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.

Feeling Empty Inside

I've been feeling empty inside for the past few weeks. Like something is missing from my life. Oh wait, something is. XM suspended Opie and Anthony for 30 days because they violated corporate policy. They weren't suspended for the Condi bit that is getting a lot of media attention, but because they talked about the situation when XM didn't want them to anymore.

A lot of loyal Opie and Anthony "pests" have voiced their displeasure by cancelling their accounts and smashing their radios. I e mailed my concerns to XM and called and complained.

Not only is the show not live till Jun 15th but XM also stopped playing all replays and Best Ofs. Since I don't get to listen to them live I rely on the replays to hear them. If you are gonna suspend them fine. But when I pay 13 bucks a month for XM, why are they punishing me by taking the show completely off their format. Opie and Anthony is pretty much the main reason I subscribed in the first place. Not only that but I signed up 3 more radios for my family to listen to XM as well.

So after voicing my opinion on how unfairly they are treating the paying XM customer, XM refunded a month of my service. Word from Opie and Anthony fan sites was that if I called to cancel they would have given me up to 3 months for free.

XM promises that they will be back on June 15th. Let's hope so for XM's sake or else they are gonna lose a lot more subscribers.

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.