after all the years i spent defending “manny being manny”…  he just went over the top this season.  my breaking point?  when he stood with his bat on his shoulder and took three straight stikes from mariano rivera.

theo is funny ha ha, though…  instead of trading him to florida — where manny lives and would be “comfortable” — he trades him to los freakin’ angeles!  HA HA HA HA!!  brilliant!  enjoy your “peace”…

i flew from nyc (jfk) to syracuse last friday — on jetblue.  it was late afternoon and i expected to be delayed…

we all boarded, etc…  late, natch, and then proceeded to wait.  and wait.  about 20 minutes after our flight should have taken off, the pilot comes out of the cockpit — while we are still at the gate — and jumps on the intercom.

“frank?  frank from ATC.  where are you?  raise your hand, frank…”

(i cannot actually remember if the guy’s name was frank…)

some guy behind me raises his hand and the pilot says:

“everyone, this is frank from ATC.  he will be getting us some preferential treatment today!”

the main door is closed.  we push back and start heading toward the taxiway.  like most airports, there is an inner (close to the gates) and an outer (close to the runways) taxiway.  most people know all about the outer taxiway — especially in nyc — as it is usually the one with a gazillion planes all lined up.  it was no different that day.  i could see almost 20 planes (i later found out it was 23) ahead of us in line.  the pilot jumps on the intercom again:

“thanks to frank, we will be taking off right away!”

and so we did.  we hit the inner taxiway and bypassed all 23 planes in front of us for takeoff.  we never stopped at all and hit the runway at speed after making two sharp turns.

this was not the end of frank’s magic.

as we descended through 10,000 feet on approach to syracuse, the pilot jumped on the intercom again:

“thanks to frank, we will be landing immediately.  flight attendants, please be seated.”

i have flown A LOT over the years and i have never heard a pilot ask the FAs to sit down at 10,000 feet.  ever.  it usually takes ~20-30 minutes to land after you hit approach.

not the case here.

immediately after he finished speaking, he made a massive bank turn that had my window on the right side of the plane looking almost directly down at the carrier dome.  freaky!

it then took, no kidding, less than 5 minutes until we were on the ground taxiing toward our syracuse gate.

i don’t know who this frank character is/was.  in fact, i never actually saw him.  but he is clearly magical.  i highly recommend flying with him at any time!

I’m a nerd.

I am publishing — if you want to call it that — an import file for Outlook with the entire 2008-9 regular season for the Chicago Blackhawks.

I know that you can get the schedule from a zillion locations. What’s different about mine? I added the location for each game in the format “Arena Name (City, State/Province - Country)”. I also set the “Private” flag and added a category of “blackhawks hockey”.

Chicago Blackhawks / 2008-9 Regular Season / Outlook Import File / Central timezone

  2008-9 Chicago Blackhawks Schedule - Outlook - Central (12.3 KiB, 78 hits)

– Destructions for Importing into Outlook –

1. Click on the link for the schedule you wish to download and “Save target as”/”Save file” to your computer. Remember where you saved the file to!
2. In Outlook, click on “File -> Import and Export” from the toolbar
3. Select “Import from another program or file” and click “Next”
4. Select “Comma Separated Values (Windows)” and click “Next”
5. Browse to where you saved the download file, highlight it and click “OK”. Make sure the path to that file is correct in the “File to import:” area
6. Do not change anything under “Options”
7. Highlight “Calendar” under “Select destination folder:” and click “Next”
8. Make sure there is a check in the box in “The following actions will be performed:” to the left of “Import…”
9. Click on “Finish”
10. Do a happy dance.

I’m a nerd.

I am publishing — if you want to call it that — an import file for Outlook with the entire 2008-9 regular season for the Buffalo Sabres.

I know that you can get the schedule from a zillion locations.  What’s different about mine?  I added the location for each game in the format “Arena Name (City, State/Province - Country)”.  I also set the “Private” flag and added a category of “sabres hockey”.

I am currently living in the Central timezone, so I have two files here to download:

Buffalo Sabres / 2008-9 Regular Season / Outlook Import File / Eastern timezone

  2008-9 Buffalo Sabres Schedule - Outlook - Eastern (11.2 KiB, 71 hits)

Buffalo Sabres / 2008-9 Regular Season / Outlook Import File / Central timezone

  2008-9 Buffalo Sabres Schedule - Outlook - Central (11.2 KiB, 40 hits)

– Destructions for Importing into Outlook –

1.  Click on the link for the schedule you wish to download and “Save target as”/”Save file” to your computer.  Remember where you saved the file to!
2.  In Outlook, click on “File -> Import and Export” from the toolbar
3.  Select “Import from another program or file” and click “Next”
4.  Select “Comma Separated Values (Windows)” and click “Next”
5.  Browse to where you saved the download file, highlight it and click “OK”. Make sure the path to that file is correct in the “File to import:” area
6.  Do not change anything under “Options”
7.  Highlight “Calendar” under “Select destination folder:” and click “Next”
8.  Make sure there is a check in the box in “The following actions will be performed:” to the left of “Import…”
9.  Click on “Finish”
10.  Do a happy dance.

this stuff just writes itself…

steven page — the guy from the barenaked ladies (no, not that guy, it’s the guy with the glasses) — was busted in, wait for it, suburban syracuse, ny.  (manlius, to be exact…)  for coke.  while at some woman’s apartment.  who is 10+ years is junior.  while bnl is on tour supporting a double album full of, wait for it…  children’s songs.

this is usually where the punchline goes, but as i dig bnl and page’s voice — i’ll leave it at that.

excellent!  the rumours are true!  the worst kept secret in the hockey world was that the winter classic 2009 would be in chicago.

apparently, after negotiations with nyc and yankee stadium did not pan out, the league turned to chicago for the game.

last year it was in buffalo at the ralph which looked so amazing on the 120″ screen while we were on vacation in north carolina.

this year will be even better.

we are blackhawks season ticket holders!!  WOO!!

the game will be on 1 january 2009 at 100pm eastern between the chicago blackhawks and the detroit red wings.  at…  wait for it…  wrigley field!

i can’t wait!

it has been a while.  i know.

there are very good reasons for that, though!  if you send me an email, i would be happy to tell you…

in any case.  content is coming soon.

in the meantime…

we are now on wordpress 2.6 — woo!  there are a lot of nifty features…  definitely some admin enhancements.  and the thing i am currently digging the most:  support for google gears!  i may play with the new media functionality a bit as well.

all the plugins i use have been updated as well…

 

many of you may know one of the “best women” from our wedding — cathy.

after a valiant and heroic battle with cancer, she passed away this past saturday.  she is an angel now.

i cannot tell you how sad and angry this makes me.  and for so many reasons.

cathy is alison’s best friend.  i have remained as strong as i can for alison, but the truth is…  it is difficult to know what to say.  i could easily break down with her at the same time, but i fear that every situation requires a rock.  and i plan on being that guy.

it was quite a period of time after alison and i started dating that i had the opportunity to first meet cathy.  i was nervous — i wanted to make a good impression.  cathy was in nyc for a YSC (i think…) event and we met at a bar near her hotel.  i have often been accused of bringing “life” into a room, but i pale in comparison to the energy she brought into that room.  and every room i saw her in.  we were immediate friends.  she ordered grasshoppers.  we laughed.  i got the dirt on alison’s college years…  we laughed some more.  and then cathy did something very, um, “cathy-like”.  in the midst of a discussion on breast cancer, she whipped out her fake boob and plopped on the bar.   *pause*  HUGE laughter.  it is that sound — of her laughing — of the three of us laughing together — that i think about constantly now.  and that feeling is something that cancer, or anything else, cannot take away.

alison’s blog:  http://www.aliladd.com/

alison & eric wedding website:  http://www.alisonanderic.org/

CarePages — The Fight:  http://www.carepages.com/ServeCarePage?cpn=TheFight

Young Survival Coalition — Message Board:  http://www.youngsurvival.org/blocks/_Forum/index.php?showtopic=23082

Pugilicious:  Baptism:  http://pugilicious.blogspot.com/2008/03/baptism.html

more details to come, but…  we will shortly be on our way to chicago!  woo!

the blue bombers (d6) started out the fall season on the right foot taking out the wildmen 5-1.

it was a great team effort with a really long bench.  dom showed no rust in goal…

personally…  i scored the first goal from the low circle with a circus slash bad angle shot that dropped through the goalie’s pads.  and…  i scored the last goal on a breakaway — my first shot went directly to the goalie’s shoulder and dropped down in front where i poked it through on the same stick movement.  sweet!