Land Shark!!

Bachelor Party #1

2011-04-20T21:57:00.001-04:00

Well, my blogging skills are severely lacking these days, but I thought I would post this at least, as I am waiting for the Pens and the Lightning to begin OT in game 4.

I have had a big change at work, and have spent 14 hours more than I normally do at work the last 8 days. So, that means I am in need of a huge break. Well, I am getting that this weekend. Tomorrow I leave for FL, where we will have a long weekend of debauchery for my Bachelor Party #1!

It all culminates in the Buffett concert on Sat. night. I am very excited and can't wait! Now let's go Pens!!

Have a seat, Matt Cooke

2011-03-21T09:05:00.000-04:00

There are a number of other things that I have been planning on blogging about, but I just can not let this issue go without comment. I refrained from saying anything yesterday after the terrible elbow to the head that Matt Cooke put on a Ranger in yesterday's game, shown nationally on NBC. However, it is still bothering me this morning, especially after just reading this article.

Matt Cooke was quoted in an article yesterday morning about head shots and specifically about the committee that was set-up. He stated:

"I think it's a great thing ... they're going to do what's best, or at least recommend what's best, not only for the game, but also the players."

Then several hours later, in a competitive, close game, he goes out and does exactly what everyone in the hockey world has been talking about all week. In addition, he does exactly what the Penguins leadership, owners and managers, have come out and said should not be a part of the game!!

I used to be a Cooke fan because he plays the game with such intensity and is willing to do whatever it takes to help his team win. He is crucial on the penalty kill, helping the Pens become the best PK in the NHL, and he has a great forecheck getting in the zone and creating mayhem. He is not an identified goon, who has a specific role, he actually has some hockey skills, as evidenced by this goals and assists totals.

Despite saying that, it is unnecessary hits, like his flying elbow to the head, that do not belong in the game of hockey. Did he learn nothing from the Trevor Gillies incidents?!? As much as I think he helps the Pens and makes them a better team, if he is going to make bone-head plays like the hit yesterday, I don't want him playing for my team.

Neglect...

2011-02-22T17:47:00.001-05:00

Well, I certainly have been neglecting my blog lately. I got back into it after a little time off, got used to writing and posting again, and then it just dropped off.

I have downloaded the Android Blogger app, so I am trying that now. We'll see if that helps anything... I finally got some pictures uploaded, so hopefully I will get my Superbowl post up soon. I think it has been enough time that I can now relive my trip without feeling too disappointed.

In the mean time, here are 2 pictures from our trip to VT last weekend where we got to skate and play hockey on a private pond! Very cool!!

*Edit: The photos aren't uploading properly... guess the bugs aren't worked out of the app...

Movember Update # 4

2010-11-30T22:00:00.001-05:00

Well, today is the last day of Movember. To some it is a sad day and to others it is a very happy day (Kristi!!) For me, it is a little bit of both. I am sad that the month has come to an end and I may have to shave my 'stache soon, but I am very happy that I have received almost $600 in donations for a wonderful cause. Thank you to all of you who have supported The Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG!! I was very happy to lend my upper lip to the cause as well. The month might be over, but if you haven't given yet, they will not turn away your generosity if you Click Here!!

Now before I show you what a month of hard work growing my 'stache looks like, I need some help. There is a big party for all the Mo Bro's and Mo Sista's who participated in Movember. We are supposed to come dressed in a costume that goes with our 'stache. I have 2 options right now, and would love to hear others if you all have them. Please vote in the comments!

1. Magnum P.I. / Hawaii 5-0

2. A cowboy

So, without further ado, here is what I look like after a month, so which costume will be the best??

Magnum P.I. or a Cowboy??

Thank you again to all the fabulous people who donated to me!!

Movember Update # 3

2010-11-23T13:16:00.000-05:00

This week's Movember Update is even later than last week! It's amazing how time just slips away. Hopefully later this week I will have an update about our trip to the 'burgh and the 2 wins that we saw by the Pens and the Steelers!!

But first, I haven't gotten as many donations this week as I would have liked, but I am just shy of $275. We are heading in to the final week of the month, so I hope that those of you who have not donated will step up! It is Thanksgiving time and we should all be giving thanks (and a donation) to the organizations that are working towards cures for cancer in men. This is a good way to honor someone, by making a donation to the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong.

Click Here to Donate!!!

I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving! I am headed to Cashiers for the long weekend with family. We will also be doing a bunch of wedding planning. More to come on that as well!

Quiet House...

2010-11-18T12:00:00.003-05:00

This week has been very quiet around my house! Kristi has been in Chicago for work and all of the animals are at their respective grand parents. Max and Chloe went back to Pittsburgh because Max had to get the staples out of his leg. (Which the vet said was looking good!) Not wanting the cats to be left by themselves for too long at Thanksgiving, K's parents have taken them back to NJ. Sushi has been doing her best imitation as a secretary for K's Dad!

So all of that, means that no one has been home except for me!! What a difference it is to have the house all to myself... I can't remember the last time this happened. It seems that ever since Kristi moved in, either she or the animals were there. It is very sad to come home to an empty house. I am used to some kind of animal waiting by the door to be petted or fed!

I am not necessarily complaining about the lack of animals, because it is a nice break from the responsibilities that having animals brings! But thankfully my alone time will end tonight, as I am picking K up at the airport and we are driving up to Pittsburgh for a big sports weekend with the Pens and Steelers!!

Movember Update # 2

2010-11-15T16:45:00.002-05:00

This update is a little late, but I was pretty busy on Sunday and then the travesty of that football game last night occurred. Big new financially, I am just shy of the $200 mark!! THANK YOU to all who have donated to my awesome 'stache! Keep up the good work and spread the news to others. Those of you who haven't donated yet, this is only the half-way mark in the month, so there is plenty of time to give to the campaign to benefit The Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong.

Click Here to Donate!!!

Don't pay any attention to my expression, this was after the Steelers loss...

As you can see, it is beginning to fill in nicely. By the end of the month, it will hopefully be a respectable 'stache!

A Bike Ride and Yards Park

2010-11-12T15:46:00.001-05:00

I was fortunate to have yesterday off of work due to the Governments honor of our veterans. I used the day to get a few things done for wedding planning, but since it was a gorgeous November day, I also went for a bike ride. I am going to be doing a rotation for about 6 weeks at a different location for work, so I thought I would try several routes that I could use to bike to work. I mapped them out on the computer and it looked like there were 2 options and they both were about the same distance. One route crossed over the Potomac to the north and the other to the south.

I figured that I could make a nice 24 ish mile loop out of them and see which I liked better. The north route is similar to a route that I used about 4 years ago, so I thought I would start with the south one. This took me over the Wilson Bridge towards the National Harbor and then up through Oxon Hill Farm. This was one area from the map that I was a little worried about, but it turned out to be a pretty good trail. When I made it to my new work site, I was pretty happy with the south route. I wasn't convinced that it was better than the north route though, so off I went to continue the second half of my loop.

One thing that I forgot to bring with me was my government ID, so I couldn't follow the exact route that I was going to take north. When I made it back home, I decided that the north route was probably going to be the best way for me to ride. They both have advantages, and I may try them both, but I think the north one wins for best commuter route.

As I rode past Nationals Park, I decided that I would take a detour and head over to the newly opened Yards Park. This is a great website, Near Southeast, with lots of information about the park (as well as all things Southeast!!) It was such a nice day that I walked around and enjoyed this little spot on the Anacostia. I took a bunch of pictures of the park. I highly recommend that you take the time to go check it out! It is a hidden gem along a neglected river. The one thing that will make this park even better is if the city can work with the Navy to allow access all along the river up to the 11th Street bridges. What a great boardwalk area that would be!

Fountain at the front of the park

The bridge in the park

The view of the light tower with the Navy Yard in the background

The view of the bridge with the fountan and waterfall in the background

The boardwalk looking towards the Navy Yard

Movember Update # 1

2010-11-07T15:46:00.000-05:00

Well, I said I was going to update on Fridays, but I may switch that to Sundays... Anyway, it has been a a full week since I started growing my 'stache, and here it is:

Click Here to Donate!!

It has been brought to my attention that certain people (cough... Kristi... cough...) do not like that I am participating in this awesome way to raise money. So I told her that I would shave the 'stache if I raised a certain amount of money by the end of the month. If I fail to reach that level, then the 'stache will stay until I decide.

If you feel the same way that Kristi does, then you can click here to donate so that I shave it off in December!!

Movember!!

2010-11-01T12:00:00.002-04:00

I have been a witness to several people participating in the fundraiser for the awareness of men's health issues, known as Movember, but I have never participated. I got an email from someone at work who decided to start a team to raise money for cancer research, so I thought that this was a good excuse to join in the fun!

As some of you know, I have only had a mustache once before, my Celebration 'stache! It did not go over very well, but because of the wonderful causes that Movember supports, hopefully this 'stache will get a better reception!! Feel free to pass along a style that you think that I should go for. You can see what I look like in a basic 'stache at the link above. View at your own risk!!

Here is my Movember page where you can donate to the cause, which benefits the Prostate Cancer Foundation and LIVESTRONG. I will try to update everyone on the progress of my 'stache on Fridays with a picture! Thanks in advance for the donation, no matter the size, it all helps!

Max's Surgery

2010-10-26T13:00:00.002-04:00

Last week, my parents took Max and Chloe with them when they went home to Pittsburgh. Max had just been diagnosed with an ACL tear in his knee. When they left, we had decided that surgery was going to be the best option for him. There were several Veterinary Specialists that were were looking at to have the procedure done. Two of them were in DC and one was up in Pittsburgh. Without knowing exactly what the recovery would be like and how mobile Max would be, we decided that it was worth having the vet in Pittsburgh take a look and give their recommendation.

Max was able to get an appointment for last Thursday, and after discussions while scheduling it, the vet said to prepare for going through with the surgery that afternoon if we felt comfortable with the diagnosis. I made sure to block time out of my schedule at work so that my parents could call me while they were getting the recommendation. My vet in DC said that most likely a specialist would recommend that Max have ligament replacement surgery, but the specialist in Pittsburgh made a very compelling case for TPLO surgery. Despite not looking into this type of surgery beforehand, her comments while I was on the phone made me realize that this would be te best way to go for Max.

Unfortunately it would also be a lot more invasive and call for a longer and tougher recovery. But if it would make him good as new, I was willing to go for it! The procedure would involve a large insicion in his leg to allow for the cutting of his tibia bone. This would allow his knee to function without a ligament holding it together, but would require a plate to be installed to hold the bone in place. While Max was being put under anesthesia, we decided to have a lump on his stomach removed and his teeth cleaned, so it was quite a trip to the vet for him!!

This is an example, not Max's X-ray!

I got the call Thursday evening that the surgery went very well and he would be on his way to recovery soon! The past 4 days he has been recuperating with my parents, but they are bring him back to DC this evening and I get to see my stellar patient! I know it is not going to be easy, but I just have to keep the end goal in mind, Max being able to run and play with Chloe! And don't worry, I'll keep everyone updated on his progress.

Here are a couple of pictures of him and his knee. He has lots of staples in his leg!

Lying on his bed after surgery

Staples in his knee
Knee up close

What I have been doing!!

2010-10-21T08:00:00.002-04:00

Now that I am back to blogging again in a somewhat consistent manner, I took a look at how long it has been since my last post. It was a shocking 11 months between blog posts!!! Before writing my post about cycling to work, I looked back at some of my last few posts and I guess I shouldn't be that shocked about it... It has been over a full year since I posted on a somewhat regular basis. But this is really nothing new to you all! I spelled it out in one of those lasts posts. I blamed it on twitter, facebook, and other blogs. Well, that's the truth, I just wasn't all that interested in writing posts. But now I am starting to get that itch to begin posting again. We'll see if I can keep the topics rolling!

So, without further ado, I feel the need to post an update here for people to read, because the last 8 months have had a lot of big events!!

Here are the highlights:

(Some of the activities have links to photos, etc.!!)

November 2009

University of Delaware Homecoming
Thanksgiving in Cashiers, NC with Kristi and my family

December 2009

Early Christmas in FL with my family
Christmas in NJ with Kristi's family
New Year's Eve in FL with Kristi and my family

January 2010

Febuary 2010

Winter Olympics with Kristi in Whistler and Vancouver
Asking Kristi to marry me, and she said Yes!!

March 2010

Weekend trips to PGH and NJ to celebrate the engagement

April 2010

Pittsburgh for Pirates game and last regular season Penguins home game at the Igloo

May 2010

Trip to Cashiers, NC with Kristi and our parents to look at wedding venues
Tour De Cashiers with Dad
Work training in BFE Indiana, short trip to Indy Motor Speedway

June 2010

Trip to Boston and Vermont for:
Harpoon Brewery to Brewery ride, 150 miles on my road bike in 1 day

July 2010

August 2010

Trip to Cashiers for Wedding Planning

September 2010

Engagement Party in Pittsburgh

My Max's Injury

2010-10-18T16:00:00.003-04:00

Last Wednesday night, I got home from work and didn't have any concrete plans for the evening, except enjoying my trial period of NHL Center Ice and watching the Penguins game. I was waffling about what to do with the dogs that evening. The night before, I brought them with me to run with the Shirlington Running Club. I was leaning towards just taking them on a little walk around the neighborhood, but since it is getting darker earlier every day, I decided that I would take the pups to the dog park for a little exercise. As I was walking over, I caught up to my neighbor Gwen.

Max and Chloe

We headed over to the park and had only been there for a few minutes when Max and Chloe decided that they would square off against each other on opposite sides of a large tree. Eventually Chloe made a move first and took off running. Max took off after her, but he decided to try jumping over a fairly low rock to help him gain some distance. As soon as he went up and over the rock, I could tell that it didn't look right. When he landed, I heard a large yelp, and then he hopped off and laid down. Gwen and I immediately rushed over to see what the problem was. At first I thought that he could have landed on something, or just tweaked his leg as he was landing.

After getting a look at his right leg, I couldn't really tell what was wrong. Max wanted to get up and move around, but I tried to keep him still and have him rest it. Once he did manage to get up, I wanted to see how it was affecting him. He would not put any weight on it at all. In the past, he has tweaked his leg before and would limp for a little bit, but it was go away. But he would always put a little weight on the leg. I knew that this time, his leg was worse, but I didn't know how much worse.

This is where I was very happy that Gwen was with me! I didn't want Max to hop all the way home on 3 legs, not knowing what the issue was, so she offered to walk Chloe, with her 2 dogs, and I carried Max back to the house. I certainly got a workout that day! We had to rest several times on the walk home, but we made it and I had him rest it that night and the next day while I was at work. When I got home on Thursday evening, he didn't seem to be any better than the night before when he injured it. That morning I had called to make and Urgent Care appointment at the vet, just in case he didn't get better. The earliest that they could take me was late Friday afternoon.

Me crossing a log with Max and Chloe in Cashiers, NC

Max and I went off to the vet, with him hopping around. He was getting used to only using 3 legs, so I had stopped carrying him around. As soon as the vet came into the exam room, I think she knew what the problem was. After a minute or so of inspection and physical testing, she said that he had completely ruptured his cranial cruciate ligament (CCL.) I was stunned when I heard this. I had no idea that it was going to be that bad of an injury. She said it is the equivalent to a person rupturing their ACL, which I know usually requires surgery and a long, hard recovery. I became so sad for Max, that I almost stopped listening to the vet. She recommended surgery and said that we would need to go to a specialty center to have it done.

With the age that Max is, only 6.5 years, I think that surgery is the way to go. I know that the cost and recovery are going to be tough, but I think it is the best thing to do for him. The pups were headed back to Pittsburgh for a little vacation before this happened, and we decided to continue with this plan and have a specialty center in Pittsburgh take a look at him and give their opinion. Since my parents will be able to give more regular care to Max, for the next week or so, he may have the surgery up there. I feel so badly for my big baby Max... But I am confident that he will be back to himself soon!! Get well buddy!

Water - Blog Action Day

2010-10-15T12:37:00.000-04:00

I think this may be the first time I have posted for one of these Blog Action Days. I have read plenty of posts from others during these events about various issues that are important to them, but for whatever reason, I have not chimed in myself. However, after seeing that today's topic is Water, I felt that I should help bring some light to this very important topic. It is something that many of us take for granted, but there are lots of other people in this world who don't have the resources that I do in order to enjoy such a basic human need.

I don't have very much first hand experience with not having clean water, but I will relate one experience that I had. I was on a hiking trip in Kenya in 1997 and we were in a fairly barren area where the Maasai people live. It has been a fairly dry season while we were there, and clean water was fairly sparse. When we found springs to fill up our watter bottles, the water was not as clear as we were used to. In fact I would hardly describe it as clean at all. Plus, it tasted and smelled horrible. But it was water, which we needed to survive.

One of the last days of our trip with the Maasai, it began to rain. It was not raining like it was in DC yesterday, it was just a mild sprinkle, but this did not stop the Maasai from dancing around in the rain in celebration. This made those of us fortunate enough to have ready access to clean water feel very lucky. Ever since that trip, I have gone out of my way to make sure that I conserve water whenever possible.

Here is a little bit of information about Blog Action Day, which is sponsored by the website change.org. Below is a video that they put together about Blog Action Day and why they chose the very important cause of promoting clean water throughout the world. Below the video is a link to sign a petition for the UN.

Blog Action Day 2010: Water from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

I hope that everyone who reads this will think twice about how you use water and will do whatever you can to conserve the precious resource to which we are lucky to have easy access.

Lawrenceville's Bicentennial Celebration

2010-10-14T12:30:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, my Mom and I went back to my NJ boarding school, The Lawrenceville School, for it's Bicentennial Celebration! This event has been 200 years in the making, and the school wanted to make sure that it was a blast. It also coincided with a large Capital Campaign the raise $200 Million for the school, which would take place over the 5 years leading up to the Bicentennial. The school was proud to announce that they exceeded their goal, which was a huge accomplishment, considering the status of the economy over the past several years.

Mom and I had a great time at all of the events and walking around spending time on campus. On top of that, the weather was gorgeous! Thursday night we went to a special Campaign dinner in the senior dining hall. Friday afternoon was the open Board Meeting and the House Parade, which moved right into a picnic dinner in the Bowl with the students, faculty, and alums. After dinner, the headmaster sealed the special Bicentennial Time Capsule, which is digital and contained on an external hard drive. Then it was time for the fireworks spectacular, where everyone gathered on a sports field and watched the show, with a wonderful finale! Then, it was time for the kids to head back to their houses, while the adults went to the Field House to partake in beverages and socializing with a band!

Saturday morning we attended some classes by selected teachers, which brought back some rough memories of Saturday mornings from years ago. The teachers essentially gave us a sample class that they teach and we acted as the students. Both of the classes I went to were very impressive and made me realize the great value in the Harkness method of teaching. After class, we went to lunch and then wandered around the gorgeous new library that opened right before I graduated. Then it was time for athletics and we watched a little bit of soccer and then the football team loose in OT to the Hun school. Below are some photos from the weekend!!

Tyler and Courtney

Me in front of Woodhull House

The House Parade

Sealing the Time Capsule!

Fall, A Busy Sports Time!

2010-10-05T16:30:00.004-04:00

The cooler weather has kicked in and fall is officially here. This is a very busy time in the sports world for me!

Football season is 1/4 of the way through, the Steelers are a respectable 3-1 and Big Ben, hopefully a changed man, is coming back off of his suspension.
Hockey season is about to kick off with the Penguins making some nice moves over the off-season and they are opening a great new arena in Pittsburgh.
Baseball season is headed into the post-season, without the lowly Pirates, for the 18th straight year. But I do have an adopted team to root for, the Yankees.
NASCAR is in Race for the Chase mode, but Tony Stewart isn't doing too well. He started out about mid-pack, but ran out of gas while 1 lap from winning a few weeks ago, and he has fallen back.
And basketball season is just around the corner from beginning. I tend to stay away from the NBA, but on the NCAA side I stay up to date on GW and Pitt.

Is everyone else enjoying this time of the year?? Yay for sports!

My Bicycling to Work

2010-10-01T12:45:00.003-04:00

Since my last post about the 2009 bike to work day, I have been doing a lot of biking to work! It really picked up in the spring of 2010 when I was training for a big bike ride in June. Then, I changed job locations, closer to home, so the time that I would be commuting decreased. (I also lost the big hills that were helping my training...) I am now based at the Navy Yard in Southeast DC, which is about a 30 minute, 9 mile ride from my house. Enough to get a little bit of a workout, but not as much as I was getting.

If you have been paying any attention to the weather this year, you will know that it was a hot summer in DC. However, I did not let that stop me from riding to work! Fortunately, there is a gym at work that I can shower and change clothes in, so the heat didn't really affect me too much. Over the summer, I rode to work 45% of the time. This was low because of various ativities going on suring that summer where I needed to drive. However, toward the end of August, I decided that I would ramp things up, and see how many consecutive work days that I could ride.

Starting on August 25th, I have ridden to work every day, which brings the current total to 23 days, including my ride in this morning. About halfway through the month of Septemeber, I decided that a way to keep my streak going, I would have a goal of riding every work day of the month. As the month was coming to an end, I was worried that I may not be able to complete my goal! September was a pretty dry month, so I had great riding weather, but that all changed during the last week of the month when a ton of moisture from the tropics cruised up the east coast, passing right over DC. After monitoring the weather, the only day that I was worried about was September 30th, the last day of the month!!

After coming this far, I knew that I could not give up my goal easily. It wasn't a hurricane that was over DC, it was just a lot of rain, with some sporatic flooding. There weren't any crazy winds, so I braved the weather and accomplished my goal by riding all 18 days that I worked in the month of September.

I want to give a little bit of credit to my persistent riding to my friend Emily, who has been writing a blog about being car free, Going by Bike. Check it out!

*** P.S. There will be a big post coming soon about all that I have been up to since I last posted on the blog! Stay tuned!! ***

A really good weekend...

2009-10-28T16:30:00.002-04:00

...that had the potential to be a perfect weekend!

It all started on Friday, with my day off due to my compressed work schedule. I was able to sleep in as late as I wanted to, since my parents had taken the dogs back to Pittsburgh the day before. I took full advantage of this, and along with a lack of sleep throughout the week, I got out of bed after noon. It was a well needed rest, because I knew that I would be up very late that night!

This brings us to the first part of the weekend. Kristi and I were headed up to the Rams Head Live! up in Baltimore to go to the Sister Hazel concert. It was a fairly late show, with the band coming on around 10:00 and playing for about an hour and 40 minutes. They just released a new album in August called Release, so they played a number of the new songs, plus some of the older stuff! They are one of Kristi's favorite bands and it had almost been 2 years since we saw them last! It was a great time, despite the annoying Baltimore girls that were near us!

After the concert, we took off on a long drive to Pittsburgh. As I said before, I slept all morning, so I didn't have much trouble making the drive and we arrived at about 3:30 am! It was off to bed and then we slept in until about 11 on Sat. Once we were up and ready, we were off to have lunch with friends to celebrate Peter's 31st B-Day! We had a little bit of time that afternoon before we had to get ready for the next big event of the weekend, the Penguins - Devils game at the Igloo!!

There was a chance that this might be my last trip to the Igloo before the Pens move next door in 2010, so I decided to splurge and get us some good tickets. We were a few rows back in the B section near the corner. Unfortunately, we were at the end of the ice where the Pens only shot once, but it turns out that would not matter, since the Pens only scored 1 goal! After starting off the season 9-1, we were pretty excited to see them get their 10th win. But that was not going to happen that night. Despite the outcome, and the fairly poor play, we enjoyed our view and had a nice time anyway! We decided as we were leaving, that since it is still early in the hockey season, we would trade a loss against the Devils for a Steelers win against the Vikings!

Speaking of the Vikings, that was our next big event on the weekend. We slept in again on Sunday morning, got our Steelers gear ready, and headed down to the football game!! And what a game it was going to be... For the 3rd and final live event that we were going to last weekend, it sure was a big one! When we decided to go to the Vikings game, Brett Favre was still retired. We had no idea that this was going to be the defending champs taking on a very surprising undefeated Vikings team. It ended up being an amazing game, that the Steelers won. It might have taken a few good plays by the defense, but they pulled it out. I was glad to see Favre play in person and to be a part of the largest crowd at Heinz Field to date.

Unfortunately we had to head on back to DC that night, so we did not get a chance to watch game 6 of the Yankees vs. Angels series. We listened to it in the car and we were able to catch the last 2 innings at home where we saw the Yankees head back to the World Series. Kristi is a huge Yankees fan, so that made her really happy!! And of course, me too! (since the Pirates are a hopeless mess...)

It was a busy and action packed weekend, but it was a good one!

Why my blogging has died down...

2009-08-26T13:38:00.002-04:00

Today is October 16th. Over 2 months ago I wrote a post, which you can see right below this one, on "Picking it back up." Boy was I wrong... 2 weeks later, I decided that I would write about why I think that I had slowed my writing of the blog down. I never actually wrote more than 2 sentences on that post. Here they are below:

"I am not making excuses for my lack of blog posts over the last several months, but I think that Twitter has killed my blogging. Why take the time to write a whole big long post about stuff when I can easily type a few phrases on my phone and send them out."

So anyway, I wanted to post an update to say that I am not sure where I am headed with this blog. I spend a lot more time updating Twitter or Facebook and reading lots of other blogs than I do worrying about my own blog. I am not so sure that I had many people actually "following" the blog, so it probably doesn't matter all that much.

I will make an attempt to post things here as well when I get some time. I actually started this blog to post race reports, and since I am not racing much this year. I also used it to post about trips that I had been on, but I haven't really organized many pictures from all the trips this summer. So, we'll consider it a work in progress.

Bye for now.
- Tyler

Picking it back up!!!

2009-08-13T12:45:00.000-04:00

For whatever reason, this blog has been very empty for a while. Nevertheless, I am going to work on being more active! It is the summer, and I am definitely active physically, but I need to pick it back up on the writing front! So, I am sure that all of you (few) readers that I have were wondering what happened in the aftermath of the Stanley Cup with my Celebration Mustache. Those of you who haven't seen me since then, it is gone and I am back to my normal clean shaven face. I know you are very disappointed.

On to much more interesting things! Tonight marks the first football game of the new season. The Steelers aren't officially beginning their defense of the Superbowl, since it is the PRE-season, but it is a rematch of the game. I know that these games are mostly meaningless in terms of the actual competition, but I am excited to see a little bit of hitting!!! And to get a small glimpse of some of the off-season acquisitions, veteran and rookie.

Let's Go Steelers! Start the title defense early!

Celebration 'stache

2009-06-15T17:30:00.004-04:00

Since the Penguins won the Stanley Cup, I decided that it was time to shave the Superbowl/Stanley Cup playoff beard. It was a good 6 months in the making!! Below is what I decided to do in it's place. I have heard a few comments from people that they do not like it... So I thought that I would put the debate about whether I should keep my Celebration Mustache, or whether I should shave it off. The votes will be tallied up Friday night at midnight and on Sat, morning I will either shave it off, or leave it on! Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments as well!!!

WAY TO GO PENS!!!!

Should the mustache stay or go???
Yes, I love it!!
No, it's creepy....

See Results

Stanley Cup Champions!!!!

2009-06-12T20:15:00.000-04:00

Lord Stanley, Lord Stanley, Bring me the Brandy!!!!
Congrats to Sid and the Pittsburgh Penguins!
The 2009 Stanley Cup Champions!

And way to go Gino, winning the regular season scoring title and the Conn Smythe in the same year!!

SB Rings and a SCF Game 7!!!!

2009-06-10T07:30:00.000-04:00

There were 2 great events going on last night in the city of Pittsburgh! The Superbowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers received their XLIII rings and the Pittsburgh Penguins, in front of several of those Steelers, took their team to a Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals!

There are a few similarities to these two teams. The Steelers had to come back in the last few minutes of Superbowl XLIII to capture the Championship. The Penguins came back from being down 2-0 and 3-2 in games to force a Game 7 so that they can win the Cup in Detroit, where the Steelers won their 5th Superbowl!!

YES WE CAN!!!
Let's Go Pens!!!

Click here to see all 6 Rings together.

Yes We Can!!!!

2009-06-01T06:30:00.001-04:00

Photo courtesy of The Pensblog.

I think this may be a good time to remind ourselves that we have been here before in the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Think back to the Washington Capitals. How long ago that seems... The Pens came into DC after pretty well handling the Flyers and promptly dropped the first 2 games. However, they were not blown out in either of those games. They still brought their game and competed. The same thing can be said for the rematch against Detroit. The Pens have not been playing great, but the 2 games this past weekend were competitive. There is no reason to think that the Pens can't turn it on and stun Detroit. History may not be on our side, but that doesn't mean it is impossible!!

I don't want to come off as whining here, but I do want to comment on a few things that I have noticed about the officiating from these 2 games. I know that the NHL wants these Finals to be exciting for the casual viewer to try to gain new fans, and I have no problem with that. But I think that the officiating needs to be consistent!! Each Ref is going to call a game differently, but so far, I think that the SCF Refs have decided that they are not going to be consistent with the way the Refs handled the earlier rounds. The fact that this is the Finals should not mean that the rules from the regular season and earlier rounds are not upheld.

I think that this effects the Pens more than it does the Wings. As the Pensblog noted, the Refs lack of using their whistles takes away the fast type of game that the Pens play. They are catering more towards Detroit's clog up, interference style. I don't mind letting the players decide the game, that's the way that it should be, but when the rules aren't consistently applied, it detracts from the game.

That said:

Let's Go Pens!!!

2009 Eastern Conference Champs!!!

2009-05-27T05:00:00.003-04:00

Congratulations to the 2009 Penguins!!!

The Penguins decided to bring out the brooms last night and sweep the Hurricanes off to the golf course and bring home the Prince of Wales Trophy for the second year in a row!! I was very surprised that they were able to handle the Canes as well as they did. They earned this sweep after several good series with the Flyers and the Capitals. Despite a rousing kick off by Benedict Cowher and an early goal by Eric Staal, the Pens were able to move on to the Stanley Cup Final!

However things are not finished for this team... They have a burning desire to make up for the loss to the Red Wings in the finals last year. After the game tonight, we could be looking at a rematch. This year, the Penguins will be ready to go! As the image below from the Pensblog says: Yes We Can!!!

Let's Go Pens!!!!

Bike to Work Day!!!

2009-05-15T08:00:00.000-04:00

Today was my 3rd bike to work day!!! And it was a pretty nice morning. A bit humid, but better than the pouring rain we had 3 years ago! I have missed 2 of the past 5 years because I was either not working that day or because I was out of town. However, this is only the 2nd year that I decided to stop by one of the pit stops. This year, I believe, they added a pit stop at Nationals Park, which is right on my way to work, so it was perfect!

I left Shirlington, rode on the new 395 underpass, and headed to the Mount Vernon trail. From there I turned north and headed up past Gravelly Point to the 14th Street Bridge. From there I headed to the National Park stop. There was some food, drinks, a few speakers, some prizes, and music. There wasn't a huge turnout, but it was nice to see a few people out there.

They gave us a bike to work t-shirt and a water bottle, which of course are two things that I need really badly... (rolling eyes) I stayed for about 15 minutes and then thought I should head on to work, so I continued across the South Capitol Street bridge, through Annacostia Park, and up Good Hope Rd. Which is the big elevation gain on the route. At the top of the hill I turn left on Alabama Rd., and finally a left on Suitland Rd. Once I cross into MD, it's up another hill and then a right into the Suitland Federal Canter and I am at work. A nice 13 mile work-out, one way!

Here is a map of the route that I take to work.

I hope the rest of you guys get out there and spend some time on your bikes today, maybe even look into biking to work yourselves! It is great exercise, doesn't cost anything, and saves fuel! Check out WABA for some good information on Commuting!

What a Series....

2009-05-12T13:15:00.001-04:00

In my last post, I wrote about not being sure about going to Game 5. Well, we all know how that went down. I intended this post to be a celebration of the fact that I saw the Pens win Game 5 and then take Game 6 on their path to the Eastern Conference Finals. Again, we all know how that turned out. So all I have to say now, is What an f-ing amazing series this has turned out to be!!!! There has already been so many words written about the fabulous display of hockey that we have been privileged to watch, so I will just say, Wow! I picked the Penguins to win the series in 7 games, but I did not expect it to be quite this amazing.

Now, on to the original purpose, Game 5...

My friend's Jen and Marcy were very nice to sell their tickets to me, since they had prior obligations, and I invited Brad to come with me, a fellow Penguins and Steelers fan!! We met at RFD for a drink before the game, with tons of Caps fans and a fee hearty Pens fans. I had wanted to go in to the phone booth early so that I could catch the players come out of the tunnel for the pre-game skate. Here is a really short video that I shot:

Game 5 - Pens Warm-ups from Tyler Wean on Vimeo.

After they all came out onto the ice, there was a good crowd of us Pens fans hanging around watching them skate around before they started to stretch. We chanted a bunch of Let's Go Pens, and the guys seemed to be pretty psyched about that. Then they started doing shooting some pucks and getting warm.

While they were taking turns, a few of them came over to the boards where we were and tried to flip a puck or two over the boards to us. While Satan, I believe, was trying to flip one to a girl in front of me, one of the equipment managers on the bench tossed one from my left. I saw it hit the ground and roll to my feet, so I picked it up and put it right in my pocket! Unfortunately it does not say "playoffs" on it, just a really worn out NHL logo. The skate ended soon, and then it was time for all of us "400 levelers" to leave the good seats and get ready for some playoff action!! About this time my camera died, but here are a few more pics that I was able to take:

And of course, as the Pensblog likes to do in their game re-caps, here is an anthem pic:

I am not going to go into the game, the fact that we won while I was there for the first time all season, or the let down of losing Game 6 at home, with a fluky broken stick.... Instead, I am going to think about all the times that we have beaten the Caps in the playoffs and look forward to watching that happen again (from home) on Wednesday night!

Let's Go Pens!!!!
Do it.

And if anyone has an extra ticket to Game 7, I am available... :)

Capital Disappointment

2009-05-05T09:00:00.000-04:00

Playoff hockey is a thrill to watch. The intensity of the game is taken up several notches from the regular season, the skill level is better and the hits are harder. After watching the Penguins beat the Flyers in the first round, a pretty intense rivalry based on last season's Eastern Conference match up, I knew that the second round would be even more intense. Last Tuesday I went to bed before the Carolina - New Jersey game was over, so I was still not sure who the Penguins would be playing next. What I did know, was that the Capitals had won their Game 7 that night.

I woke up the next morning to a text from Matt, saying that Carolina had won. I then knew that the Pens would be taking on an even bigger rival in the Capitals. This excited me since I live in DC!!! I would potentially be able to get tickets to 4 of the games because the Caps have the home ice advantage. I immediately emailed Jen, who shares season tickets with her friend. She said that they could not make it to Games 1 or 5, but they were planning on going to Game 2. So I bought the first game from her and the second game from a guy on Craigslist.

The National Anthem from the back row of 425

As you know, if you aren't living under a rock, the Caps have won the first two games. This does not worry me. When I was filling out my playoff bracket, I picked the Pens - Caps series in this round to go 7 games. Therefore I knew that the Pens would have to lose 3 games. What is most frustrating to me about these losses, is that I was there to see them both. I think that of all the major sports, hockey seems to have the most superstition involved in it. I am really not a superstitious person. I don't think that just because I didn't do something, my team lost for that reason. I am not sure how many of the players believe in that, or if they just really like being in a routine. However, it is the playoffs, and things are magnified here, so this got me thinking.

I looked back on the hockey games, specifically Pens games, that I have gone to this year. (Un)fortunately, there haven't been many of them. The parentheses are at the front of the previous sentence because my record in person this year is 0-4. The worst part of that is, 3 of those games were against the Caps. As I said, I am not superstitious, but that record makes me think... When the Pens do force a Game 5 and potentially a Game 7, do I want to be in the Verizon Center????

This is making me very conflicted... I don't feel that just because I have been at the losses, it has anything to do with me. However, when it comes to the playoffs, you have to pull out all the stops. Therefore, I am really leaning towards not going to another game against the Caps. What do you all think? Am I being crazy, or do I have a valid argument???

Bring on the Flyers!!!

2009-04-15T13:00:00.000-04:00

Well, the Penguins surprised a lot of people and qualified for the 08-09 Playoffs in the 4th spot with home ice advantage! It looked bleak in the early part of February, but a coaching change and some trade deadline moves by Ray Shero have boosted the Pens. Tonight is Game 1 against the Flyers. I am ready to see a repeat of their series from last year!!!!

Let's Go Pens!!!

Big News!!!

2009-04-03T09:45:00.000-04:00

I was hoping to have a good post up of our fabulous trip out to Aspen Colorado a few weeks ago, complete with pictures and the like. However, life and work got in the way and I haven't had much of chance to edit the photos, etc. but while I work on that, and hopefully I will still get it up, I wanted to give you all some very big news that is occurring tomorrow...

Kristi is moving in with me!!

The moving truck is coming tomorrow to bring the furniture from Kristi's apartment over to my house. Those of you who have been to my house are probably thinking that there is no way that more furniture can fit in my house, but you are wrong! That's part of what I have been working on the last few weeks. The basement area is completely empty, so there will be space for a majority of her living room from her apartment down there, with a pull-out couch!

So there will be plenty of room for visitors, or people who want to be responsible adults after my parties. But, it is going to take a little bit of time until everything gets into place. Nevertheless, tomorrow is an exciting day! And the real fun comes in about a week when the cat and the dogs begin to learn to live together. Here's to moving day!

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Major Slacker!

2009-02-25T08:30:00.001-05:00

In case there are any people out there who are reading this blog...

Who am I kidding, there hasn't been a whole lot of reading to be done.... Anyway, for those who occasionally check in here to see what is going on in my life and in my head, I have been a total slacker. I apologize. This is terrible to say, but I think I like reading blogs more than posting on my own. In addition, I think some of the time that I put towards this blog has gone towards the evil Facebook!!

I am not one to give excuses, but here are a couple of reasons why you have not read anything of substance from me lately:

1. My office is under-staffed, so that means more working for me. :)

2. I have been in a little bit of a writers block in terms of what to say about sports stuff. (Cause there has been plenty to report on there!!!) I think I have been taking things in more than wanting to add my own voice.

3. Lastly, the posts that I have wanted to put up here have all been about trips, etc. that I have taken, which would include TONS of photos. I have just not put the time in to get those photos organized enough to put into posts! The next trip I go on, I will post a re-cap!!!

I promise that I will do my best to get some more pertinent stories, etc. up here soon. But first, there are a few changes brewing. I will be spending a lot of my time outside of work for the next month doing some serious organizing around the house. You will hear about it in due time!

So stay tuned, don't turn the channel yet! :)

P.S. Here is a teaser for you, a photo from my trip to VT 2 weeks ago.

Kristi and I on Valentine's Day at Okemo.

Welcome to Six-Burgh

2009-02-02T11:00:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers!!!!

After a heart-stopping 4th quarter, the Steelers have over taken the NFL with a total of 6 Superbowl Rings!!

Congratulations to Ben for having the kind of performance that we all knew he was capable of having. Congratulations to Coach Tomlin for leading the team to a Superbowl in only his 2nd year, as the youngest Superbowl Coach in NFL history. Congratulations to Santonio for being named the MVP of the game with a huge performance on the game winning drive.

And finally, Congratulations to the Rooney's for running such a stable organization!

Superbowl Weekend is Here!!!!!

2009-01-30T13:00:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that it is only Friday evening and I still have to wait another 48 hours till the kickoff of Superbowl XLIII!! I am excited but getting nervous! It has been a long 2 weeks....

Here we Go Steelers!!

I am getting sick of this "Shock the World" shit, let's go out and shock the Cardinals!!!

Here we go!!!!

2009-01-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

Here we go Steelers, Here we go! Pittsburgh's going to the Superbowl!!

Bring on those Pittsburgh West Cardinals! I am ready for Super Sunday. Let's go get that 6th Lombardi Trophy!

(Do we really have to wait 1 more week?!?!?)

The Off-Season....

2009-01-23T10:15:00.001-05:00

Well, it is the off-season for those of us that like to get outdoors and be active. This year it seems that I am really embracing the off-season. I have absolutely no motivation to work-out. I seem to be in those dreaded January doldrums... I am not sure exactly what it is that is making me feel this way. But even when I was in FL over Christmas, I was feeling this way. I am usually up and out enjoying the weather, riding my bike, swimming, or going for a jog. I only went for 1 small bike ride and I only made it into the pool 3 times, with a max distance of a half a mile.

You see that polar bear in the middle, yeah, that's me... Maybe it is the fact that I do not have a gym membership right now. But wait, I have a free gym right near work that I can use, so that must not be it... Maybe it's the fact that it gets dark early and it is cold out, therefore my biking to work has disappeared. Or maybe it is just because I just don't want to be active for a while... Maybe I spend so much of my time running around different places when the weather is nice, that I need to hibernate for a while. That can't be it, I like being active...

I can't quite put my finger on why, but this lack of motivation is annoying me. I really want to get over it and get back to being active and working out. Only time will tell... Hopefully I'll be back out there soon!!

(PS. It seems like it is more than just getting exercise, as you can tell, I haven't been updating the blog either....)

Christmas Eve!

2008-12-24T12:00:00.004-05:00

It's Christmas Eve and I am down in FL. The only disappointment this year is that the weather hasn't been that great since I have been down here! Only the first day that I was here was a beach day, and of course the Steelers were playing, so we spent the afternoon watching the game. (and what a pathetic game it was...)

Anyway, here is a shot of what it looks like off of our balcony in FL this Christmas Eve:

I am hoping that it will blow over so that when we wake up tomorrow morning, it will be gorgeous!! So happy holidays to everyone, I hope you all have a very nice Christmas wherever you are!

I will leave you with a distraction from the above bad weather, me as an elf! Enjoy...

(Well, the elf dance has expired, so now you only get to see the picture from Christmas Eve...)

2008 AFC North Champs!!

2008-12-17T11:00:00.000-05:00

Kristi and I took a little trip up to the annoying city of Baltimore last Sunday to watch the Steelers take on the Cleveland Browns V.2 in an AFC North showdown. After beating them in the 'burgh, this game was for the North title and a bye-week for the playoffs. So I guess I don't have to mention that it is the biggest game we have played in Baltimore in a while.

Here come the Steelers!!

After not having won in Baltimore since 2002, we were a bit worried on our way up into enemy territory. Baltimore does not have a reputation for the best fans in the NFL. The last time that I went to a game up there, I was harassed the entire game and then we saw a fight that ended in a broken car window on our way out of town. This time I decided that we would try parking outside the city and taking in the Light Rail. We got on the train, that was filled with opposing fans, but surprisingly, they were fairly civil. We got to the stadium, and no one really paid us any attention. A few passing comments, but nothing that I wouldn't expect from some smack talking.

I am sure a fair amount of those reading this know what happened in the game, so I won't detail that, except to say that it was the defensive battle that we all thought it would be! There were a number of frustrations with some dropped balls by the Steelers receivers, but when it really mattered, my boy Hines made some big catches. This article really shows why I wear his jersey. Nate and Tone also made up for some of their struggles earlier to help the Steelers move down and get the W!!

Kristi has been to Baltimore each year since she moved here and has not seen them win, so she was doubly excited! Here we are after the game ended:

Check out the Stunned guy behind us!!

Congrat's to the AFC North Champs!

Now it is on to Tennessee to take down the Titans...

So long ponytail.....

2008-12-10T12:00:00.001-05:00

For those of you who haven't seen me for a while, after the Penguins lost the Stanley Cup Finals last year to the hated Detroit Red Wings, I decided that I would not cut my hair, at least until the season started in the fall. This was the better option, if you ask Kristi and my Mom. If the Pens had pulled the series out, I was going to be sporting a sweet mohawk! Besides getting it slightly trimed to keep things looking somewhat neat, I just let it grow. Here is the before picture of what I looked like from the back:

I am not really sure exactly what it was that made me feel the need to go under the scissors, but I went for it last Wednesday. Maybe it was the fact that I was getting sick of feeling the hair hanging down behind me, maybe it was the fact that I wanted to look a little more clean cut, I don't know...

But without further ado, here is my new haircut from the back:

Please disreguard the quality of the photos, I was taking these pictures in a bit of a hurry, so they didn't quite come out very well! But I think they give you an idea of what I did. So, good bye ponytail! (...for now? who knows...)

Just walking the dogs...

2008-12-02T12:00:00.001-05:00

I have not had my 2 cute dogs for the last 6 months or so, about the same amount of time that I have been ignoring this blog. It was a combination of things that lead to the dogs being out of my care for so long. The first was of course the trip to Hawaii. And as you can tell from my last post, I travel and have a lot of different things going on during the summer months. So my parents volunteered to keep the dogs for a while and use their former dog sitter while they were away. Imagine this, she is much cheaper there in Pittsburgh than any dog sitter down here in DC. Another reason for my parents keeping my dogs for so long was the renovation that I had going on in my house. It would have driven the dogs nuts with the workmen there all day.

My cute doggies

This past Thanksgiving weekend was when I was finally getting my dogs back. However, for the last 2 months I have not been dogless. As my friend Matt said in this post, I am doing a hero's job of caring for his dog Brodie, while he is in Iraq. Brodie is a cute little Westie, but like most dogs he has a little trouble streak. I started with him by leaving him in his cage. Then once I felt he was used to being in my house, I left him in my room. After not coming back to any destruction for a few weeks, I decided that he could stay in the living room/kitchen. He has been pretty good overall and only destroyed a few things, nothing too serious.

Brodie looking innocent

Now comes the fun part. As I mentioned before, this past Sunday, I brought all 3 of the dogs back to DC with me after Thanksgiving. When it is just my 2 dogs, they do a pretty good job of going for a walk together. They occasionally get their leashes crossed up, and tend to tangle when we approach other dogs. But otherwise, they walk about the same speed and sniff the same spots, etc. These last several days though, I have had to deal with 3 dogs. And let me tell you, I have probably been quite the sight!

Three leashes are very tough to deal with in many respects. They are constantly getting tangled up. With 2, I can fairly easily get them undone by twisting, but the 3rd one adds an exponential challenge! And that is just while we are putting them on in the house. Once we get outside, all hell breaks loose. Especially if there is a neighbor dog(s) around. As soon as we get walking, none of them want to go the same direction or smell the same areas. And I don't think you even want to get me started on dealing with them going to the bathroom! Do you know how easy it is to hold 3 leashes, hold a plastic bag, and find 3 different spots on the ground, all at the same time?? I'll give you a hint, not at all!!!

So, the next time that you see a guy being pulled in 3 different directions in Arlington, offer to help him out once in a while!

Back to it....

2008-12-01T11:30:00.002-05:00

It has been just over 6 months since I last posted on this blog. I am not so sure that there are many people who actually read it when I was posting more regularly, but for those that were (and still are!!!) I have decided to start again. So to jump back into it, I am going to give a quick update on what I have been up to since my last post, the one below from my birthday.

I will give a (brief) synopsis of each month, so here goes:

June:

After spending Memorial Day and my 30th birthday in Florida, I headed out to West Virginia to compete in a 24 hour mountain bike race on a 5 person team, The Mud Slingin' Monkeys. We had a great time despite the crazy muddy conditions!! Right after that, my family and I went on a 2 week trip to Hawaii! It was such a great trip, from the weather, beaches, and scenery to the hiking, surfing, and scuba diving. Just awesome!! It was my sister's 50th and final state that she has visited. I have not added up to see where I compare. We also took my little cousin PJ. Check out photos of Hawaii here.

July:

As usual, this month starts with the 4th of July! However, not as usual, I ended up staying in DC this year and not heading to Cashiers. I managed to have a good time anyway and had a volleyball party on the 5th of July. Per the norm, much mayhem ensued. The next 2 weekends in July I was out of town. The first was for the EX2 Xterra at Rocky Gap, which I was racing in this year, my 3rd out of the last 4 years. It was a great weekend and I did pretty well, but not as well as I had hoped. I had roughly the same time as the last time I raced there. I was hoping to be faster. But I placed 10th in my new age group, out of 43, and my sister came to watch me! The weekend after that, Kristi and I went to San Fransisco for the weekend. We saw Grant, Kristi's friend Megan, and my Mom and B just happened to be out there that weekend as well. It was a fun trip with a visit up to Sonoma and on Sunday before we left, we took a tour of Alcatraz, which was great! The end of July brought with it the start of my construction project at my house. I decided to renovate the kitchen, powder room, and 2 bathrooms. Here are some of the kitchen and bathroom photos.

August:

My focus for most of August was mountain biking. EX2 had 3 mountain bike races, one of which I raced in, the others I worked. Then the last weekend in August was another 24 hour mountain bike race, this time it was in PA at Seven Springs ski area. I raced the event last year and had a great time, so this year I convinced my parents to come watch me. I am not sure if this was a good idea or not!! About halfway through my first lap, I went over the handle bars, with several people on my tail, on a rocky downhill. Not too much fun, but I finished the lap and then put on the ice. I did manage to do 3 more laps before the race was over, but my parents decided that they had seen enough! The one weekend without a focus on mountain biking, even though Dad and I did ride one of the days, was my only trip down to Cashiers for the summer. Kristi and I came from DC and we met B and some of her friends from ATL, along with my parents. It was a nice weekend with a bunch of time on the boat and in the water. Check out photos here!

September:

On Labor Day, the day after finishing up the 24hr race in PA, we started off September the way it should be started, with a trip to Nissan Pavilion to see my man Jimmy Buffett. As usual, it was a hot day and the tailgate was rocking! The next weekend, Kristi and I took a trip up to NY to see her brother-in-law play the drums in Jersey Boys. I thought the show was great and we even got a cool behind the scenes tour of the stage and set! The next day we went to see the 10th from last game in Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately they did not win, but Kristi and I had a great time at the Stadium. We even got a few drinks at the legendary Bowling Alley. The weekend after that, I headed back up to Rocky Gap for our new race, the Day of Endurance.

October:

The fall was kicking in and we decided to go on a camping trip to the Shenandoah's for Columbus weekend. We found a nice campsite, cooked some good dinners, and went on a nice hike. It was a very relaxing weekend with friends. Here are a few pictures. Two weeks later was our semi-annual (4 out of the last 5 years) trip to Las Veags to see Jimmy Buffett at the MGM Grand. We were also celebrating my Dad's 60th B-Day, so we surprised him with tickets to see Elton John and his Red Piano. It was a weekend filled with music, fun, and a little bit of pool time with some of Jimmy's people. Some pictures are here.

November:

We finally make it to this past month! November started out with a trip out to Delaware to see a festival that is hard to describe, so just check out the website for Punkin' Chunkin'. The next weekend we had some visitors from NJ as Kristi's sister and her girls came to DC for the weekend. We had a great time and went to Mount Vernon and to Arlington Cemetery, 2 places that I hadn't been to in a while. The week after that, Kristi and I went to Pittsburgh to see the Steelers play the Chargers. Additionally, my parents and Kristi's parents met for the first time, and yes, everything went smoothly! This brings us to the past week, one of my favorite times of the year, Thanksgiving. I spent 5 days down in Cashiers with family and good friends. We went biking and hiking, and spent a lot of good quality time together(as you can see from the picture above!) Pictures are here.

So, where does the future take me? Well, despite being fairly busy at work, with the potential to get even busier... I hope to get back to updating this space on things that matter to me. Stay tuned, and if you don't hear from me for a while, send me an email to keep at it!! (I guess this means that people would have to be reading this blog....)

~TFW

Birthday Toy...

2008-05-26T20:30:00.000-04:00

For those of you that don't know, I had my 30th Birthday this past Friday. I am working on not collecting tons of intangible things, so I asked people to cut back on presents to me, and if they were to do something, it should be a consumable gift. It worked out very well, but my Dad decided that he had found something that was perfect for me and bought it despite my general presents comment.

I am really glad that he did, because it is awesome! He got me a digital Helmet Cam!!! It can be clipped on to a helmet, handlebars of a bike, or be worn on a head strap like a head lamp. I have had a good time playing with it so far. On Saturday we went out for a little kayak in the ocean and I decided that was the perfect time to try out the gift. Check out the YouTube video below for the first video that I shot with my camera. Don't mind the commentary....

Eastern Conference Champions!!!

2008-05-18T14:15:00.001-04:00

Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the beat down they brought to the Flyers today to win the Prince of Wales trophy and become the Eastern Conference Champs headed to the Stanley Cup Finals!!!!!!

Bring on the Western Conference!

LET'S GO PENS!!!!

Get out the Brooms for Round 1!

2008-04-16T19:15:00.002-04:00

Congrats to the Pens!!!

After the Senators beat the young Pens team last year in the first round of the playoffs, the Pens had a date with the Senators again in the first round of this year's playoffs. The Pens were not going to repeat the same mistakes that they did last year and they came out and totally dominated the Senators. The Pens had the lead or the tie in all 4 games for all but less than 10 minutes!! My how these guys have learned from last year. Here's to 4 games down and 12 to go!!

LET'S GO PENS!!!

Atlantic Division Champs!!

2008-04-03T03:15:00.003-04:00

What a game, what a night!! Congratulations to the 2007 - 2008 Pittsburgh Penguins who beat the Flyers last night at the Igloo on Fan Appreciation night to win the Atlantic Division. There is still one more game and one more goal before the end of the regular season. The Pens need to go into hostile Philadelphia and take on the Flyers this Sunday to clinch first place in the Eastern Conference.

Let's Go Pens!!!

P.S. This is a good article written about the fiestiness of the Pens-Flyers match-up.

Moving and Shaking!!

2008-02-27T03:45:00.000-05:00

The NHL trade deadline was yesterday at 3:00pm, in case you hadn't heard. And the Pens, specifically Ray Shero, (a St. Lawrence grad!) decided that he wanted to make a big statement. He traded away several popular players, a minor leaguer, and a number 1 draft choice, to get an excellent winger and goal scorer, and 1 other player, from the Atlanta Thrashers.

When I first heard this news, I was not very happy with the move! I was a fan of Colby Armstrong, even though he goes through big scoring droughts. I also thought Christenson was a good player too, with a good record in shoot outs. But the more I heard and thought about it, and despite the fact that it may change the chemistry of the team a bit, I think that it was a good trade for both teams.

Time will tell... If the Pens rally down the stretch and walk away with the conference and go deep (or all the way) towards the Cup, then we will know. However, I think a big part of this deal is the fact that we need to sign Hossa to a contract. We can not let him walk away in Free Agency after making a trade like this. But that's what makes things interesting! I hope that the team brings him into the fold quickly and that he meshes well.

GO PENS!!

Live Green

2008-02-25T10:00:00.000-05:00

I found a great website today for a company based in DC called Live Green. It has a bunch of good information on it already, but it appears that the official launch is still coming.

Mission: Live Green is devoted to making eco-friendly and
socially responsible living and business practices accessible,
affordable and easy.

I fully support the mission of this company!! I am excited to see the official launch. So far I found that the most interesting and useful part of the site is the list of Business Partners. There are a lot of good links there. I encourage you all to check it out.

LEED Accredited Professional

2008-01-23T09:30:00.000-05:00

In case you haven't noticed, the few times that I have blogged lately, I have written about Sports or the Environment. Both of those are things that I am very passionate about. My last post was about sports, so I am headed back to the environment for this one. In case you don't know, I work in the construction management field. Also, in case you haven't heard, there is this fairly large and growing trend toward Green Building. It is promoted by the U.S. Green Building Council.

They have a certification process where buildings can go through a credit checklist to gather points to meet 4 levels of certification that demonstrates that the building is better for the environment. This is called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification with levels of Basic, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. My new project has a specification that the building should meet the basic level, which is 26 points out of a possible 69. A number of months ago, a lot of us from work took a workshop that detailed the rating and credit systems for LEED certification. The end goal is that individuals were to become accredited professionals so that they could help the process to get our buildings certified.

Many months went by, leadership sent out a few messages asking that we all take the exam, and I continued to put it off. Finally, when I found out that my new project would include LEED Certification, I decided that I wanted to become accredited. I then scheduled the exam so that I would have a date in sight that I had to hit. I picked a day after a 4 day weekend so that I would be able to have time to study. I took an additional online class that was incredibly helpful. I went in yesterday morning a little apprehensive about the exam, but walked out a LEED Accredited Professional. I am very excited that I was able to add another tool to my tool belt, especially one that helps lessen our effects on the environment.

Steelers 2007 Season

2008-01-07T12:56:00.000-05:00

A lot has been written and said about the Steelers 2007 Season, so I will only add a few comments here and then move on.

I was at the game on Saturday with a few friends and it was a fun time, despite the outcome. The stadium was rocking in the 4th quarter and it was such a fun environment. However, right after the game, I made a comment that the Post Gazette echoed this morning. The playoff game was like a 60 minute highlight (lowlight) video of the season. It was a very fitting way for the season to end.

There are a lot of concerns that I have looking toward next year, especially with the grueling schedule that we have to play!! Overall I was happy with Tomlin's first season, but I think he has a bunch of lessons to learn from and a few coaches to fire before he can get the team to compete.

And lastly, if that was Faneca's last game as a Steeler, he will be missed.

The 3 R's of the Environment

2007-12-14T09:30:00.000-05:00

Over the past several months I have been making a strong effort to do what I can to preserve the environment. I wrote about taking the metro more, which I have been pretty good at, and my use of plastic bags in stores, of which I now have 4 different reusable bags to my name. I am a big fan of the 3 R's of the Environment: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle! I do my best to apply these principles to all aspects of my life. I work on reducing the amount of things that I consume that I don't need, reusing everything that I can, and recycling everything that is accepted.

I was recently reading my townhouse newsletter and read an article which said that people were not following the proper precedures when putting out their recycling. The article said that if we didn't follow the guidelines, the contractor who picks it all up, will just trash it. All of the items that can be put out on the curb to be recycled were spelled out in good detail. As I was perusing the list, I realized that there were a number of things that I was not doing correctly. There are a lot of plastic items that I have been trying to recycle that Arlington County does not accept!

I wanted to try to find out a little bit more about this, so I emailed the guy who I get a lot of my green info from, The Green Miles. He said that according to the county, it is not cost effective to recycle all different types of plastic, only #1 & #2 small neck bottles. He also pointed me to a website with some great information, Stoneyfield Farms. They have a long description about the packaging that they use for their yogurt containers and it contains info about why theirs, and other plactic containers like theirs, are not recyclable.

However, their website has more important info in it than just that. They talk about the whole process of packaging and their product containers. I think a lot of what they have done shows a great mindset. One that every company that makes consumer products needs to follow: lessening the impacts of their products on the environment!! They worked with the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems to improve the environmental performance of their packaging. This includes the entire lifecycle of the product. Everything from "the cradle to the grave." They did not just look at the packaging that the consumer sees, but also the secondary packaging which protects it in transport to the stores.

I think this is a very important issue, one that also causes a lot of waste and detriment to the environment. Performing a Life Cycle Assessment, like the one that Stoneyfield commissioned, is something that all businesses should go through to make their products more environmentally friendly. The Stonyfield webpage is a long read, but if you have any concern for the environment, I hope that you will read it and leave me your thoughts in the comments.

**P.S. It has taken me several days to write this post, and in that time, the Green Miles has beaten me to the punch on posting the Stonyfield website. His post is a bit more of a Q&A post, so you should check it out as well!

Bad Injury News...

2007-12-12T15:24:00.000-05:00

Well, both the Penguins and Steelers have gotten some bad injury news this week.

After the game against the Patriots last Sunday, the Steelers found out that Aaron Smith, one of our best and least acknowledged defensemen, is on Injured Reserve with a torn bicept. This is a huge blow to the defense as they try to finish out the season and make a playoff push. Very disappointing, as I am a big fan of Smith's.

Also this past weekend, Marc Andre Fleury was injured in a game on the Pens swing through western Canada. He was evaluated today after they returned to the burgh late last night and he will be out of commission for 2 months due to a high ankle sprain. This is very bad news for the Pens, who have been playing better lately. Sabourin is a good goalie as well, but I am not sure that he and Conklin will be able to fill MAF's shoes for the next 2 months.

What a tough week injury-wise for my teams...

75th Anniversary of the Pittsburgh Steelers

2007-11-09T22:46:00.000-05:00

I was very fortunate to be able to attend an event tonight at the Sen. John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center. My family is a fairly big supporter of the center and we were invited to their annual supporters dinner. This dinner happened to coincide with the opening of the exhibit of the 75th Anniversary of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

At the Monday night football game on November 5th, the Anniversary was celebrated with the introduction of the all-time great Steelers. Tonight, the supporters of the History Center were invited to a preview of the exhibit that is opening to the public tomorrow. A big supporter of the Center is Franco Harris. He has been very involved in the Sports Museum of Western PA, a part of the History Center, and gave a brief talk after the dinner tonight. I was fortunate to take a picture with him in the exhibit before dinner. I also took a picture with Hines, but as you can see, he was fairly busy at the time!

(Note the awesome bow tie that I wore to the event!!)

Dilbert and the Internet

2007-11-06T09:30:00.000-05:00

Here are a few comics from Dilbert that I found funny! I thought I would pass them along to anyone who doesn't read them regularly!

Shout out - Paper or Plastic

2007-10-04T11:45:00.000-04:00

The source of a lot of good information about Environmental issues and Arlington County, The Green Miles, had a GREAT post today about which kind of bag to choose when you go to the store!

Paper or Plastic??

Check out his post to find out the answer, it may surprise you! (It is also something that I am working on doing...)

2007 Steelers Season!!!

2007-09-07T06:45:00.000-04:00

I am ready for this season to begin! I think there were a lot of good things that came out of training camp for the Steelers. I think that new coach Tomlin made a good impression and is ready to go out and win some regular season games!! And what a great first game to have, heading to Cleveland for an intense division rivalry game. I am so excited for it to begin.

Let's Go Steelers!!

PS. I owe you all an entry about my latest biking adventures and I will hopefully have that up when I can get all of my pictures organized!

Moving toward Green... A Metro Experiment

2007-08-16T07:50:00.000-04:00

I have been doing a bunch of reading about Climate Change and environmental issues that we are facing in the world today, and I decided that I needed to evaluate some of the little things that I do that can help. The first thing that I have started to work on was re-using as much stuff as I can.

Recently the issue of bottled water/drinks was brought up to me. One blog that I read regularly, The Green Miles, had a post about this the other day. I try to always carry my own water bottle with me and fill it up where I can. Reading that post made me conscious that I need to do it even more.

There are plenty of other things that I have identified that I can do to help make a difference. But those aren't nearly as "interesting" as what I decided to try yesterday with the Metro. One big thing that I do is I tend to drive a lot of places. So last week I decided that I would try to make a concerted effort to take public transportation when it made sense. As opposed to when I normally take it, ie. after a night out of drinking... So this is where the metro comes in.

I work out at Andrews AFB and I knew that the metro went close to there, but I wasn't exactly sure how far away it was. So after a little research I found out that the stop was only 1.5 miles from the front gate to the base. And there is even a bus that runs from the stop to the gate. However, the main problem that I ran into is that my office is pretty far from the main gate. It is about 3.5 miles away and there is no shuttle bus or anything that would take me closer. So I got to thinking...

I used to ride my bike to work when I was in the city, so why couldn't I take the metro and then ride my bike from there to my office. That seemed like a good plan, so I decided that I would try it. Well, at rush hour, you can't take a bike on the train, there are waaaay too many people. So my next thought was that I could leave my bike locked up at the metro stop overnight and pick it up in the morning. So I brought my bike to work and dropped it off on my way home. I just hoped that all of it would be there the next morning!!

I jumped on the bus in the morning, transferred to the metro, and got off at my final stop. When I walked out of the metro, there was my bike just as I had left it! I got all situated for the ride and then off I went to the gate. The bus that runs there has a bike carrier on the front, but it was still 10 minutes away, so I decided to ride the whole thing. It was fairly painless, but I would have been better off with a different bike. Since I was concerned about it being locked up, I took my 10 year old mountain bike, with only 3 working gears. It was a little more work than I thought it would be, but I made it to the office successfully.

There are a few downsides to my trip that made me think this would not be a good every day option. First, it took me about 1:15 one way, which then eats up a full 2 1/2 hours each day. I did get some reading done on the metro and I did get some exercise though... Second, on my trip home on the metro, I was a little hot and sweaty from my bike ride. All in all though, it was a successful experiment and something that I may be willing to do more of. Hey I tried it again today also!! I am even contemplating getting a bike locker at the metro stop so that I don't have to worry about the bike and I can ride a nicer one.

Steely McBeam

2007-08-09T10:47:00.000-04:00

The Steelers have unveiled the new name for their 75th Anniversary Season mascot. Now presenting:

Steely McBeam!!!

Number 87

2007-08-07T09:14:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to Sidney Crosby!!!

It is 8/7, so that means that number 87 is moving on up in the world. He turns 20 years old today. Check out the Post-Gazette article for a list of all the great feats that he accomplished as a teenager.

Here's to seeing Sid the Kid in the # 87 black and gold jersey for many years to come!

Training Camp!!!

2007-07-24T08:00:00.000-04:00

It has been almost 7 weeks since I last posted. As you can tell, I have been extremely busy. In fact, I have not spend a Saturday night in my own bed in 9 weeks. And yes, it's because I have been out of town, no other reason... (but I am working on changing that!) But there was something that I wanted to post about today...

Training Camp started yesterday for the Steelers. There was a great article in the Post Gazette about the new coach, Mike Tomlin, and his drive, work ethic, and rise up to the position that he is in now. I was a big fan of Cowher, but I am beginning to look forward to the new era that we are facing with the Steelers. I can't make it up to training camp this year, but if I can find them, I'll add a few pictures from last year's camp.

Oh yea, this makes me happy to see as well. Yay Tasmanian Devil!!

Let's Go Steelers!!

ACE Big Canyon Off-road Tri - 2nd time around

2007-06-05T14:15:00.000-04:00

After my trip down to the New River Gorge last year for the 6th Annual ACE Xterra, I decided that I would tackle the course again in their 7th year! I was out with vengeance this time because I feel like the course bit me in the ass last year. This trip was going to be a bit different. There were 3 of us from the DC Tri Club that were racing, so I wasn't headed down alone. I carpooled down with Andy, who very nicely drove the whole way, while Andrew and his wife came down later. Andy and I made it there at about 3:30 and headed to registration. We found out that the race would be a bit smaller this year, with about 60 people registered. I decided to camp at ACE again because it is free for racers and Andy was in agreement. However, the spot that I camped in last year had already been claimed, so we had to find a spot down the mountain near the main ACE buildings and the lake.

We set up camp and got things situated there before heading down towards the lake to see what was happening. I ran into a bunch of people that I knew from last year and other races. We chatted for a while until we were sufficiently hungry enough that we went off to search for the racer's pasta dinner. Last year it was outside of the dinning hall and wasn't the greatest organization. This year it didn't seem too organized either, but it was inside the dinning hall and we weren't technically allowed all you can eat, but it was also free! Can't argue with that!! After dinner a bunch of us, including the cool Xterra reps, hung out near the lake and watched all the kids play on the lake toys. Once it got dark we went to the bar to have a beer to help us sleep. Then it was off to the tents to get some rest before the race!

Pre-Race Morning

The one downfall to where we put our tents was that the light outside the shower house was shining right towards the tent. This wasn't too bad though, because I fell asleep pretty easily and it didn't bother me. I got up in the morning, packed up my transition bag, got the bike loaded on the car, and off we went up to the transition area. I had a few bites to eat, a banana, a muffin, a cereal bar, and some Gatorade. Then I got things organized, put my bike in transition, and listened to the pre-race brief. Once I made sure that my transition area was all ready, I got in line to board the bus to head to the swim start.

The Swim!

Once the buses were all loaded up with racers, spectators, and volunteers, we headed all the way to the bottom of the gorge to the New River for the swim section. The trip down was a nice reminder of the elevation that we would be gaining on the run back up to the top!! We stopped at the swim take-out to drop off our lower transition gear: running shoes, hat, Gu, race number, etc. Back on the bus we headed the 1.5 miles up-river to the start of the swim. We all gathered at the edge of the water getting goggles and swim caps on. The safety duckies and kayaks were getting in place, everyone started to wade out in the river, and off we went!

With the small number of participants, the start was good. I jumped on in the water and made my way out to where the current was running. I didn't really get kicked or pulled or feel like I was cramped. As soon as you get moving down river, you cross under a high bridge and go through a little ripple. We were still in a fairly big group at this point, but I felt good on my way down the river. It took me a little bit to get comfortable and breathe every 3 strokes, but I was doing well. The water was warm enough that I didn't need the wet suit vest that I was wearing, but it helped keep my jersey from slowing me down! Plus the little bit of buoyancy was a nice boost. The swim felt pretty long, but I was actually 4 minutes faster than last year and I felt so much better! I finished in 32nd place in the swim with a time of 28:03.

The Run!

I hopped out of the water feeling good, not really knowing where I stood in the field, but not too worried about that. I had a fairly slow transition, but that didn't bother me. I took a Gu, had some water, and off I went. There were a few people in my sights ahead and I could hear one behind me. The first part of the run is a nice and flat trail that runs along the river on an old railroad track bed. I was feeling good, making up some time on the girl in front of me. We ran over a wooden bridge where the photographer was positioned and then we got to the big scramble/hiking hill. Last year I was not prepared for this at all, but I knew what was in store and cruised right on up. It helped that it wasn't as wet as it was last year also! I hit the fire road, chatted with the girl in front of me briefly, then took off towards Aid # 1. Shortly after I started running again, another girl went around me. She seemed to be cruising at a nice pace, so I decided to stick with her.

We hit the first Aid stop and about that time, my ankle was beginning to hurt. I couldn't figure out why because I haven't had any problems there before. Deja vu struck and eventually I remembered that I banged a rock in the swim (just like last year)... but by that point, the pain had moved up to my knee. It kept getting worse and worse. All I could think about was that the Aleve I took that morning was not working!! Fortunately I was pacing the girl in front of me and I would not let myself drop off, or else I was worried I might not finish. A big motivator for me was the song "Move Along" by the All-American Rejects. I slowly dropped back from my pacer as we were finishing the run, but there was another guy just around each corner that I could see. I popped out of the woods to a big crowed cheering me into transition. I was so happy to be able to get on the bike and off of my legs. I finished the run in 32nd place in a time of 1:26:39.

The Bike!

My transition to the bike went pretty well. I was going to have a Gu, but I was concentrated on getting back on course, that I forgot it sitting right next to my shoes. I took off right behind the girl who I had paced on the run and I was excited to be getting to my strength where I could hopefully make up some time! I have been having issues with the adjustment of my bike and I was hoping I wouldn't have any problems during the race. The first couple of hills, I was not feeling very comfortable. I got a bad sense... the bike portion was supposed to be my strength! I decided to just take it easy, stay focused, and ride my own ride. That helped, but I still felt that my bike was acting up a little. I knew the course from the year before, so I was not worried about that, but I had forgotten about a sharp switchback, not far into the trail. I tried to stop and walk it down that section, but it was too late and I fell, bruising my thigh. Still not off to a good bike section.

I continued to take it slowly knowing that no one was right behind me. I got to a point where I needed to get off the bike and I felt my left leg cramp up. That's when I realized I had forgotten to eat the Gu! I stopped just ahead at a gate that I needed to go around, took a Gu, and let 2 guys go ahead of me. I started feeling better right away and tried to keep pace, but they were much faster, and I lost sight of them quickly. The big downhill, Rigamortis, was coming up and I was finally feeling ready for it. I cruised down most of the hill, walked a bit because I didn't want to fall again, and passed a guy right after I got down to the fire road at the bottom. I was definitely feeling comfortable after that. I decided to just take it slowly but surely and just finish the race. From there on out it was fairly lonely, as I didn't see any other racers for the second half of the trail. I didn't have any bonking issues this year and I came in 33rd with a time of 1:23:25.

The Finish

Overall I was pleased with my results at the 7th Annual ACE Xterra. I felt a lot better at the finish line and I came in 29th out of 58 participants that finished with a time of 3:18:07. I was the mid-point of the race, which was a 15% increase over my finishing position last year. It was a fun weekend with a bunch of cool Xterra racers and staff. I really like the small grassroots feel of this race and I plan on racing it as much as possible.

**Both Andy and Andrew had great finishes, much better than mine!!

A new Captain!

2007-06-01T08:42:00.000-04:00

It was announced yesterday that Sidney Crosby has accepted the position of Captain of the Penguins. Ever since Mario re-retired they have only had Assistant Captains. Sid was asked during the season if he would accept the position, but he said that he wanted some time to think about it. I think this is an excellent decision and I hope that he will be the Captain for years to come!!

GO PENS!!

Mountain Biking... and those pesky allergies

2007-05-09T10:08:00.000-04:00

Over the last month or so, I have been spending a lot of time on my mountain bike. Maybe not quite as much time as some people do, and not quite as much time as I would like to, but a lot compared to what I had been spending on the bike.

There is a really fun and fast trail right around the corner from work, so I have been heading over there to ride on Tuesday evenings. It has been so much fun!! The only way to get better and faster is to get out on the trails. Yesterday I met a good friend at Rosaryville and the weather was phenomenal. He could only stay to do 1 lap of the 9 mile trail, so I went back into the woods and rode the trail in the opposite direction that we had just come. I only saw 1 other biker the whole hour and a half I was out there.

Now, the one downside to this whole thing is that I am paying for it today. My allergies are out of control! I guess I could get medicine to take care of it, but I like to limit the amount of medication that I am putting into my body and let my body fight things off naturally. I am not sure how much longer that will last though...

A Frustrating Series!

2007-04-19T09:45:00.000-04:00

Well, this Penguins - Senators series has not gone how I expected it to go. Now I know that Ottawa was the higher seed with more playoff experience, but I figured that it was a sure lock to go the distance to Game 7. Tonight is the fifth game in the series and it is "Do or Die" time for the Pens.

I was at game 4, in the Igloo with some 17,000 odd people when the Pens should not have lost. (I took a few pictures which I will add to this post later.) After watching the Pens play their best hockey of the series and not walk out of the arena with a win, I was not too hopeful that they were going to be able to bring the series back home from Ottawa. I have not lost hope yet.... Bring on Game 5!

Let's Go Pens!!!

A Depressing Start

2007-04-12T04:20:00.000-04:00

Wow, I am still somewhat speechless... I didn't think that Ottawa would come out with that much fire and the Pens would be so flat. I kept telling myself that it was only Game 1 and it was in Ottawa... I was not confident that they would win the first one, but I didn't think that they were going to be manhandled like that.

It seemed like they couldn't do anything right last night. They were out hit, out shot, out skated, the list goes on. I am hoping that it was only nerves of being in the playoffs. Here's to a 2 day rest and a bounce back in Game 2!!! Let's go Pens.

It's Playoff time in the Steel City!!

2007-04-11T09:45:00.000-04:00

For the first time since 2001, the Penguins will play a very meaningful Post-Season game tonight in Ottawa!! Here is an ESPN article about the game.

The Pens were edged out of that 4th seeding and home-ice by having fewer victories than Ottawa, since both teams finished with the same number of points. I can already feel that this is going to be a great series. The history that Ottawa has in the playoffs and the youth of the Pens will be huge factors in that! I am so excited... It's about time that we have some playoff hockey back in the burgh. This on top of the great seasons that Crosby, Malkin, and Staal had.

Several weeks ago, my parents and sister got to meet one of the men who is partly responsible for the quick turn around that the Pens had between last year and this year, Ray Shero. He is an alum of the school that my sister went to, so they had an event at a Pens game, and he came up to talk to them for a while. I was very jealous to be stuck in DC that weekend....

Let's Go Pens!!!!

A Great Start!!

2007-04-06T06:20:00.000-04:00

It was only the first series of the season.... but there was something great the showed through in the Pirates 3 game sweep of the Astros, in Houston. The Pirates are giving credit to confidence. It may be early, but to be on top of the division with 3 wins just feels good!! I understand how a good beginning of the season doesn't mean anything... I had season tickets 2 years ago when the Nationals started the first half really well and then fell off in the second half of the season.

But doesn't it just feel right to be optimistic about the season?? Just wait till LaRoche begins to fall into place as the clean-up hitter... How about when Freddy Sanchez, last year's batting champ, comes back? With the Penguins headed off into an intense playoff duel with the Ottawa Senators, the Pirates showing that they are ready to win, it is hard not to be optimistic and love the sports teams of Pittsburgh!!!

Let's Go Teams!!!

Broom anyone??

2007-03-27T05:15:00.000-04:00

I am going to the Penguins - Capitals game tonight at the phone booth. It is the last of 4 games that the two teams are playing this season. So far PGH is up 3-0. I have gone to 2 of those games and I am looking for the season sweep tonight!! Anyone have a broom that I can borrow?

This should be a pretty intense game. It is no surprise that the Pens and Caps don't get along, going back to being rivals in the Patrick division while I was growing up. You remember those years when the Pens won the cup back-to-back? Here is a good post from a rival Caps blogger, CapsChick, about the game tonight. The Pens are fighting for the division lead with the Devils, so this is an important game!!

LET'S GO PENS!!!

Colorado and a Fire

2007-03-21T07:30:00.000-04:00

I have had a busy last 10 days, but I hope to get some pictures and maybe some video of my trip to CO to ski last week up here soon. We'll see, photo editing can take a while, especially when trying to get caught back up at work! I hope all my readers are doing well!!

I also want to pass along this link from a fellow blogger, Sweet. Fire is a dangerous thing. Check this out and do something if you can.

They're Staying!!!!

2007-03-14T06:15:00.000-04:00

What a great day Tuesday was for the city of Pittsburgh!!

The Penguins, the city, and the state were able to come to an agreement on a new Arena deal for the Penguins to remain in the 'burgh for 30 years. This was announced to the Pens fans at the Igloo by Mario, just minutes before they played the Buffalo Sabers, and the crowd was absolutely insane!!! The Pens came out playing hard and sharp after that, but had to take it to the shootout to beat the #1 team in the East.

Mario has been trying to do this ever since he bought the team in '99, and 8 years later, he has made another great save for the franchise. When the letter from the owners was reported in the Post Gazette last week, I was a little worried, but then once everyone met in New Jersey with the commissioner, I had a feeling that something would get done and they were using negotiation tactics. Boy am I glad that was the case!!

Here's to another 30 years, LET'S GO PENS!!

Judgment Night??

2007-03-08T10:30:00.000-05:00

The parties have begun arriving in Philadelphia for what may become "Judgment Night." Sources have said that this meeting will lead to ''closure, one way or another.''

So, In the words of Billy Joel, "I'm keeping the faith!"

Let's go Pens!!

Update 3/8: I guess I was a little premature with the title Judgment Night, because the negotiations have been scheduled to continue next week... The saga drags on.

The 2007 DC Idiotarod

2007-03-05T10:30:00.000-05:00

What an adventure filled Saturday I had!!!! A few friends from work allowed me to join their team to compete in the 2007 DC Idiotarod. It is put on by a great group called SMASHED. I wasn't really sure what to expect, so I wavered in joining the team, but I am so glad that I did now. Here's an article from the Post about the race.

***If you don't know what this is, then click the links above before you keep reading!!

It all started on Thursday when we came up with a theme for our team and we ordered some fabulous team shirts. We came up with a slogan, "Drinking for charity makes me feel good about myself!" and I got to work on planning how the cart would look. That night, Sean and Larissa did the dirty work and acquired the cart from the Safeway near us. I started preparing the cart on my day off on Friday with a trip to Home Depot to get the necessary materials to make my decorations. We decided that we would put a mini beer-pong table on the cart and make posters to attach to the sides. I built the little table, painted it, and attached it to the cart with a cool zip-tie systems.

We were all set for Saturday. We started by a few of us meeting at my house to make sure we had everything together and we got some sustenance in the form of Mimosas. I velcro-ed 6 plastic beer pong cups to the top of the table and Larissa had the good idea to make jello to put in them! After that was done, we gathered everything up, threw the cart into Joey's Xterra and piled in with it. Off we went into the city to check in with the mayhem. There were some pretty stellar carts and some scary costumes getting lined up in the start grid. After getting checked in, we stopped in the Front Page to hydrate ourselves for the race. The organizers wanted us all lined up in the grids 15 minutes before the race started. There were 2 different race courses and a leisure course. We were on the front row of racer course B, a good starting position. They gave us a clue to a mystery location that we had to get to to receive the list of bar checkpoints that we had to go to. Of course, during the time waiting for the start, there was plenty of sabotage going on! There were super soakers being shot all over and water balloons were being tossed. This was where we were affected. A well placed balloon struck right in the middle of the pong table and took out my cups. We through them inside the cart and were ready to go for the start!

The horn blew right at 2:30 and off we went. It was a mess getting out of the gate, so it was a good thing we were in the front. Our mystery location was the Scottish Rite's Temple on 16th and R. We headed out around the circle and were almost in the lead. We were lucky enough to be just out of range of the eggs that were flying from behind us. We made it to the temple in 2nd place, but lost a team member on the way, so we couldn't get the list. Once we figured out where we needed to go, we took off just as lots of mayhem was going on in the line at the temple. After taking off on a rapid pace again, we quickly decided that we would not be able to keep up the race pace and we were going to go at a leisure speed. It might have had something to do with all of the hydration that we had been doing all morning!

The first check point was Lucky Bar at which we decided that since we were taking an easier pace, in our 20 minute "rest", we would have a shot and a beer. This was where our entourage, aka Nick, joined us for the rest of the race. As we were leaving, a team from GW, dressed in Colonials stuff tried to tie us up with caution tape! Luckily I pulled out the fellow Colonial card and we were spared!! We chatted briefly and then headed to Solly's U St. Tavern, the next checkpoint. We knew that we would see the GW team again... This was the longest distance in the race and we had a good time cruising down the sidewalks. However we definitely needed to take some breaks on our way there. Again, must have been the hydration we were getting! The next checkpoint was the most crowded, because all teams were headed there. By the time that we got there, we could tell about where we were going to finish up in the results. It was crazy out front with plenty of sabotaging going on! We were the recipient of a little of that while we were inside hydrating more with our beers and shots. We had one more checkpoint to go before the Finish Line. Off we went to Tom Tom! This is where things start to get a little fuzzy and run together... For some reason, I was given 2 shots to do at this checkpoint!

Off we went to the Finish Line at Chief Ike's Mambo Room. The party was hopping and there was free beer in several kegs until that ran out! We ran into the GW team again and hung out with one of their members for a while, before Nick and I had to head off to the hockey game. We decided to bring the GW teammate with us and off we went! I remember the game being pretty bad, the Islanders rolled over the Caps. We went to another bar to meet one of Nick's friends for a little while and then he went off to another party and I escorted our friend back to GW.

It was an awesome day!! And what is even better is that we raised money for charity. I am already looking forward to next year's race!!! All in all, out of over 80 teams, we came in 60th place. (Leans Left, Throws Right) But what really matters is that we had FUN.

Here is a link to lots more photos from the race.

New Address!!

2007-02-23T13:30:00.000-05:00

In case you all haven't noticed, I have moved to a new address. I am still using blogger, so you can get to this page using blogspot.com. However, my new direct link is:

http://landsharkblog.com

Enjoy!!

Streaks...

2007-02-20T11:53:00.000-05:00

"Every winning streak will have to end sometime."

On Sunday, Tony Stewart's sweep of all three of the Speed Week Nextel Cup races was brought to an end when he ran into the wall fairly late in the Daytona 500. He won the Bud Shootout last Sat. and his Duel 150 on Thursday. Tony has won almost every other race at Daytona, but the big one. And he had a good chance to do it on Sun. He even came back from stalling in his pit and a speeding penalty to make it back to the front of the pack with a very strong car. There's always next year Tony! And based on his performance over the weekend, I am excited to see how the whole year shakes out.

On Monday, it was the Penguins 16 game point streak that ended in a very frustrating loss to the NY Islanders. Over the last few games, and based on Michel Therrien's comments, I think that most people felt the streak would have ended sooner. I am just glad that they made up as many points as they were able to in the streak. Now I think they can regroup and come out swinging for the last part of the regular season. Fleury was a huge part of their streak, but as Therrien pointed out, he has given up a lot of goals in the last few games, taking several of them to overtime and shootout. Hopefully now he can jump up and get right back to being a brick wall in goal. I still have faith in the Flower!

Skiing!!

2007-02-17T22:15:00.000-05:00

Part of my relaxing weekend up in PA was to hit the slopes and get back on skis. It has been almost 2 years since I was out enjoying the slopes and it was nice to do it again. I am headed to Aspen in March, so I wanted to refresh my legs and remind them what it was like to head down the hill. I know it is like riding a bicycle, you never forget how to do it, you just get a little rusty.

Mom, B, and I headed up to Seven Springs this morning to join the crowds of people. The weather was pretty good, it was just a tad below 30 and cloudy. The slopes had a little bit of ice on them, but for this area, I thought the conditions were pretty good. They have a good amount of snow up there, compared to what we have seen in DC, minus the latest storm. I have 1 more chance to get out before going to CO, so we'll see if the weather is better suited for mtn. biking or skiing that weekend and go from there. Here's to a great day of cruising downhill on the snow!!

Thank you Presidents!

2007-02-16T19:00:00.000-05:00

Well, it's a long weekend for me. Actually it is an especially long weekend for me since I had today off of work in addition to Monday. After the last week, I definitely need a nice relaxing few days, so I decided to head back to Pittsburgh to see my family and go to a Pens - Caps game!

This past week was a lot of fun, but also incredibly tiring!! Grant came out to DC to visit from CA and we stayed very busy. Last weekend was a good time, with lots of going out and seeing different people. And we did more of it during the week. It was great. I met a few of Grants DC friends that I did not know and I saw a few others that I hadn't seen in forever. Good times all around!!

The Kansas City Penguins???

2007-02-13T09:20:00.000-05:00

Since the Penguins have been on a tear, gaining at least 1 point in the last 13 games, I have been trying to ignore the big, huge elephant in the room, or city as it may be. There is still the real possibility that the Pens could move, and Kansas City seems to be the front runner. I am going to continue to do my best to ignore this fact while I watch them play some great hockey, but I just wanted to pass along this article that was written by a KC sports writer on the topic of sports teams leaving cities. I found what he had to say was very interesting...

It's Hockey Time in Pittsburgh!!

2007-02-07T13:30:00.000-05:00

The Superbowl is over, the weather is nice and chilly, and there is snow on the ground, so that means it is time to turn the channel to Hockey Season!!

The Penguins had a huge game last night to extend their points streak to 11 games and their record to 27-17-9. This wasn't just any win though, it was a win against the number 1 team in the NHL, the Nashville Predators. The team that our new GM came from and hopes to model the Penguins after. This win puts us in a tie for 5th place in the Eastern Conference. And in hockey, 8 teams from each conference make it, so we are doing well. I am very excited. I have tickets to see the Pens 3 times to finish out the season.

Let's go Pens!!

Superbowl XLI

2007-02-05T12:15:00.000-05:00

In my opinion, this wasn't as good a Superbowl as last year, but that may have had something to do with the fact that the Steelers weren't in the game. I was really just looking to see a good game and despite the rain making it a bit of a sloppy one, I think it turned out to be exciting. At least until the 4th quarter when the Colts really walked away from the Bears. I was very happy for Peyton and it was kind of fitting that he won. Considering that he took my fantasy team, The Land Sharks, to the Fantasy Blogbowl and won it all there!!

However, I was even happier for Tony Dungy. He was a former Steeler both as a player and as a coach. Not only that, but he is now only 1 of only 2 men to have played in and won a Superbowl game and been the head coach of a Superbowl Champion. Taking into account what he went through last year with his family and being such a stand-up guy off and on the field, I was thrilled to see him win the Superbowl last night.

January Training Recap

2007-01-30T15:00:00.000-05:00

I started to get back on the training bandwagon when I was down in FL for Christmas. The weather was nice and I started biking and swimming consistently. I wasn't able to run because I hurt my shins in the Celtic Solstice 5-Miler race in the middle of Dec. Once I got back to DC, the weather was been pretty nice and I was able to get out mountain biking and I have been to the pool a number of times.

It has been a big help that I have not had my cute little doggies for the last month or so. That means that I can go to the gym straight from work and I don't have to go home and walk and feed them before working out. I do miss my cuties, but it sure has been good for my training! I am hoping to break the top 20 in my Wed. night races at Wakefield and I am hoping to drop my swim times a bit in my Xterra's. I am feeling good so far, especially in the pool. I have been trying to focus on that area a lot.

I just bought some new running shoes, so now I can try to work that back into my routine. All in all, my January has been a good training month and I hope to keep up the good work!!

A New Era in Steelers History

2007-01-23T11:30:00.000-05:00

The Steelers chose a new coach over the weekend and I am not sure if it had anything to do with my post from last week. They chose the Defensive Coordinator from the Minnesota Viking, Mike Tomlin.

I am very excited about Tomlin. After listening to his whole press conference yesterday and then hearing him on Mike and Mike this morning, I definitely feel like he will be a good fit for the organization. And like I said before, this choice by the Rooney's does not really surprise me. He was relative unknown to the world before his name was linked to the interview. This is similar to Bill Cowher when he was hired. And they were both the same age as well.

It may be getting harder these days to keep coaches long term, but I have a feeling that like Cowher, Tomlin could be a guy that gives the Steelers another nice long coaching run. I am also glad that Dick LeBeau is sticking around. I think that will make a nice combo, with the knowledge of both the 3-4 and the 4-3 defenses.

So Mike Tomlin, Welcome to the Steelers!! I am glad to have you as our new Head Coach.

The Art of a Coaching Change

2007-01-17T11:15:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of talk about how the Rooney's like stability in the organization and how in the last 38 years, the Steelers have had only 2 head coaches. The Rooney's must know what they are doing when finding a coach. When I heard that Coach Wiz was headed to Arizona, I have to admit, I was pretty bummed out, because I felt that he would be the best candidate to provide that continuity that the Rooney's like. He has been working with Ben for the last 3 years and I figured that it would be important to have that development with teh QB. But once Wiz's hiring was announced, I was ready to accept Russ Grimm as our new coach, again, because of the continuity. I hadn't really given much thought to the other candidates that were interviewed.

Then, the Steelers announced that they were down to a list of three for the position. I figured that this was all part of the process and that Grimm would be announced as the coach soon thereafter. However, after hearing that this may not be the case, I looked into the other 2 candidates. They are both defensive guys and the more I thought about it, I started to think that this could be a good thing. Then I read this article about Tomlin, the Vikings defensive coordinator.

Now I have to admit, I had the Vikings defense on my fantasy team this year, which won the SuperBlogbowl by the way. And for the most part, I was very happy with the way they played. The Vikings overall record may not have been the best this year, but their defense really kept them in it. I feel like the Steelers defensive backs need some work, and that seems to be where Tomlin has some experience. Plus, Tomlin seems to fit a similar profile that Cowher, in that he is around the same age, and a somewhat unknown coordinator.

Maybe the Rooney's do know what they are doing. Even though it may take a while to get a second interview with Rivera of the Bears, it may be worth the wait, because I think we have three good candidates and it will be interesting to see which direction the Rooney's go.

The End on an Era

2007-01-05T16:45:00.000-05:00

This is a sad day for me and for my Pittsburgh Steelers. We all had a feeling it was coming. The end of the Cowher era in Steelers history is over. I was 13 years old when Bill Cowher took over the Steelers from Chuck Noll and he will always be the jaw of the team to me. I completely understand his decision to spent time with his family, but he will be missed. He personified the hard-working ethic of Pittsburgh. His trademark will always remain his intensity. He will be missed, but not forgotten. The Steelers are a great organization and will overcome this.

All the hard work....

2007-01-04T13:15:00.000-05:00

that I did preparing for the PE Exam has paid off!!!

I am officially a Licensed Engineer. The 4 years of engineering school were not hell for nothing!!

Happy 2007!!!

2007-01-01T22:30:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to everyone!! Here's a shot of me and Mom from last night. We had a good time bringing in 2007 with a great dinner, dancing, and some fireworks.

My big news for 2007 is that I have taken a staff position with EX2 Adventures, a group who produce trail runs, mountain bike races, adventure races, and an off-road triathlon. I will be a part of the operations group, marking the courses and overseeing an aid station during the races. It should be a great 2007 season and I encourage everyone to come out and race with EX2!!

Announcing your 2006....

2006-12-26T11:30:00.000-05:00

Blogbowl Champion:

The Land Sharks!!!!

** Thank you to I-66 for setting up the league! I am looking forward to defending my crown in 2007!

Depressing... turned to ANGER!

2006-12-20T16:50:00.000-05:00

This is Extremely Depressing News to me.... Along with this... I know it does not mean that something won't be worked out to keep them here, but it will be much harder now. It just makes things that much more frustrating after watching them play a horrible game on Versus on Tuesday night.

**Update: The more this gets talked about, the more I turn from depressed to angry!!!!

The one glimmer of hope is that Frank D'Angelo has said he would like to buy the team and build an arena. But this could just be enough to get our hopes up before it falls through and the team moves....

Damn it, this pisses me off!!!!

***Update 2: Ahhhhhh!! It keeps getting worse, this doesn't look good to me.

****Update 3: When I first read this, I couldn't decide if it was a real letter or not!

A Long Weekend with some Mtn. Biking

2006-12-11T16:30:00.000-05:00

I had a fabulous weekend of getting outside and hitting the trails. The weather was great, nice and clear, although a bit cool, but it warmed up a little more each day.

I had Friday off this weekend and I met a group from MORE up near Frederick MD at Greenbrier St. Park. When I got there it was about 30 degrees and there was a little bit of a breeze. There were 4 of us and were we all on time and didn't spend much time waiting around getting cold. We got ready and hit the trail to get that blood pumping. I had only ridden there briefly before, so it was nice to get a better sense of the place. We did two laps, but I am not sure how long they were. I think we rode for about 2 hours, which was just about right.

Then on Saturday I met a few people from the DC Tri Club and we had a nice ride at Fountainhead Park in VA. The weather was great and we had a good time on the ride. 2 out of the 4 of us had never been there before, so it was nice to be able to show them a new area to ride and give them a challenge to work on!

On Sunday I slept in a little bit, but after I woke up and saw how gorgeous the weather was, I decided that I had to go biking, so I headed out by myself to Wakefield Park in VA to do the race course loop a few times. I wanted to gauge my fitness, so I did a typical Wed. night race of 3 loops. I am lagging a little bit from where I was over the summer, but if I keep working at it, hopefully I'll be ready to go by then!

Throw in a few party's and the All-Holiday Blog Celebration and there you have my weekend!!

Fantasy Football

2006-12-06T16:30:00.000-05:00

This is an interesting article about what awkward moments it can bring when being the GM of a fantasy football team. Fortunately I don't have to worry about playing again someone on my team, I just have to worry about when the Steelers play one of my fantasy players. As the article says, there are only a few players who actually admit to having teams, but I wonder how many of them secretly have teams. I know that there are a number of athletes in other sports that have football teams. It is such an interesting phenomenon.

I'm just glad that for right now, I am in first place in Fantasy Blogball!!

Thanksgiving in Cashiers - Pictoral

2006-12-02T20:00:00.000-05:00

I know the Thanksgiving long weekend was about a week ago, but I am just getting around to writing about it now. I don't feel like writing a big post about it, but I'll give you a quick re-cap and then a bunch of pictures!

The trip down was pretty good. Mom and I alternated driving and we made it late on Tuesday night without any problems. The weather was absolutely gorgeous all 5 days we were there. We went hiking each day except Sunday when we had to leave. We climbed 4 different mountains and it was a great time. The dogs ran away once and gave us a bit of a scare, but they came back.

Overall it was a fabulous time with good food, good drink, and good company!!! Enjoy the pictures!

Rock Mtn. and Chimney Top

Whiteside Mtn.

Me with the dogs - Devil's Courthouse

Me and Matt - Edge of Whiteside Mtn.

Family on Chimney Top - Thanksgiving Day

Me and B on Chimney Top

Me with the dogs - Devil's Courthouse - Again

Mtn. Biking and Turkey Day!

2006-11-21T09:30:00.000-05:00

I had a good time getting back out on my mtn. bike this past weekend. While I was studying for the PE, I missed some good riding time. Not to mention that I lost a little bit of the endurance that I had. And for the first time in over a year, since he accomplished his goal of the Florida Ironman, Paul joined me on a ride! And he had his new bike also!

We headed up to Schaeffer Farms on Sat. afternoon because it is a nice fun, fast, not too technical ride. I was a little worried that things would be too wet because of the heavy rain we had on Thursday, but the only bad parts were by the big corn fields that we ride along. It was a great time and I think Paul was happy to get out there and use his new bike!

Then on Sunday, we volunteered for the 3rd Back Yard Burn at Fountainhead Park. I parked people, worked a busy water-stop, and then ran sweep for the second lap, pulling down all the signs and direction tape. After we broke everything down and got the race stuff put away, 5 of us decided to head out for a loop of the mtn. bike trails. It was a good ride, except that one of the guys took a few hard falls and headed to the car early.

This afternoon I am heading out of town for Turkey Day. Mom and I are heading down to Cashiers. We are not sure if we are going to make it the whole way tonight or if we will have to stop. I guess it depends on the great DC traffic! I am excited for a bunch of hiking, drinking, eating, football, and hopefully a camp fire!

I hope everyone has a good holiday and Happy Thanksgiving!!

GW Basketball 06 - 07

2006-11-15T14:00:00.000-05:00

Well, the new college basketball season started last night and I was lucky enough to comandeer a ticket to the GW Basketball game at the Smith Center from Heather. After last years great season and unfortunate let down in the 2nd round of the tournament, I was ready for the new season. We lost 4 of the starters to graduation or the draft, so I am a little worried about how well this season will go.

Last night they opened up at home with Dartmouth. Not a basketball powerhouse. In fact, much of our schedule does not include powerhouses. But I think that some of the guys on the team showed some promise. It may not be a disastrous year, but I think it could be a entertaining year. There was a little bit of slopy play, but I guess it's hard to stay sharp when you are up by so many points! The final score was 94-49. We almost doubled them up, but that score has some nice symetry to it.

Go Colonials!

R.I.P. 2006 Steelers

2006-11-06T12:15:00.000-05:00

Thank goodness that we have the Superbowl trophy from last year to comfort us until the end of this season. It is really hard to watch this self destruction of my beloved Steelers. And yesterday, I watched it in person. As I heard someone say, "It's like watching a broken record." It is hard to imagine they can be making the same mistakes over and over and over agian...

In other news, I am extremely pissed about the speeding ticket that I got last night on my way back to DC. There is a reason that I have not been pulled over in the last 2 years, I have been using my cruise control. I went past 1 cop who didn't even blink at me, then 50 miles later with the same speed setting, another cop pulled out and told me he got me at 80 in a 65. A full 5 mph over the 75 that I had registered on the cruise control. It's such bullshit. How could he have possibly clocked me 5 mph more? My car can't be that much out of alignment!!

The Exam and Aftermath

2006-11-03T15:30:00.000-05:00

Well, the exam is over. It has been a week since I took it. I am not really feeling any better about it after sitting on it for a week either. I had a pretty good morning. I felt like I had prepared well and had was able to answer most of the questions in the first general Civil section. I headed out of the room to grab a bite to eat feeling good. Then we filed into the room for the afternoon session where I was going to take the Water Resources section. I compared it to the Environmental section and determined that the WR one was a bit more familiar. However, after spending the first 30 minutes and not getting an answer, I was feeling a bit rejected. This feeling continued through out the afternoon. I had to serious guess on a number of questions and that did not make me happy. I hope that all my studying paid off. We will see in 8 to 10 weeks...

After I took the exam, I was off for a weekend of trouble to Vegas! A Buffett concert, a bunch of drinking, and a show were on tap. Not much gambling for me, but I am always up for watching. Last year I won about 10 bucks in the slots. But this year was not the same. I lost 3!!! Terrible! It was a fabulous weekend though! The Buffett show was great, the Beatles themed Cirque du Soleil show was fabulous, and I definitely had a good time drinking margaritas and such! We sat by the pool each day for a bit which was very relaxing. Another successful trip to Vegas!!

After taking the red-eye back on Monday night, I have had several really busy days with work, making up for the time that I took off before and after the exam. On Wednesday I had tickets to see A Midsummer Nights Dream at the Folger Theater on Capitol Hill. I thought it was a very well done show and very entertaining.

This weekend I am headed back up to Pittsburgh to get my dogs back from their vacation while I was studying hard. It is going to take a little readjustment to walking them again! While at home I am going to the Steelers game against the Broncos. Hopefully I can enhance my 1-0 record watching them in person to 2-0. What a fine line this season has been. It's the little inconsistencies that have been killing them. Oh well, I am still riding high from the XL win!

1 Week!!!

2006-10-20T13:00:00.000-04:00

Only 1 more week until the Big PE Exam!! I am nervous, but so ready to take this thing so that my worries can be over. (unless of course I have to take it again, but we aren't thinking about that...)

It's been a lot of studying and secluding myself from people, but I know that in the long run it will be worth it. Here's to the pain and misery of studying! And the trip to Vegas the night of the exam!!

Here We Are....

2006-10-11T12:00:00.000-04:00

I hope all you Parrotheads out there enjoy this!!!

New Penguins Owner

2006-10-05T14:00:00.000-04:00

The Penguins have come to an agreement with Canadian Jim Balsillie to buy the team. From everything that I have read, the Penguins should be staying in Pittsburgh, despite rumors that Balsillie wanted to move them to Canada. The commisioner has said that the main issue that could result in them leaving would be if the city does not get a new arena. I sincerely hope that the city gets this all worked out!

The season opener is also tonight! No Evgeni Malkin in the lineup, but let's see this team get off to a better start than last year!! Go Penguins!!

Way to go Freddy!!

2006-10-02T11:54:00.000-04:00

Congratulations to Freddy Sanchez for becoming the 2006 NL batting champion!!

This story was one of the few bright spots in the season for the Pirates. I am so happy that Freddy was able to accomplish this after he was essentially relegated to the bench at the beginning of the year due to the acquisition of Joe Randa. Way to show them what you are made of Freddy!

Sportsmanship

2006-09-27T12:00:00.000-04:00

This is a great column in the Post-Gazette about the 2 taunting and celebration penalties that the Steelers were assesed in their loss to the Bengals last Sunday. I think that Bob makes some very good points and I agree wholeheartedly that sportsmanship has been lost in most of the major sports in this country. I feel that it reflects poorly on us as a society.

In other non-related news, here is ESPN's report on T.O. I would like to think that there was some misinformation in this report. Maybe T.O. was still out of it from the pain pills and didn't really mean that he wanted to cause harm to himself. We will see...

UPDATE: On the T.O. front, I think this column is pretty good and I believe T.O. and this guy.

Jack

2006-09-20T15:00:00.000-04:00

We lost a great man last Friday. Rest in Peace, Jack.

Pat Green Concert

2006-09-06T14:00:00.000-04:00

Is there anyone out there in the DC area that would like to go to the Pat Green concert at the 9:30 club on September 10th??? I think the show starts at 6:00, the early one. I have heard some of his new album and I am looking forward to hearing some of it!

I haven't found anyone who is interested in going with me and I am not sure if I want to go alone, so if you are interested, email me ASAP!!!

Here is a little video of one of his shows.

Overwhelmed

2006-08-29T22:30:00.000-04:00

I am feeling very overwhelmed right now in several areas of my life: work, studying, and family.

I am having lots of issues with my project at work. New problems keep coming up every day. And of course there is hardly any money available to solve these problems.

I am starting to get a little stressed out about this PE exam that I have coming up. I don't feel like I am getting organized enough and I am not sure that I have enough familiarity with all of the topics that it covers.]

And finally, the most stressful thing is that we found out recently that my Grandfather has a very serious health issue. We are still learning exactly what is going on, but it is looking like the options are very limited. This is very tough to deal with.

I know that thinigs could be worse, but these things are wearing on me a bit...