It's been a while..........

I know that I haven't been around lately, but things are going well with the family and work is actually real good. We went to Vail, CO back in January on my company. Besides my meetings, Jenn had a full day spa and massage, we went dogsledding and snowmobiling. I prefered the snowmobiling. The views were awesome at 12,000 feet! Then last month I was in Germany for two days (all meetings, very little fun). I did get to fly business class though..........that was cool.

I did have something strange happen to me the other day. My friend asked me if I wanted to fill in for someone in his dodgeball tournemant. After I stopped laughing, I did it. Jenn (lovingly) told me I was too old to play and that I would get hurt. This only made me want to do it more. Needless to say, I'm sore as hell today and nothing is broken. It's not as easy as I remember from 1983.

On a non-related note, I want to congratulate the NY Giants for taking out New England! Also, I always liked Joe Girardi, but he needs to be consistant when talking about "dirty plays" during spring training.

What a week!!

I have had no time to do anything since my son arrived a month ago (see picture), but I wanted to say three things:

1. Yankee management are a bunch of idiots for how they handled the Joe Torre situation
2. God-Damn the REDSOX for winning the world series again!!
3. ..........lastly, A-Rod and Scott Boras; your announcement of A-Rod opting out of his contract coming minutes after the Redsox won the world series was one of the dumbest moves I've sever seen. I's not a fan of the Steinbrenner's but I have to agree with Hal when he said, "It's clear he didn't want to be a Yankee. He doesn't understand the privilege of being a Yankee on a team where the owners are willing to pay $200 million to put a winning product on the field."

I'm sorry I defended A-Rod early in the season now.

I AM Luke's father!

Sorry I haven't been around lately, but my wife gave birth to our son last Friday and things have been crazy. He was born 9/21 @7:46am and was 7lb, 14oz. Everyone's doing well.

In honor of his birth, this week's quote is from Star Wars:



Hopefully, my son Luke doesn't react the way Skywalker does when he finds out I'm his dad. I will post back when I have more time (ironically, probably when I go back to work next week).

Never Forget - 9/11/01

Don't forget all those that died on that day, and all those taken from us in this crazy war. I wish my kids could have known this skyline, and the world before. At least we knew who our real enemies were........

Certain songs took on a whole new meaning for me after that day. I can now never hear Don Henley's "New York Minute" without thinking about Sept 11th, and all the people that lost loved ones that Tuesday morning and how at any second, I could lose the people closest to me.

Cherish every second.

98.6 WBOG - The Bog

When I was much younger (I'm talking 10 or 11 years old), I remember having my childhood friend Geoff sleep over pretty frequently. We decided one night to make our own radio show. We set up my old Panasonic boombox that had built in microphones and proceeded to record ourselves talking about anything and everything onto cassette tape. I can remember each of us flipping thru the JC Penny catalog looking for what we wanted to get for Christmas. There was even a whole part of the "show" where we did nothing but quote Cannonball Run. Even then I was obsessed with that movie. We'd also flip between us talking and the radio to see if there was a song on that we wanted to record. It was funny hearing us since our voices hadn't changed yet so we sounded so young.

As I got older and was almost old enough to drive, I made my own mix tapes so I'd have cool music to listen to once I got my licence. I mentioned my old "radio broadcast" to my friend Erik and we decided to make our own show. We got real hi-tech. We went to Radio Shack and bought a microphone and plugged it into my stereo shelf system. (You know the ones that looked like individual components, but were actually a record player, radio and dual cassete deck all in one.) We set up a playlist and recorded a real radio show. One of us would set up the music while the other introduced the songs. We called the station "98.6 FM WBOG", and our tag line was "Coming to you straight from the bog". (We picked an even numbered station because they don't really exist in the US.) We played mostly 80's rock like Whitesnake, Skid Row, Cinderella, Ratt, Scorpions, Ozzy and Metallica. At the end of each 45 minute side, we'd do our own paridy of whatever commercial was playing a lot on the radio at that time. We did one for Pizza Hut & US Army. I remember we got a little punchy on a some of them, to the point that we'd be craking up mid-recording.

I wish I could find a copy of that tape and transfer it to CD, MP3 file or something to preserve it. As I await the birth of my second child, I guess I can't help but look back on the memories of my life prior to marriage, kids, mortgage, and being an all around adult.

The Police: Giants Stadium 8/5/07

Almost a year to the day since I posted this, I finally got my wish to see The Police in concert last night at Giants Stadium. I have to say that I was very impressed with how the sounded. Sting's voice was right on, Andy Summers guitar sounded great, and Stewart Copeland never missed a beat. I was happy to see that it was just the three of them on stage and not a bunch of back up singers and instruments. This really impressed me since they sounded very full on every song.

I tailgated in the parking lot with a bunch of family & friends (Jenn unfortunately did not go. She's been having a difficult time walking in her last tri-mester of pregnancy). They opened the show with Message in a Bottle, followed by Synchronicity II (which is one of my favorites) and Walking on the Moon. There was very little talking going on between songs which I was happy about.

They also played (in no particular order):
So Lonely
Roxanne
Don't Stand So Close to Me
Voices Inside My Head
When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
Invisible Sun
Walking in your Footsteps
Wrapped Around Your Finger
King of Pain
Can't Stand Losing You
Every Breath You Take
(I know I've missed two or three here)

The only song I wish they did was Murder By Numbers. It was surprising to look around and see how many people didn't know some of the songs though (Voices Inside My Head, When the World is Running Down & So Lonely for example). I guess they just went to hear King of Pain and Every Breath you Take.

My friend Matt drank so much that he actually missed half the show because he passed out. I have a picture of him sleeping in his seat, but I'll spare him and not post it. I took more with my camera phone, but they came out crappy, so I'll spare you the blurry light streaks I got.

If they come to a town near you, do what you can to see them. It was definately worth the $100, except for Matt, but that's a whole other story....

10 things I can say to my son

So now that we've officially decided that our son's name will be Luke, I have come up with a list of quotes that I can say to him.

1. LUKE! We’re gonna have company! – Han Solo
2. That’s great kid, don’t get cocky! – Han Solo
3. No, I am your father! – Darth Vader
4. Aren’t you a little short for a Storm Trooper? – Princess Leia
5. Do, or do not………….there is no try. – Yoda
6. What an incredible smell you’ve discovered! – Han Solo
7. It’s pointless to resist my son. – Darth Vader
8. Impressive………….MOST impressive. – Darth Vader
9. Don’t make me destroy you. – Darth Vader
10. You’d better watch yourself. I’ve got the death sentence in 12 systems. – Guy in Cantina

I know they're all from Star Wars, but I couldn't think of any from Dukes of Hazzard. I'm sure there's others.............what else can you come up with?

Family Ties

When I was young, my whole family (mom & dad's side) lived within a 15 mile radius of my apartment in urban NY. When my mom, step-dad and I moved to the "sticks" back in 1979, everyone thought it was so far away. I know an hour ride is no big deal, but we were the ones that almost always went to see them, they rarely came to visit us. My dad lived an hour or so away at first, then he moved and it became a two hour ride. I went from seeing him every weekend, to every other. I understood and was never upset with him. I just looked forward to going to the mall to have Orange Julius with him, playing video games and talking about cars.

Anyway, now it's 2007 and I look at how my family is spread out all over the US. One of the reasons I am talking about this is because just this past weekend, we saw my aunt and uncle (both are like another set of parents to me and my older sister) who are moving to Illinois to be near my cousin, his wife and their two beautiful daughters (who moved there after college about 8 years ago). Just this past winter, my grandmother moved out of the only town that she knew for 90 years down to South Carolina with my dad. He & my step mother had moved there back in 2001 to retire along with my little sister and niece. My two brothers moved to California (one in 2000, and the other in 2003). My other cousin moved to SC over three years ago and now his mother lives there too (both are on the opposite side of the state from my dad). My wife's uncle lives in Oregon with his two kids. My in-laws even talk about moving to Florida someday (WAY too hot for me!) but again, that's what may be best for them and their wants and needs.

I do miss all these people and wish that my daughter and soon-to-be son Luke (yes, I just made that decision) knew their cousins a little better, but people can't live their lives to make everyone else around them happy. They need to do what's they feel is best for themselves. My kids will know my sister, two nephew's and brother-in-law (who I am very close with and live an hour away) very well. My daughter still knows who my dad is, and walks around my house holding my niece's picture saying her name. People being farther away will just make the time that we get to spend with them that much more precious. Plus it gives me a reason to see places in this country that I probably never would have gone to otherwise.

This post was stemmed from a totally separate issue that my close friend is going through in his relationship, but my mind works in strange ways. Basically all of this is about doing what makes you happy. Don't live your life pleasing everyone else but yourself or you'll just end up resenting the people that you're supposed to love.

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.............

"May the force be with him......."

So as I stated in my last post, my wife and I were to find out what the sex of our second child would be. I'm sure as you figured out by now, it's a boy! We're both very excited to have a girl and a boy. Among other debates, now comes the task of naming the kid. On our trip to South Carolina a couple of months ago, my wife brought the "50,001 baby names" book along for the ride and we narrowed it down to about 25 girl names and 12 or so boys'. Well, since then we took the boys names and narrowed them down to two: Jason (or Jayson, we haven't decided yet), or Luke.

My wife and almost everyone we talk to prefers Luke..............but there is a problem with that name. As most of you know, I am obsessed with movie quotes and can't resist reciting them. So the obvious problem is me saying this all the time:

"Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father"

"He told me enough..............he told me you killed him"

"No.................I am your father!"

Jenn is deathly afraid that I will torture the kid with it an others from the movies forever. So as of now, Jason is the name in the lead, but I know Luke is the favorite. At least we have another few months to decide

"I believe you have my stapler"

I want to start by apologizing to everyone in blog-land for ignoring them over the past couple of months. I have had a crazy couple of weeks. I went on four interviews over four days about two weeks ago, with positions ranging from an MS Excel guru, to a forecasting manager, but two positions stood out as a possible good fit for me, both in the auto industry.

Long story short, one of the two offered me a job last week, the same day I had my final interview with the other. I waited as long as I could to hear from the second on a possible offer, but they moved slowly, so I accepted the first offer. I was happy I had a job and it seemed interesting although I was a little disappointed that I had to accept a job a few thousand less than what I was making. I called the second company and explained to them the situation and told them flat out that I accepted a job and thanked them for their time. I could finally breath a sigh of relief knowing that I would no longer have to apply for unemployment anymore. Then, Friday came and I was out helping my in-laws deliver flowers to a couple of weddings. I got home at 5:19pm to a message that sounded like this:

"Hi Mike, it's Sandy from "blabity bla" company. It's ten to four on Friday. I'm sorry I missed you at home, but I can't find your cell number. Please call me when you get this, preferably before the end of the day. Thanks."

So I tried to call her back, but got no answer. This whole weekend I kept saying to my wife, "If they call me Monday and offer me that job, it had better be for at least 10% more than the one I accepted or it's not worth it to piss of the other company."

*Cut to Monday at 9:15am.*
*Ring...........Ring..............."Hello?"
"MINDCRIME!"
(Sorry, inside joke to Queensryche fans)

Anyway, I answer the phone and they offer me the job...............................for exactly 10% over my other offer, plus an extra 2% bonus potential. *sigh* I hated to do it, but I called and rescinded my acceptance of the first offer and confirmed the second one. So after almost two months of unemployment, it will come to and end this Thursday. (thank God). Tomorrow is my anniversary and we're also finding out the sex of our second child (due in September), so I'll be a little busy. Anyway, thanks to everyone for the well wishes and I will do my best to check in with everyone as soon as possible.

PS............Yes, I know the Yankees have been sucking lately. Thanks for reminding me.

Mr. Mom - The Sequel

So we're back from S.C. and all I have to say is thank God for the DVD player! It was nice to see everyone.

Again, I'm sorry that I haven't been posting or getting to to may of your blogs, but I was laid off from my job just before we left for South Carolina. I've been home with my daughter during the day and have spent most of my free time talking to recuiters and applying for jobs. I guess I should have known that when a small company called me out of the blue six months ago to come and work for them (more money and closer to home) that it was too good to be true. I was told they were looking to change and grow by the VP in the interview, but when he "quit", things slowly went back to the way they were and over the next three months, most people he hired were also let go.

I will do my best to check in when I can. For now, I'm not sure how much I'll be posting since I have other things I have to take care of. (like upgrading the electric in the house; "220, 221.......whatever it takes")

ROAD TRIP!

Jenn, Allie and I are driving down to South Carolina to visit my Dad, Step Mother and grandmother. My little sister that lives down there just had her second baby a few weeks ago, so this trip works out perfectly. We bought a dual screen portable DVD player for the car so my daughter Allie can watch Elmo while I drive the 780 miles over two days (and my wife can play games). I'd normally do the drive in one day, but she'd never make it.

I'm sorry that I haven't been by to many of your blogs in the past week or so. Things have been crazy over here in the Maniacal houshold. I'll explain when I have more time. We'll see you when we get back.

Double whammy!

Today is my one year blog-iversary and also happens to be my 100th post. I decided to make a list of ten groups with ten items in each (obviously totaling 100). All except for the last group are in rank order. It was difficult to come up with many of these, but I think I finally got it right. So without further a-do.................here's my "Top Ten-Top Ten":

Bands:
1. Led Zeppelin
2. Pink Floyd
3. Queensryche
4. Alice in Chains
5. Ozzy Osbourne
6. The Beatles
7. Guns n’ Roses
8. Metallica
9. Van Halen
10. U2

Albums (Greatest Hits don’t count):
1. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin (I)
2. The Beatles – Abbey Road
3. Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
4. Metallica – Master of Puppets
5. Queensryche – Operation: Mindcrime
6. The Cars – The Cars
7. Guns n’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction
8. Steely Dan – Aja
9. Alice in Chains – Dirt
10. Van Halen – Van Halen (I)

Songs:
1. Led Zeppelin – Kashmir
2. The Who – The Real Me
3. Metallica – Master of Puppets
4. Black Sabbath – War Pigs
5. Queensryche – Eyes of a Stranger
6. Alice in Chains – Would?
7. Ozzy Osbourne – No More Tears
8. Whitesnake – Still of the Night
9. Yes – Roundabout
10. Soundgarden – Outshined

Movies:
1. The Cannonball Run (DUH!)
2. Star Wars Saga (“Empire Strikes Back” being the best)
3. The Lord of the Rings Saga (I’m sorry, but I can’t separate these)
4. Smokey and the Bandit
5. Goodfellas
6. Pulp Fiction
7. The Godfather Trilogy (Godfather II being the favorite)
8. Ghostbusters
9. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
10. Grease

Movie Quotes (How can I pick just 10!!):
1. “I don't care what you smell!” – Han Solo (Star Wars)
2. “Ssssh. Listen. Do you smell something?” – Dr. Ray Spangler (Ghostbusters)
3. “You get nothing! You lose! Good day sir!” – Willy Wonka (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory)
4. “You’ve committed one of the classic blunders……never go up against a Sicilian, when DEATH is on the line!!” – Vizzini (The Princess Bride)
5. “Why’d he call me shorty? ‘Cause you’re small, small, S. M. All.” – Fenderbaum & Jamie Blake (The Cannonball Run)
6. “Funny how? Like I’m a clown? I amuse you? I make you laugh?” – Tommy DeVito (Goodfellas)
7. “I gotta stab her three times? NO! You don’t gotta stab her three times, you gotta stab her once!!” – Vincent Vega & Maynard (Pulp Fiction)
8. “There were horses, and man on fire, and I killed a guy with a trident.” – Brick Tamland (Anchorman)
9. “What? Over? Did you say over? Nothing is over until we decide it is!! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?............” – John Blutarski (Animal House)
10. “He’ll keep callin’ me……..he’ll keep callin’ me until I come over. Thi…….this is ridiculous. I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go, I'll go…………..SHIT!” – Cameron (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)

Women (My wife is not included in this list. That wouldn’t be fair to the other women):
1. Alyssa Milano
2. Elisabeth Shue
3. Diane Lane
4. Jennifer Aniston
5. Charlize Theron
6. Christina Applegate
7. Christine Taylor
8. Marissa Tomei
9. Alicia Silverstone
10. Mena Suvari

Cars (Manual Transmissions whenever possible please!):
1. ANY original Shelby Cobra
2. 1967 Chevy Camaro RS/SS
3. 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo
4. 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans-Am
5. 1994 Ferrari 512tr (Testarrosa)
6. 1996 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo
7. 1969 Dodge Charger R/T
8. 1966 Pontica GTO
9. 1968 Chevy Chevelle
10. 1955 Chevy BelAir

All Time Favorite TV Shows:
1. Seinfeld
2. Night Court
3. Friends
4. Happy Days
5. The Sopranos
6. The Dukes of Hazzard
7. Gilligan’s Island
8. Knight Rider
9. Batman
10. Brady Bunch

Places I Want to visit:
1. Australia
2. Italy
3. Ireland
4. England
5. Hawaii
6. Alaska
7. Greece
8. Germany
9. Egypt
10. France

Things about me:
1. I’m legally blind in my right eye. (Born that way)
2. Was at Yankee Stadium for Game 4 of 2001 World Series (NY vs. Ariz.)
3. My mother and I have the same birthday.
4. Been married three times (I’m very happy now, but learn from my mistakes. If you have any doubts, there’s probably a reason!)
5. Drove from NJ to California in 3 days 5 hours.
6. Got my first speeding ticket on my 17th birthday. (69 in a 45mph zone)
7. Had my first accident the day after my 17th birthday. (totalled the car 15 hours after the ticket)
8. Drove from Dallas, Texas to Northern NJ in 25 straight hours in a minivan with 5 other people.
9. Sang lead on five songs with a full band on stage at a club in Northern NJ.
10. Drove a stock car 165 mph on the Pocono Raceway for eight laps.

Just two things........

My wife and I have some news. Go check out our post at Dad Said, Mom Said.

Also, I got tickets to see The Police at Giants Stadium! I can't wait to see them.

Tell me it's not just us

So yesterday, while we were waiting for the football games to start, (BTW, since the Giants are out of it, I’m pulling for the Colts), I was watching the YES Network. For those of you not in the NY Metro area, the YES Network is the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network. Anyway, they produce a show called “Yankeeography” which highlights the career of a particular Yankee. Here’s the conversation that followed:

Jenn – What the hell is this?
Me – It’s a Yankeeography on Paul O’Neill.
Jenn – It’s only January, why are watching baseball? Didn’t you see this one already?
Me – So? Don’t you think that if it was the one about Tino Martinez (my favorite Yankee) that I’d be watching it again too?
Jenn – *sigh* Yeah.
Me – It’s almost over.
Jenn – *gesturing to my daughter* Your Daddy’s crazy little girl. He keeps watching the same thing over and over again. It’s like SportsCenter.
Allie – *looks at my wife, nods and hands her a toy*

*cut to 10 minutes later*

Jenn – NOW what are we watching??
Me – It’s about the North American Auto Show in Detroit.
Jenn – *sigh*
Allie - *Looks back and forth at us and continues putting Elmo in and out of her shopping cart*

Does anyone else go thru stuff like this in their house? I mean, how many times can I watch the same episode of Boobah, Clifford, or Rachel Ray?? Why can't I watch a show again?

Still in the corner

First of all, happy new year to everyone.

Second, I just wanted to say that I still have my crappy desk. I'm told that the new space where a bunch of us are moving to will be completed early next month. I hope so because I can't stand staring at the fucking corner anymore!! Last week I was zoning out so much at my desk that I kept slowly turning up my music until my boss finally yelled out during Metallica's Leper Messiah, "What the hell is that? Mike is that you?" LOL! Oops!

How is it that the more I get paid, the smaller my desk gets!! Grrrrrr *looks for dunce cap*

Who has time?

So I've been busy as hell lately. They moved my desk temporarily at work (to face a corner) and now everyone can see what I'm doing. I normally would take a few minutes a day to read and write a blog at work, and now I can't do it as easily. I have some ideas in mind as to what to post about, but who has time? Apparently not me.

Anyway, don't feel neglected. I'll be back soon. In the mean time, check out my wife's blog. She posted about how we constantly quote movies at my house. I knew I liked her.........

Ahhh........and extra hour

I remember when switching from Daylight Savings Time to Standard Time meant an extra hour of partying. It meant that that bars closed at the equivilant of 5am, instead of 4am. Or even on the off chance that I went home early, that I could sleep an extra hour before having to go to work at Shop-Rite the next morning. Either way, it was good.

Well here I am..............almost 34 years old and I tried to stay up an extra hour with my wife to finish watching Sleepy Hollow. Well, it was 11:15pm or so and we could barely keep our eyes open. We made it to the end of the movie and went to bed. Well, all I have to say is that staying up later was a dumb idea. You see, our one year old doesn't know (or care) that the clocks changed.

*jump ahead to 5:20am*

Allie - Mama? MAMA!?! DaDA!! DA-DA!! DADADADADADADA!!
Jenn - *looks at clock* What is she doing up so early?
Mike - *sigh* She thinks it's 6:30am.

Needless to say, I am not as young as I used to be.

You know what pisses me off?

1. Saturday morning, after finishing my breakfast, my doorbell rings. As I'm walking to the door, I can see two homely looking women standing on my steps. I yell out, "Oh shit!! Jehovah's Witnesses" My wife immediately said, "BE NICE!!". So I answer the door: "Hello. We are here to spread God's word." They hand me a pamphlet which reads, "The End of False Religion is Near". So I say, "OK." and shut the door. They just turn and walk away. I felt like telling them, "Sure........why don't you come in. My wife and I are almost done making our porno with our neighbors." Apparently the same thing happened to one of my co-workers Saturday also!! WTF?!?! Was their some mass religious movement that I didn't know about?!?! Look, if I want to hear about you and your wacky beliefs, I'll go to your church. Until then, STAY OFF MY FUCKING PROPERTY!!!
2. While I was playing with my daughter and watching football (*points at all the Eagles fans* HA HA!!!!!), I saw a bunch of Lexus commercials come on with each of them boasting about how their new cars can parrallel park themselves!! Ummmm...........last time I checked, this was a major part of the driving test. If you can't perform this task, you shouldn't be driving!! Are we really becoming that lazy and unskilled of a society that we need our cars to park themselves?? This commercial made me not want to buy any Lexus (or Toyota) product now. I know they make quality cars and trucks, but seriously, what happens the first time this thing malfunctions and hits another car, or actually runs over someone?!?! Think McFly, THINK!!!!

Found some time

So I finally found some time to post, and what happens?!?! It's my turn to post on Dad Said, Mom Said with my wife.

One thing I have to say is..............at least I don't have to hear all the Met fans talk about how great they are anymore! *prepares for Giants vs. Cowboys on Monday Night Football*