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woo!

coupla hundred photos from:

200807 - Upstate NY Trip

200807 - NYC Trip

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

yes. i know that we got married last october.

we recently finished the “blog” and put up ALL the photos from our honeymoon in ireland.

check it out:

Alison & Eric’s Honeymoon in Ireland - Blog

Alison & Eric’s Honeymoon in Ireland - Photos

ugh.

this was not the finest day for the sabres — or for me personally…

kevin and i started out on the 2 train up to penn station. after everything i said about how “quick” it would be…? it was running local. wonderful.

photos: http://www.erock.org/gallery/2007/200704_Kevin_in_NYC/

we started out in semi-awe of the festivities outside msg… there was a (good!) cover band all wearing rangers jerseys and the space outside on the 7th avenue side had a LOT of people. however, we decided it was no “party on the plaza”, that we were both outnumbered in our sabres jerseys and we headed into the bowels of penn station to a bar called tracks.

alison is a bit more familiar with the place than i am, but i like it there — great staff and interesting people to talk to. we got through a coupla beverages and chatted with two rangers fans sitting next to us at the bar…

into msg we go…

our seats (in section 402) were surprisingly good. we had a view of the entire ice from the corner. the folks around us were certainly ranger faithful, but cool nonetheless. we joked a bit about them booing malik right from the opening faceoff.

midway through the second period, i received a text message from alison. her father had some serious medical trouble and we got up (at a whistle…) to call her from the upper lobby. we started catching shit heading up the stairs and, i think, this is where i started to get very pissed off.

while on the phone with alison, i am still catching shit from rangers fans heading by even after kevin and the concessions folks told ‘em what was up and they should just chill… now i’m really starting to get angry.

there is nothing alison and i can do from nyc and she assures me it is best to stay at the game and wait for more info…

the nice concessions folks call security as kevin and i continue to get razzed and i start flipping people off and challenging (and being challenged) to fights from dozens of rangers “fans”.

we get our own security force from here on out…

i cannot believe how many total pricks there were at madison square garden. and i mean total pricks. i have lived in nyc for over seven years and i have been to msg plenty of times, but i have never, ever seen anything like this. without the security folks, i am positive that kevin and i would have been pummeled by hundreds of rangers “fans”. even when the security guards let them know i was having a tough time — on the phone — and to just chill out… that just egged them on more. part of this is my mistake. i was enraged by this point and i was ready to take all comers. this was just the opposite of what i should have done, in retrospect, and i blame myself for not keeping better check of my emotions.

however…

one of the rangers fans that kevin and i met at tracks stopped over to see what was going on as he was sitting a few sections over. i told him what was going on and then something amazing happened… for the next 10 minutes, fan after fan stopped over — some of the same guys that were shouting up and down at us just a few minutes earlier — and apologized. i’m not sure what that rangers fan said to them all, but i sincerely thank him for helping to diffuse a really bad situation.

we never went back to our seats.

we stood at the back of our section — with our security army — for the rest of the game. before the first overtime, they walked us halfway around the rink and in front of an elevator so we could go straight down without hitting the escalators.

directly when the rangers scored in the second overtime, we were whisked into the elevator with a few other sabres fans and hit the cab stand before most of the arena hit the street.

we went down to qdt for a few and then headed home…

kevin left this morning (snakes on a train!) and made it home safely (denny crane!) this afternoon.

thanks, kev, for coming down! it was certainly an experience!!

i love my wife.

she is official!! woo!!

alison was sworn in to the nys bar today. nifty and regal ceremony (thank you for the vocab, tanya!) at the old courthouse on madison and 25th. mercifully short speech from the bench by one of the five justices…

off to qdt after that for some good times with steve, ronda, phil, alex, christy, mike and mark.

i could not be any more proud of her. you did it honey!!!

saturday night was the celebration.

alison has finished all of her finals for law skool - forever!!

we had a great gathering at qdt (quality drinking time — reade street and west broadway). over 20 folks came out to celebrate and congratulate alison on her amazing accomplishment. both of us had a TON of cool conversation with everyone!

thanks to everyone that came out!

alice parucki
1914-2006

it’s true. alison and i have a “wedding website”

www.alisonanderic.org

yes. engaged.

“yousa getting mahhdeeed?” yes.

we were on ye olde annual vacation in the outerbanks of north carolina…

to the wright brothers memorial at sunset…

park ranger: we close in 10 minutes - you should turn around.
me: i just need 5 minutes. promise.
park ranger: the hill is already closed - there is nothing to see.
me: i just need 5 minutes. promise.
park ranger: what do you need 5 minutes for?
me: I JUST NEED 5 MINUTES. PROMISE.

5 minutes later - alison and i were engaged! woo!