel with its modern look. The room was really small and the place was crawling with Europeans.

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Last week Erin, Shannon, and I spent in Buffalo. I flew home from New York on Saturday, took the train back to my car, drove home, dumped my dirty clothes and packed some clean ones, dropped Daisy off at Buck's house, and then flew to Buffalo. Very busy day. Luckily all the flights were on time and everything went like clockwork and just as planned.

Got to spend time with my dad, brother, and two step mothers. Shannon loved all the attention from the grandparents and all the gifts.

Most of the week was spent finding different things to entertain Shannon with. She had a play date that my step mom set up where she did her first finger painting, swam and splashed in a kiddie pool, and went to a place called Leaps N' Bounce. Leaps N' Bounce was basically this warehouse filled with these blow up moon bounce kind of things. Shannon had a great time running around and Erin and I even joined in on the bouncing. Shannon really liked the ones that had slides to them.

Played golf (for the first time in 9 years) with my dad and brother. We played best ball or else we would have been there all day. Only did 9 holes and I played as rusty as I should have been. I did have one nice shot on a hole we played twice. The first time I played it I hit two balls into the water. Second time we played it I drove the ball right onto the green with a 5 iron.

On Friday we went into Canada and spent the day at Niagara On The Lake. Really nice English style town with shops and restaurants. Kind of the place that Port Jeff should be like but they could never pull it off. They also had a park with a water fountain. Kids were playing in it so we stripped Shannon down to her diaper and she had a great time splashing and chasing the other kids around.

Erin and I even got to go out and see two movies. While Shannon slept the grandparents kept watched and we snuck out the the theater. We saw Knocked Up and Oceans 13. We liked Knocked Up, it was funny, but thought it could have been a little shorter. Oceans 13 was a little slow and just didn't seem to be as fun as the first one was.
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Finally.....Opie and Anthony are back on XM and all is right with the world again.