Best Hockey Game Ever

Last Friday I went with some friends (Dale and Nichol) to watch the Rampage. Now, I go all of the time, but this night turned out to be what is likely the best game ever. The Rampage were playing the Iowa Chops (formerly the Iowa Stars?) and I have to say that it was awesome!  the only bummer was that Kasey decided not go go with us.  :(

When we got there, we checked with the helper people (not really sure what they are called) about playing an intermission game. They said that the only game that they had a slot open for is Dance for your Dinner. The prize was a $50 gift certificate to Boston's Pizza. Dale was chicken, but I signed up right away. I thought about it, but it end up that I have no shame. They told me that they would come and get me right before the first intermission.

After this, we headed to our seats, which were AWESOME. Second row, near the goal.

After the game started, ten seconds in, the fighting began. When it starts this early, you can tell that the teams have a beef with each other and that they will be playing hard core. The Rampage scored 1 goal the first period and then I was off to Do a Little Dance, Make a Little… Well dance…

Check it.

The guy I was dancing against, Les, was not really into it and only did it because his wife made him. You can see him in the back of the video in a white t-shirt like mine and a Kangol. When it was over, the announcer asked the crowd to cheer if they thought that Les was the best. There was a lame smattering of applause. Next the announcer asked if they thought mine was the best and the crowd went NUTS! I have to say, it is REALLY cool to be standing in front of several thousand people and have them all cheer for you. What a rush!

I won the gift certificate, but was told that it would be mailed to me in like 2 weeks. I did get to keep the rampage shirt though. Sweet!

After more fights and four more goals by the Rampage, we were told that we would all be getting free fries from Chick-Fil-A. Apparently they have a deal that if the Rampage score more than four goals in a game, everyone gets fries. I was pretty hungry, but found that we really just got a coupon to go get them later.

Anyway, it was awesome and here are some more pics.

Stevenson rocks.  He is Kasey's favorite.

Melrose Place

It seems that the CW network is talking about a new incarnation of Melrose Place! I read about this yesterday and I am pretty stoked. I loved Melrose back in the day and if this goes through, my domains melroseplace.tv and melroseplace.org may become lucrative. Of course I really need to get some content and start driving some traffic there. Sweet!

Party like a Rock Star

So, the other day, I tried a Rockstar energy drink for the first time. MAN those get me all kinds of hyper and they taste good too. Now, I just had the regular one, but I am interested in trying the juice ones. I have a pomegranate one, but I think one a day is my limit. After drinking it, I feel like I have enough caffeine for a week!

I looked online and compared the caffeine content to other drinks and one 16 ounce can is equivalent to 4 red bull cans (the small ones), 4.7 cokes, or about two cups of STRONG coffee. On top of that it has Ginko, and Guarana included that give you more energy.

It seems to also do a good job of curbing my hunger.

Pretty cool. J

New Phone

Today I got a new phone, a Blackberry Curve. My Blackberry 8700 served me well, but the Curve is much cooler and above all has a camera. Now I can show you guys the cool stuff I see every day! (I know that you are waiting with bated breath). It has GPS too. The only thing that this is missing is WiFi, but I have not figured out what it would be good for other than browsing the web faster.

I am super stoked. I may even pee myself.

As a treat to you guys, here is a pic of my cube at work. (Fun eh?)

I have been looking forward to New Phone Day for a long time.  (New Phone Day is the day that your contract is up and you can get another phone from your provider at a discount)

Nothing Going On

So I seem to be at a point in life where it feels like I have nothing interesting going on. Everything is pretty much regular. This is surely just how it seems for the now. I know that if I sat here and thought about it that I could come up with something interesting.

I know that I should just chill though. I need to just sit back and relax and enjoy this time. I mean, every single event in my life has built up to this one moment, right? It's because of it all, that I can sit here and tap these words on the keyboard, and I am thankful. I have my family, health, friends… That's great, but I do wish that I had some adventure in my life. Not drama mind you, that is completely different. It would be awesome though to spend some time in Mexico or even just to go camping for a while.

Having "nothing going on" does not mean that I have nothing to do however. I am super busy! Just nothing interesting, I guess.

Whatever.

Self Surgery Update

Man, this is not working.

Now I have a big mole with three strings tied around it. It had swollen up and got all nasty like it was going to work, but now it is pretty much normal. Of course, now I have the problem of three strings that I cannot get off.

I am totally going to have to just cut that bad boy off with a razor. I will not be able to do it, and I have to say that I am a little worried that whoever is going to do it will either not cut fast or smoothly enough and it will hurt a lot OR that they will not cut close enough to the skin and I will end up with a little mole lump left over. Gross.

People keep telling me to go to the doctor, but NO. This has become a mission now. What do you people think? Add another string? Cut it off? Go to the doctor? Anything I have not thought of?

Bee Girl

So, I was watching the Blind Mellon "No Rain" video the other day and I was wonder to myself "Hey, that bee girl reminds me of someone I know… I wonder what ever happened to the bee girl in real life…"

Ok, I know that she was just an actor, but whatever. I have a thought in my head and Google at my fingertips. Let's find out.

Ends up that her name is Heather DeLoach and she has an entry in Wikipedia and all that stuff. The Wikipedia entry also had a link to her myspace. Anyway, to make a long story short, now she is my friend on myspace.

Yeah, I know. I am cool. You are jealous. Wipe that envy green off your face.

;)

Paddle-less in a creek

The past several months I have been watching the financial industry and learning as much as I can about the whole economic crisis that we are in. I have been reading and listening and learning. After all of that I have learned one thing that is for sure: We are in trouble. Way up the creek and no paddles in sight. The ropes that the government is throwing at the problem have weights tied to one end and a shaky stick in the ground tied to the other. We are in serious trouble.

On the news the analysts and other people are saying that this is going to be a big recession, but not a depression. Honestly, I think that they do not want to admit that a depression is coming because they are too scared of what that will really mean.

This is the stuff that wars are made of. World Wars.

I am not saying that I have an answer to this, because I honestly think that there is not one. The only answer is to not have gotten into this situation in the first place.

Gordon Gekko said "Greed is Good" (Wall Street – 1987). Greed spurs development and innovation. It is the desires that we have that drive us and make the world what it is. The problem comes when we fool ourselves into believing that something that is clearly bad is a good thing because we made a few bucks or got a new house. It's all one of those too good to be true things.

If that is the way you think it should be, have I got a Ponzi scheme for you!

As I watch the DOW drop below 9000 yesterday and probably below 8000 today and into 7000 next week it gives me this feeling that I have not had for a while.

Not for some years.

This is the same feeling that I had as I watched the towers fall on 9/11, but in slow motion. Instead of hours, this is taking months and we are still in the middle of it.

This makes me want even more to just get in a boat and go.

Television

Last night I was outside turning on the water for my sprinkler. It was a beautiful night and I thought to myself "Man, I really need to spend more time outside". This got me thinking about the plight of the American (or as George W. would say "the 'Marican"). It used to be that we knew our neighbors, but now, we have a National Night Out, where we need to make a point to get to know our neighbors. (National Night out in Texas is tomorrow folks, so take some time to stand out in your front yard and wonder why you are the only person in sight.)

Anyway, it was a beautiful night and I had paused Smallville (on DVD) so that I could mess with the sprinkler. I started thinking of how I wanted to do more outside, but how I also enjoy watching TV. I thought of how people on TV always have time to do things that are interesting in one way or another (and they always have tons of money to do it with) and I realized: People on TV never watch TV.

Americans spend their evenings sitting around living vicariously through the box that their furniture is pointed at. They hardly go outside and have nothing to talk about other than what was on TV.

In just a few moments I can think of a bazillion things that I can do other than watch TV. I could read, I could play a game with friends, I could kill ninjas on the Playstation, I could go camping, I could go hiking, I could talk to some friends, I could … You get the idea.

Why do I always feel so busy and feel like I have not accomplished anything?

I hate the TV, but I love stories.

I guess it is like anything though, you need to take it in moderation.

Watching shows on DVD is a real killer though, since the next episode is right there, just waiting for you… Grr…

I want to live more life than watch it happen to other, fictional, people. We only get one life and it has an expiration date that we don't know…

Illegal Immigration Today

So, the Wall Street Journal had an article today about how the slowing U.S. economy is causing a new wave of immigration OUT of the U.S. of illegal aliens.

I had not really thought about this, but it seems obvious. A lot of the workers do manual labor and as home construction slows and budgets tighten, there will simply be less work.

It seems to me that we can now save billions of bucks on the Secure Fence Act of 2006.

That's great! More money for healthcare. Less money for the KGB, uh, I mean DHS… ;) (Department of Homeland Security)

The New Evil in My Life

So, this week I have discovered the SoBe Elixer: Yumberry Pomegranate. It is super good. I say that it is evil because it is $1.65 at work and I feel as if I need one every day. They recently started giving us free coffee here, so I have been using my coffee change that I have at my desk to buy them, but I am almost out of change. I only have about enough for one more and after that I will have to use real money.

I don't even know what a Yumberry is, but it has such a hold on my life that I cannot imagine living without it. I have not had this feeling in my life since I got my Blackberry, or my iPod or my TiVo before that. There are just things in life that you cannot get by without, yet you did fine before it was in your life. (I call those times the "Dark Ages")

I mean, what did people do before microwave ovens? It's just one of those things that after it becomes yours, you know that it has a permanent place in your life.

The sad part is that the Yumberry Pomegranate comes into your life for only a short time. Once you drink it all, you have only a memory of the Yumberry goodness in your heart. While it is uplifting for the day, tomorrow it is gone and you have to have another one.

It is not fair. It is evil. I love it so.

Self Surgery Update

I'll tell you what; this thing will just not go away!

Ok, so I do not have a lot of time, but here is a quick update, I have now tied a total of three strings around the mole, but it is still there. Each time there was a string put on it, it would swell to about the size of a pea and be very turgid (word of the day, look it up). Now though it seems to have shrunk to about half the size and is more flaccid (word of the day for tomorrow, look it up), but it is still holding strong.

I can pinch it and everything, and it has no feeling what so ever, so I am thinking more and more of just taking a razor to it.

I am sure that if I just put another string on it and wait, it will fall off, but I am getting impatent.