Tuesday, August 19, 2008

moved

I've moved to a new site:

your.org.nz

I'll be posting there from now on. Check it out!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

champions!

After a series that should have ended much sooner, the Red Wings have finally won the Stanley Cup!

Game 6 (which also happened to be the final game) took place on Wednesday night. Unfortunately, this was the same day that southern Maryland was experiencing severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Despite the inherent dangers of such weather, I was more concerned with weather or not we had power and cable television at home so that I would be able to watch the game. Our power and cable never went out. If it had, I would have dragged Robin out to watch the game at a local sports bar, which would have been ok, but not as much fun.

After arriving at home after working all day, we found that the storm had knocked down a fairly large tree and was nearly blocking the entrance to our place. We had to climb over a few branches, but it wasn't a problem and the tree didn't cause any damage to the house. I snapped this picture with my camera phone (which is why the quality isn't very good).

That night, after the victory, I shaved off the playoff beard I had been growing for the past couple of months. I'll post before and after pictures once I get them off my camera.

The next day, I made plans to travel to Detroit for the Stanley Cup Parade. I had never been to one of the parades before and after talking with a few fans who had been to parades before I decided that it was an event that I couldn't miss again.

Robin and I already had plane tickets to fly into Detroit on Friday afternoon for a wedding, so I worked to switch my ticket to early Friday morning. This was an easy process, until I accidentally switched Robin's ticket to Friday morning instead of my own. I noticed the switch immediately and called Northwest and had the flights switched again (they were understanding). Since the tickets were purchased by Robin, I pretended to be her (thank god she has a name that can be androgynous) and I had no problems, but it still scared the crap out of me.

My parents picked me up from the airport Friday morning and we headed to the parade. It was fantastic. I loved being there with the other 1.4 million Red Wings fans who attended. The parade was just a big party and the fans and players were all excited to be there. Robin gave me a hard time for taking around 100 pictures, but it's an event that I probably won't get a chance to attend again and I wanted to make sure I got some good shots. I'll post a few once I get them off my camera.

Picture updates to follow. Until then, enjoy this picture of the Wings' captain, Nicklas Lidstrom, hoisting the most coveted trophy in sports.

Friday, May 30, 2008

this will kill me

Sports.

There's no way around it, I am going to die while watching a sporting event. It will probably happen on my couch at home and most likely during a Red Wings playoff game, as these seem to evoke my most passionate responses. In typical fashion, I'll be sitting there enjoying the game when something will happen that will set me off and I'll go crazy.

Maybe it will be a bad call by a referee. Maybe it will be a cheap play by a player on the opposing team. Regardless of what sets me off, I will begin yelling at the TV as if the ref or player to whom I am directing my anger can actually hear me. The more I scream, the more my blood pressure will rise until my heart finally decides to give up.

I won't blame it. I put it through a lot, especially during the playoffs. Some people eat too much. I get too worked up over sports. Considering how little I exercise, a sudden increase in blood pressure like that can't be good.

I could try exercising more (yeah, right) or taking sports less seriously (not going to happen), but I'm sure there are worse ways to die.

What peaks my curiosity is where this passion for sports comes from. My dad enjoys sports, but they don't matter to him like they do to me. My mom certainly doesn't care. Maybe I just have an overactive victory glad that pumps liquid competitiveness directly into my heart, requiring me to win at all costs.

If you have a better theory don't tell me, because I'll just have to come up with something to beat you.

Monday, March 31, 2008

blogging is like riding a bike

On Friday, Robin and I took a short trip up to Baltimore to visit Justin and his brother, Matt, for their birthdays, which happen to be just three days apart. Matt wanted everybody to go out to a strip club, but I wasn't interested and Robin obviously wasn't so we managed to kill that idea pretty quickly. They didn't seem too upset.

We had some drinks at Max's on Broadway in Fell's Point and spent the night socializing. Max's was a pretty cool place because it was a bar where you can actually have a conversation with someone without having to yell. On top of that, they had an excellent beer selection that included a few North Coast brews that I hadn't yet had the pleasure of tasting. I had a good time and it reminded me that I need to hang out with Justin more than I do. We're still hoping to do another fishing trip to the Chesapeake Bay. Hopefully that will pan out.

I came across this Dilbert comic and it seemed like something I would say. That's not necessarily a good thing, but I don't really feel like it's a bad thing, either.

Check out my Google Reader links on the right side of the page. Just some stuff I enjoyed reading that I wanted to share with anyone who's actually reading this (thanks, mom!).

It's strange to me to think that the NHL playoffs start next week. It seems like it's too early for the season to end, but I guess that's what happens when you get used to your team dominating the regular season for years at a time. As a Red Wings fan, I'm a bit spoiled, but I still get pumped up at playoff time. I'm hoping the Caps make it too, because that will give me two teams to follow.

So far Robin hasn't had any problem with my sports obsession, in fact, she usually enjoys it when I watch sports because it gives her time to read or do other things instead of constantly entertaining me. I just hope it doesn't start to annoy her once I'm watching a different hockey game every single night (often multiple games at a time) and completely monopolizing the TV.

Friday, March 28, 2008

i'm back! (probably)

I keep thinking that I need to start writing and posting here again and the only way to actually start doing that is to go ahead and make that first post, so here it is. That's pretty much all this post is, just to say that I'll actually be updating once in a while.

So here's to hoping I'll actually do it.