My Showboat Coin Cup

I've been doing some heavy cleaning this week. While cleaning, I moved the well-faded Showboat casino coin cup - which I keep all my loose change in until I turn it into a Starbucks card - and set it on my desk. I've been looking at said cup all week and thinking about my college friends. Why?

It's the only remaining souvenir I have left from my bachelor's party 11 years ago. I love my friends, but admittedly didn't enjoy my party much. The party all made sense of course. We had free access to a beach house just 20 minutes from Atlantic City. It was a bachelor's party for goodness sakes. There was just one unfortunate detail: I don't like gambling.

And yet, the cup - when it's not sitting on the floor of my computer closet - is a constant reminder of their efforts that weekend and our friendship which has endured since freshman year nearly 20 years ago.

I don't miss those times - I was a rudderless person back then - but I do miss the company.

I cherish my stupid showboat cup.

Feeling Minimalistic

Layout change.

Posts have been flowing so infrequently in the past year that I've got this urge to make this simple. Maybe a fresh start will encourage creativity.

It Goes Up To Eleven

Tomorrow is our 11th Anniversary. In honor of this feat, our friend posted the following as his "Quote of the Day" email thread. Enjoy.

Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don't know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.

- This is Spinal Tap

The truly fun part is that we've dubbed this the "It goes up to 11" Anniversary. It's a much better year than boring old 10. Why? Because, it goes up to 11!

Kids Grow Up

In what feels like a lifetime ago, I was a young, direction-less 20-something living with my parents again, doing a bit of volunteer youth ministry at Bethesda Lutheran in New Haven CT, while working 2 part-time jobs. Looking back, it was one of the best & worst times of my life. I met amazing people (including my wife.) I was also feeling the brunt of shame coming from crawling back home to my parents. But I digress...

Amazing people...

One of "my kids" from youth group came to visit us this weekend. She's now an adult trying to make her way in the world. I, apparently & unfortunately for her, had a great deal of influence on her innocent mind. Twelve years ago we had a "passing conversation" about faith. Today, she points to that single conversation (which I couldn't even remember when we talked about it) as a major turning point in her life. It lead her to seminary and a call to ministry.

Remember: Watch what you say to children. They remember stuff!

At some point over the weekend, it became obvious that this "kid" I helped teach Luther's Catechism and treated to pizza is now an adult. She's a world-traveler and is currently doing hospital ministry in Tennessee. During a dinner conversation Friday night, she totally impressed the hell out of me. First, she properly corrected my paraphrasing of one of Paul's letters. Then she proceeded to make my point for me. (Damn, know-it-all kid!)

The other really cool part of her visit is some music she shared with me. During my time at Bethesda, I got to know several of the really little kids. One of them is now a talented musician & songwriter. Only 16, he's got a band that's got an old-school punk-rock edge. I was really impressed. I would pay for his music and he's still in high school. I got a real kick listening to his music and reminiscing about my time in New Haven.

It made me feel real good to see my friend all grown up. It was amazing to be reminded that I helped give someone direction even at a time when I had none. We can give so much to each other even when we think we have nothing to give.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to add some music to my iPod's alternative & punk playlist.

A Funny Thing Happened...

...on my way to write new posts this June. I started having the best summer I've had in years. I felt good, the weather was great, my wife had a lot of vacation time and I just didn't give a rats-ass about blogging. Sure there were a lot of times when I considered posting about our Summer adventures. Our multiple bear run-ins while hiking in the Shenandoah National Park nearly got me posting. My 10-year-old niece singing a near perfect "Eye of the Tiger" on Rock Band 2 also ranked up there. And let's not forget getting to see Tiger Woods roar back LIVE at the Bridgestone Invitational. But all that's in the past.

Now, with Labor Day upon us and remaining vacation time limited to Thanksgiving and Christmas, I'm thinking about getting back to my normal routine. So, what about this blog? Good question. Do I even have any readership anymore? Some folks probably neglected to delete me from their RSS feeds. But then, this blog has never been about "readership."

When I stopped posting this spring, I joined Facebook at the behest of some friends. I found it a mixed bag. On one hand, it's a virus-laden, time sink. On the other, I reconnected with dozens of high school friends. Unfortunately, it made me realize that highschool was 20 years ago. Yet, instead of reminding me of all my highschool horor, Facebook has helped me rediscover the good times. For that, I'm glad to have joined. Just don't expect me to do anything on Farm Town or Mafia Wars. I've got a lot better games to play.

My Facebook experiment can't/won't replace blogging or other online-networking in my life. Facebook isn't about close friends or deep thoughts. It's about broad, social networking. I don't have 80+ close friends. I have 80+ "friends" from multiple phases of my life.

Oddly, the biggest news in my life since starting my blog-break is probably our exit from World of Warcraft. After over 3 years, WoW stopped being the best MMO for us. So, the wife, our friends and I all moved over to Lord of the Rings Online. The gameplay is similar enough to make the transition fairly painless, but different enough to breath fresh life into online gaming nights.

Now, before you worry that we simply replaced wow-addiction for LotRO-addiction, rest assured that Slick and I have moved past the 7 nights a week MMO insanity. Our group officially tries to meet 2 nights a week. I expect that we'll have some weeks where that number will be more like 3-4, but gone are the marathon Warcrack days.

Our main recreation source is still online videogames. But instead of just playing the MMO de jur, we're doing more stuff on the Wii. We've got an online Rock Band 2 group and I've been trying to organize weekly Mario Kart Online night with my college friends and hope to start a weekly session this month.

We've also been getting together with our neighbors for dinner, trying to make friends with other couples on the block & even make friends with some of Slick's work friends.

So, that's my quick recap.

Let me finish this post with a shout out to my friend, Pobble over at Pobble Thoughts. She's been going through a blog-writing crisis much like the one that lead to my taking a break from blogging. Her plight was a major reason why I decided to finally get this first post back out of the way. I've been close to starting back up for weeks, but avoiding it. This is my lame attempt at solidarity with her. Good luck Pobble!

and now to hit publish without spellchecking or proofreading. Why? Because I'm tired and I feel like it. Night all! And welcome back me.

Power

That storm system that swept across the eastern seaboard dumped about 4-5 inches of snow on us. That's saying a lot for the southern tip of North Carolina. There are just enough salt trucks in the region to hit the major interstates, but our town's snow plan is to wait for it to melt.

Around 9AM, just as the sun came out, the whole town of Waxhaw lost power. It stayed off until about 4PM. The house got down to about 55 Deg. Just as I was about to "free" my car (garage door opener didn't work) & drive to a mall or the library, the power came back on. It stayed on until about 5:30 then dropped for another hour. Hopefully, that'll be it for the night. But, we are taking some precautions.

I've gotten out the flashlights. Since the temperature outside is predicted to be in the teens tonight, we're cranking the heat for the rest of the evening.

It totally makes you think about people who lose power in ice-storms for days on end. I mean, no coffee, no computer, no heat is frustrating, but I didn't really suffer. I spent the day in a sunny room reading. I could "escape" anytime I wanted. Some folks aren't so lucky.

When $300 Doesn't Seem Like a Lot of Money

There are a lot of good things about being a home-owner. It's been nearly 7 years since my wife dragged me kicking & screaming into our first home & I don't regret it. Having a home means having a dog, a garage with tools & room for all my crap. I like being handy even if my health has curtailed my projects a bit. Still, there's one thing about home-ownership that's not fun: The ever-present fear of that major repair. Today, was one of those days.

Our downstairs toilet & the dishwasher have been backing up. I finally had someone come in and snake the sewer line to the tune of $300. The line is right next to a tree. The guy had a really hard time snaking the line. Yipe! He told me to call the county because the problem spot is where the line meets the street and that it was probably tree roots. If the county won't fix it, the price will start at $1,000 because his boss would have to come out with a team & a camera. Visions of heavy machinery, trenches in my yard, a felled tree filled my head. So much for our savings.

Except, everything is "fine" now. They came out. The blockage is clear. It's all good. Well, it might not be great. It's possible that the snaking is only a temporary fix. It's likely that I'll have to have work done in the future. For now, however, I'll pay my $300 & know that I got off easy.

1913 Miles Later...

We're home from our tour of Northern Pennsylvania & Southern New England. Crazy-long hours spent in the car, but worth it to see both our families for the Christmas & New Years holiday. Not sure we can repeat it next year, but glad we did it.

Pictures to follow...

WoWii

Merry Christmas! Slick and I are up on her Grandmother's farm.

It's been a great time here. Last night all 35 members of the family gathered and had the annual party & gift-exchange. Today, most of us gathered again for Christmas dinner. Slick's family is a group of bright & diverse people. Conversations are varied. One minute I'm talking with one cousin about literary giants, then I move on to a conversation with the BMW-driving Network engineer and the next minute I'm talking to Slick's uncle about the bear he shot. Again, varied...

After making us agree to cut back on gift prices this year, the Queen & flyDad surprised us a Wii. Apparently, flyDad sat in a KMart parking lot before 6AM to get one. Needless to say, we are surprised and excited.

So tonight after dinner, we hooked the Wii up to Granny's TV and started playing WiiSports. I got Granny to play. She "humored" me and tried bowling with us. The Queen tried tennis & flyDad played some golf. I think they should have gotten themselves a Wii for Christmas instead.

Holiday Update aka Victims of the Almighty Sarlacc

You know all those letters you get in your holiday cards from people with the exciting stuff like "and our son just got accepted in a Doctoral program at Oxford." Yeah well, this isn't one of those updates...

It's been a "growth and development" year at the LRN's household.

Slick's job is absolutely nuts. Filed under "be careful what you wish for" Slick started 2008 looking for new career challenges and found them working on the development of a new product for her company. Of course, the project was "inherited" in an already precarious state wracked with uncontrollable and utterly unforeseeable setbacks. She with the support of her new boss has helped to guide the damn thing from the brink. My analogy has been that the new product was Han Solo trapped in carbonite. They've gotten to the point where they've rescued him from the carbonite. Currently, Slick is now stuck in chains and everyone's about to be fed to the Sarlacc.

Of course, things aren't all that bad from my end. Remember what Princess Leah was wearing at that point in the film? ...

Oh, I'm so dead for writing that.

Oh, it was so worth it!

Honestly, from my limited view, things are going exceptionally well. Sure, she's stressed as hell. Sure, she's working like mad. Sure, there's that whole Sarlacc thing. BUT she's been "noticed" at work for all the right reasons. And, I honestly think they are going to succeed. They just need to watch out for Bobba Fett.

Bobba Fett? Where?

As for me, it's all about putting one foot in front of the other. After another year of living with Fybromialgia, I'm still missing out on a lot of my "old" life. The new medications are providing hope, but they've also contributed to my re-gaining 5-10 lbs.

Hey, it's not the 50-extra I started with and it's better than being stuck in carbonite!

In a lot of ways, it's been a bad luck year for me. The intestinal infection this spring took months to get over and forced me to start over with a lot of my exercise program. This fall has been all about changing medications and dealing with side-effects. Every change has meant new adjustment periods. Yet, I honestly see myself moving in the right direction. My energy, my symptoms, my worst days are still never as bad as they were the year I stopped working. I still need to get to the "next level" - whatever that means - but it's still progress.

Let go your feelings...

I accept that dealing with a "life-altering" condition isn't about taking some pills and going about my day. These things take time. If nothing else, these last few years have taught me patience & acceptance. Those are big - HUGE - lessons for me.

Hmmm...size matters not...

I really wanted to do a lot more in the garden this year. I wanted to plant some shrubs, work on the lawn, start a veggie garden. None of that was really possible. So, I compromised with the indoor garden. Our house-plants are really happy with me. I'm enjoying it. It's baby-steps. Again, patience & acceptance.

I sense much spaz in him...

The Moose is currently barking at the kids playing outside. Turning 6, he's no longer "young." He's still a spaz at times, but he's a generally happy & healthy dog. His new thing this year is that he's learned to pull back the covers and make a nest in our bed. He also likes to snuggle up with his head on a pillow & tucked under the blanket with Slick when she goes to bed. This is fine until I want to go to bed.

I know I tend to be overly optimistic around New Year's, but I'm really excited about 2009. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? Well, I suppose my fybro could get really bad, Slick could lose her job and thus our house, & the dog could find a skunk or get lost chasing a deer.

Because if I think of the worst thing that can happen, things usually work out much better and I stay happy.

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year & above all watch out for intergalactic bounty hunters!

Random Late Night Observations

I'm tired, but can't sleep yet. My mind is racing through a bunch of potential blog topics. So, here comes another random topic post.

I'm fairly certain that I'm not sleep blogging...

First, I learned tonight that Doug Glanville writes a part-time Op-Ed Column for the NYT. Check out his page here. Doug Glanville was a favorite in our house when he played in Philly. I think Slick even had a secret crush on him.

NBC Nightly News did a segment on the increase of public Library use. Well duh! Slick and I re-discovered the library over a year ago as part of our own cost-cutting strategy. Of course, this comes at a time when municipalities are cutting library funding. I should really consider how much money we're saving checking out library books & the donate a small % back to our local branch.

Observations stop here because this is where the medication starts doing the talking. Now is the time I can stagger into bed and pass out. Now is not the time for me to check the deals on gifts on Amazon.com.

Comfort is a Warm Doggy

It's Sunday night and I'm feeling fuzzy, tired and hurting. So the dog and I are snugged up on the couch, watching football, surfing the Internet on the iPod & eating cookies.

Of course if Baltimore continues to crush Washington, I'm going to need something else to watch besides SNF. Few things please me more than watching a division rival get beaten, but blowouts are boring.

There's A Place For Caps

Slick and I went to Linens & Things today. She's been talking about getting some new bedding for a while & since they are going out of business, there's a huge sale.

Slick spotted this "Cap Rack" that hooks to closet doors & holds up to 9 hats. Well, I've needed a place to store my hats. It seems that all over the house on numerous chairs & hooks is inappropriate.

Yes, I know...

I need more Phillies hats!

Note: Sing this post title to "There's a place for us."

Sick as a Dog

Our poor pooch isn't feeling well. He's not "rush to the vet" sick yet, but I'm getting ready to boil some chicken and rice for him. He's trying so hard to alert me to "daddy, I need to go outside." But it's hard for him. The rug at the back door is about to spend it's second day in the washing machine.

This combined with me feeling all sluggish is making for a real fun time in our house. Poor Slick just comes home and looks at us with a "Now what do I do?" look on her face.

Running On Empty

Today on our daily walk, we saw a fresh tanker truck at the station down the road. By the time we passed the station again on our loop, there were already 20 cars in line to get gas. Last week, our area got 1/2 of it's usual supply of gas. News reports suggest that it could take days (or weeks) before new shipments make up for the missed supplies.

We're making due and thus far it's more annoying that a problem. We skipped our planned weekend errands and trip to the outlets. Slick will simply have to pick up groceries on the way home from work. It's going to be nice this week, so I can walk to the bank, & the doctor's office.

Eventually, I'll need to put gas in at least one of the cars. Eventually, I need to go to Sears to get a new belt for the broken vacuum. Until then, we simply have to ignore the build-up of dog hair.

I can't imagine what some of my neighbors who work in Charlotte are doing. I've also wondered how my neighbor the landscaper is handling this. All and all, it's just one more reason to be glad I don't have my 30 mile commute anymore.

Because My In-Laws Are Cooler Than Your In-Laws

Well, we're back from vacation with Slick's parents & their gaggle of retired teacher, baby-boomer friends. And look what the Queen left on our dresser on the first night...


That's right, it's a genuine Chase Utley bobble-head from some random fan night at Citizen's Bank Park. I'm not sure if we're unpacking it or not. It's definitely going on our Philadelphia Sport's Fan Shelf.

The week at OBX was spectacular. The house had an "ocean view" and a hot tub. The dogs (all 4 of them) liked to run around on the 3rd-floor deck barking at things. I even went in the ocean a few times (as did my dog.) The most amusing thing about the week was the laptops. Each couple had one and they used them like seasoned geeks. It was a reminder that you can teach retired teachers new tricks.

I planned to read a lot, but had some false starts with my reading choices: The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett & War of the Worlds by HG Wells. Instead I started two other books which are both very good. The first is The Shack by William P Young. It's good, really good, but way too serious for beach-reading. So, I picked up a novel called God's Spy by Juan Gomez-Jurado. God's Spy is a thriller involving a detective chasing a serial killer in Rome who's killing off Cardinals at the Vatican during the conclave to select the successor for Pope John Paul II. Both books are really good and I'm extremely torn now that I'm home. Do I continue with my deep, spiritual journey at the Shack or do I find out if there's another dead Bishop on the landing?

.

Away

Slick and I are about to make our second & last vacation trip of the year before Christmas. Oddly, it's back to OBX. Her parents and their friends have an extra room for the week and invited us to stay in it. Slick's aunt & uncle will be there. We don't get to see them for years at a time, so we're looking forward to it. The dog is also coming with us and the weather should permit me to take him in the ocean a bit. He doesn't really like to swim, but he loves romping in the waves.

We'll have internet access, but I plan to be having too much fun to post!

I'll be back in a week with more political commentary, tech reviews & general obnoxiousness. First on the agenda (after OBX pictures) will be my internal debate about asking for a new 4th-Gen iPod Nano for my Birthday/Christmas.

Spider Plant Babies

Today, we "rescued" a few of our plants from various corners of the house. They were out of sight out of mind. I re-potted several of them for Slick. We then moved all these forgotten plants to a nice sunny spot in the greatroom where we will hopefully notice them more. We had one "fatality." A fern my mother gave us when we got married. I carefully pruned and re-potted the good sections in fresh soil, but I fear it's not long for this world.

The big surprise was the vine which we named Bernie (long story.) It was bursting at it's pot. I literally had to destroy the pot to re-plant it. That plant has been with us since our apartment 10 years ago.

The other thing we did was to take about 6 more babies off the spider plant. Damn thing doesn't look like a plant anymore, just a baby factory. You can see the recently potted baby and most of the six other babies in water hopefully getting their roots. The tradition is to give most of them away once they are potted, so hopefully we'll find a good home for them all.

I'm seriously considering getting some kind of shelf (like a baker's rack) and putting it in front of the window so we can make a nice indoor garden.

Like Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend

Philly's Spectrum to be demolished

My mother-in-law told me about it on the phone the other day, but it didn't have the nostalgic effect this article had. Oh the times I spent in that building.

I saw Dr J, Moses Malone, Maurice Cheeks, Andrew Toney & Bobby Jones play for Billy Cunningham the year they won the championship. Fo Fo Fo!

My dad took me to several Sixers games every year. When I was really little we used to ride the Broad Street Subway home. I also remember when we all loading up in the church bus and sat in the cheap seats to see Magic & Showtime or Bird & McHale. Growing up, it seemed like my father was always busy, always at a meeting or something, but we always had the Sixers.

See kids, back then dunking was the occasionally used art-form. Players could actually shoot. They knew how to dribble without palming the ball every other bounce. AND, they wore really short shorts.

It was during one of those games that my father realized I needed glasses. I borrowed someone's binoculars and didn't want to give them back. The next day he took me to get my eyes checked.

Rocky was filmed at the Spectrum.

Before Comcast SportsNet there was PRISM.

Remember that famous last-second shot by Christian Laettner in 1992 against Kentucky. Yeah, that was in the Spectrum. No, I wasn't there, but man do I remember that shot.

In highschool, I had floor seats for Aerosmith. That was increadible.

On the other hand, in college we had the worst seats for Rush. NothingKnew's ex got a really bad headache from the "contact high." I remember having to drive her car back to school. I can't for the life of me remember where he was. I just remember that it rained like a muth%#$& on the Northeast Extension that night.

I remember when my friend Jason scored us Flyers tickets just behind the Ranger's bench one season and the two of us spending the whole time banging the glass. I can't remember who won, but I do remember being glad there was glass between me and them. I swear it wasn't me who threw the beer!

The Spectrum was also the place where some seats had "obstructed views." What does that mean? These were seats that were partially blocked by a wall or stairwell. Seriously, there were spots in the stands where paying customers could not see sections of the floor, ice, concert stage. Can you imagine something like that in one of today's modern arenas?

I'm sure that I'm feeling the same way about the Spectrum as older Philadelphians felt about Convention Hall. How is it that the Colosseum of Rome was used for over 500 years & still stands today, but the Spectrum only made it 42 years? They just don't make 'em the way they used to...

Mindless Activities for the Homebound Geek

A very good friend of mine is sick and stuck at home. The Dr thinks it's Mono, but the tests aren't back yet. Effectively quarantined and living hundreds of miles from all his friends and family, he's going stir crazy. He's got just enough energy to need mental stimulation but not enough to really do much. I know what he's going through. He can only play so much World of Warcraft. He can only watch so many reruns on TV. He need distractions. So, for him and the rest of my readers, I present just a few mindless activities for the home-bound geek. And yes, I've mentioned many of these in the occasional post.

Netflix
Start with a Netflix membership. The 3-movies at a time deal is the best balance between cost & movies. It also allows for access to the online library. I recommend stupid action, anime & scifi. Serious films just add to the potential for depression. Consider a Babylon 5 marathon. Skip season 5. He actually already got the Netflix subscription today & I sent him a list of movies.

Read the following online comics
PvP - Follow the crazy adventures of the staff of a fictional gaming magazine. Find the archive and start from the begining.
XKCD - The comic that's smarter than you are. If you don't get the joke, you probably don't have a degree in science. Read it anyway.
User Friendly - The staff of this Canadian ISP and their pet "Dustpuppy" who formed in the server farm.
Questionable Content - The life of 20-somethings who hang out in a coffee shop and talk about music. It's wrong, funny and highly addictive. You will be sucked in. You must start in the archive.
Full Frontal Nerdity - Four geeks who play way too much D&D.
The Order of the Stick - The most unusual adventuring party you've ever seen.
ExtraLife - The imagination of Scott Johnson unfolds before us in a single panel. Part gaming reviewer, part social comentator, part insane, all Scott...

Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited
Consider a one-month membership ($10) to access hundreds of issues from Marvel's comicbook line. Slick got me a 1-year subscription 6-months ago and I still haven't put a dent in it. They have huge selections from the "giants" of the Marvel universe including the X-Men, Spiderman & the Avengers. You can choose to read stuff from the early days or catch up on the events from M-Day & Civil War.

Classic VideoGame Rewind
Somewhere in your house there's a videogame that you loved so much that you tucked it away. Does it still work with your hardware? Do you still have that copy of CivIII? What about Fable or Tiger Woods for that old Xbox you're using as an extra DvD player in the den? Dust them off and have at it!

It's not TV, it's Hulu
Even if you have Digital Cable or Satellite sometimes there's just nothing on. Try Hulu. This online "channel" has an ever-growing line-up of reruns & movies. The average show has 5 very short (30-sec) commercial breaks. Catch episodes of Buffy or watch Ghostbusters.

Feel better my friend. If anyone else has suggestions or ideas, please share them.