"Gary, put this guy on a list to be on a list"

Passed my remaining home study tests. Yesterday, when I brought the tests to the instructor I asked him to go over a few questions with me. They were the trickier questions that could go either way. We thought about them logically and he made me change a few of the answers. And they ended up being wrong. Someone in the future has the potential to fail because of the stupidity of the testmakers. And it's not right.

Crosby Crosby Crosby. I'm so jealous of you. This kid is going to be a major force in hockey for years and years.

Have a blood blister on my hammer toe that I have to pop.

Decided to start reading Cerebus. I'm up to issue 265 and the series goes to 300. I'm going to read it all from issue one in the near future. There's a lot of stuff I missed just reading issue to issue. Sim was as close to a comic celebrity as there ever was. Funding an independent comic and having it receive major success, he made lots of money and gathered plenty of press. He received much attention for his (said to be) misogynist views. There was much I missed skipping over his note and letter pages. The comic itself would only go for 20 or so pages and the notes and letters would last another 4-8. Sim's art is brilliant and the artistic lettering (which i've never seen anywhere else) is second to none.

Finished reading Sandman today. One of the greatest, if not the greatest comic series of all time. I would highly recommend it to ANYONE, especially people who aren't interested in comics at all. Books like this can open people's eyes to how great of an art form comics can be. No one doubts comic artists but they drastically underestimate the writing in these books.

I haven't caught up on new comics like I've been saying. Think I'll just read some classics first. I never finished Transmetropolitan. It started to bore me in the middle. I was going to read Sandman: The Dreaming or start on Lucifer or some Hellblazer but I'm in a dark and gritty mood. Maybe I'll try 100 Bullets. Or maybe I can find a Batman story to my liking. I still haven't finished V for Vendetta (I'm about a quarter into both the movie and the book).

I Hate You SNOW!

Missed another night of hockey because of the snow and my unwillingness to drive in it. It was coming down pretty hard for an hour and a half and I thought the roads outside the community would be a mess. But they were barely covered and it basically stopped when I got back to Holly's house. Wish I would've just made the attempt to go and found out how they were. You know how it is though. The time you chance it is the time it snows five inches out of nowhere.

Another slow weekend. Didn't go out because I was finishing up all my FED EX stuff. The one tape they gave me was busted (or I busted it in transit) and it got stuck in my vcr. Made me laugh. I just have to get the tests graded. I noticed on a different test I got graded that their answer sheet is fucked so we'll see what happens with these.

Jeremy is saying "Fuck". It's mostly after he drops something (like someone I know). It's cute and funny when he says it. But I don't like it. I try to watch my mouth around him for the most part but sometimes just can't help it (like tonight in the snow or during a hockey game).

Ate too many M&M's and now I have a stomach ache.

NHL 07 is so glitchy thats it's funny. I scored a goal yesterday (we even did an instant replay) and it didn't register. The AI always goes offsides and doesn't skate into positions for scoring chances or for good defense. The announcers even fuck up the order of their words. And they're much too excited to see shootouts.

Hockey

I got out of work early yesterday but couldn't get out early tonight. Should've told him no yesterday and that I wanted to get out early today or tomorrow. The skills competition was on tonight and I'd like to see that more than the All Star Game. Luckily Tim is taping it for me. Jagr isn't playing because of his injuries. Shannahan is the captain of the Eastern Team. I was pissed that Straka and Nielander didn't make it. They're both having career years and even though I haven't been a fan of Straka and given him A LOT of criticism in the past, a guy deserves to make one in his life.

I'm not too fond of the jerseys. While the Western Jersey does look pretty decent (the dark color always has the advantage over the white), I like previous years jerseys better.

I thought I played pretty decent on Sunday. Some guys on our team were taking Superman six minute shifts and that's just bullshit. Skate hard for two and a half or three and get off. I scored three and had at least two assists. My passing seemed to be pretty decent but my shots on net weren't accurate.

We're at the season's halfway point and the race in the east is very very close. Thirteen points seperates teams 4 through 14. That isn't much at all. The Rangers are currently ninth, with fifty points. They have to start getting their act together. Every game counts more and more in the final half of the season. They have to start developing a sense of team in order to make it. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Weekend

Feeling tired. Planned on working on my book work and tests after my shower but I'm just playing online and will probably go to bed shortly. Weekend was short and boring. Holly and I went to ESU to return one of her books on Saturday afternoon, took Jeremy out to lunch, and took him to visit Aunt Mare. It's the first time he's ever been in her apartment. He was being really bashful around her so we left after only about half an hour. Then I went home and played Chris in NHL 2007 which I'm still not entirely comfortable with. We started off with the intentions of one quick game but ended up in a best of five series. He was winning the last game 1-0, 3-1, and then 4-3. I came back and scored with only 4 seconds left. Kovalchuck! No one scored in overtime and I ended winning in the shootout with Kozlov!!! CHAMPION! Played Gears of War for a while (which I'm not good at), hit the punching bag for about twenty minutes, and then did two and a half hours of videos and tests. I still have two videos to watch but there are no tests that go with them. The railroad crossing test was the best. Afterward Chris and I looked up train crashes. Here are the two best we could come up with. I never heard him laugh so hard.





Afterwards I played Call of Duty with Chris online and then went to bed. Woke up and played Zelda for a few hours. Got to the end of the sand dungeon and got stuck. Overlooking something stupid i'm sure. I'm a big fan of Zelda games but I think this game is one of the greatest GAMES of all time. People always rate Ocarina of Time as one of the best games of all time and I agree but that game doesn't effect me as much as it could or should because I didn't play it when it came out. Never bought a Nintendo 64 because I wasn't into games at that point.

I'd like to start running on the treadmill a few days a week. I have to see how I'll work that into my schedule. My parents have the treadmill at home but I can only use it on the weekends. I bought a jump rope last week but haven't used it. I have to see if I can clear some stuff in the garage so I swing it freely. Wish I could play another sport or especially more hockey but all the ice hockey leagues seem to be on weeknights when I'm at work. I'd love to play ice more than anything.

I'm in the mood to get another tattoo. I saw one that I really like, a panther and cobra all wrapped up and facing each other snarling. It's a classic old school design that varies everywhere you see it. I have the flash at home of the one I want. There are pics online of the same concept but wrong execution. I want to get it done big on my back but I don't know if Holly will let me. She doesn't really like tattoos at all. I always told her i'd get three tattoos; One for her, one for me, and one for Jeremy. I've got mine but I haven't found what I want for hers and jeremy's. I want his name on my body with a picture but I don't know what picture to get. I'd also like to get his name in old english but i think it would look stupid on my arm. Holly's tattoo is going to be on my chest probably with her name and my name in a heart or rose or something to that effect but yet again, haven't found anything i really like.

Holly is back in School :( :(

Holly had to go back to school this week. I'm really proud of her for going through all she does. She has an incredibly hard semester with six classes and four clients for clinic. School stresses her out something aweful and i admire her for being so strong and trying to do a good thing for our family.

I got my home study books and videos for my driver apprenticeship. There's one big book to read (general knowledge), two smaller books and pamphlets (Driver Log and Smith System) and about ten videos to watch. I plan to start on the book work tomorrow and do the video work during the weekend. It's going to be a long, boring weekend. Holly and I will probably just take the baby out to lunch on Saturday and then I'll get started on my work. I have two weeks to complete my 13 tests but I want to get done early so I have time to retake them if I mess up.

I definately am going to download boxing instructional videos this weekend. I have to download DC++ first. I'm planning on working the heavy bag both Satuday and Sunday because I don't get to do it any other time during the week. I wish my parents didn't hear it while they were sleeping or I'd hit it on Wednesdays when I go there after work.

I'm addicted to playing Call of Duty online. Time flies and I wonder where the last few hours of my life have gone. They released new maps yesterday and while I really want to buy them and play them like crazy, it's essentially a bad idea. I want to finish the games I'm playing first.

It's amazing how great of a system the 360 is. The way they can release new maps and levels for games is an amazing feature. The online play is great and for fifty bucks a year it's well worth it. Downloading the game demos is worth that alone. I went to my house yesterday and found my brother talking to a kid while playing him in hockey. Stuff like that still amazes me. Hearing people tell you where a sniper is in COD or cursing the fuck out of someone. Gaming is the best it's ever been and will only get better.

I'd like to eventually try World of Warcraft (I even have the ten day demo disk) but know I will get addicted to it. Chris bought NHL 2007 for the 360 yesterday. The differences between the computer version and the 360 version are quite noticeable and it's almost as if i'm playing a different years release of the game or a different companies hockey game.

Wireless remotes are great but batteries are a pain in the ass!

Week in Review; Bad Gatorade

I had the easiest week at work since I was a part time dock worker. Got out early Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. The paycheck will suffer but I have to take it when I can get it because it doesn't come along very often. Monday I came home and tried to watch some of the Ohio State and Florida game but it ended up a complete unwatchable blowout. Wasn't Ohio supposed to win that one?? Holly and I played a few games of Battleship. Our all time series record is all tied up at six games a piece. Wednesday Night I went to my parents and ended up playing Call of Duty online for hours. I was intially disapointed getting it for Christmas but the Online Multiplayer is really really fun and the campaign mode is pretty decent. On Friday Holly and I did all kinds of running aroud. I'm going to be starting my CDL training at work very soon so I had to go to the DMV to pay for my hazmat endorsement letter. Then I had to go to the state police barracks to get fingerprinted. The officer asked me if I'd ever had it done which I lied and said no. All the fingerprinting was done on what looked like a copy machine. It was a pain in the ass because the guy had to hold my hand and roll my fingers on the machine. We then went to ESU to buy Holly's school books. She only had to get 4 so it only came out to 280 opposed to the 500 we spent last time. We went to lunch at Goomba's, went to Walmart to pick up a few odds and ends, and then went to the library to rent movies. We rented Dirty Pretty Things, Thank You For Smoking, and Curious George for Jeremy. Holly and I were supposed to go ice skating for our Saturday Night date but I fucked up those plans so we wound up just getting something to eat and hanging out in the car. I really didn't feel like playing pool. It's always so crowded and they play the shittiest music. The pool hall is a different animal during the day. I spent the rest of the night playing Call of Duty and fell asleep watching the simpsons. I started to download all the missing issues from the last few months of comics. I finally played hockey on Sunday but didn't play so hot. I was defense all night and I really don't know the position all too well. I'd rather be a defenseive offenseman. I scored one goal and had at least two assists. After the game Chris and I took a swig of an old gatorade he found in his hockey bag. I don't know how old it was but it was like taking a shot of whiskey. It burned the whole way down and even into my stomach. I had to run to get something else to drink and even that didn't soothe the burning. It took about forty five minutes for me not to notice. Chris even made me drive home because he said it mixed funny with the meatballs we had for dinner.

Jeremy watched Toy Story for the first time over the weekend. It's the greatest CGI film of all time and I hope he asks to watch it next time he's over my mom's house. He now asks to watch Cars everyday. I like the movie more than most CGI films. His attention span is definately improving and has been for the last few months. His vocabulary continues to grow and he even suprises me with what he says and does. He doesn't hold the hockey stick right but can still hit the ball pretty well.

The animation style for the new Iron Man film looks japense influenced. I had the dvds on a truck today (I think the release date is in two weeks). I don't think i'll spend the money on it unless it gets great reviews. I'd like to download it but I'm still a bit nervous to download full length heavily copyrighted movies.

Hobby Addiction

I get into a hobby very passionately for a few weeks or months and during that time almost completely give up on all my other hobbies. My big one right now is video games. The prerelease for the new magic set is about a week away so i'll probably start reading up on it and playing it online again in the next few weeks. Especially since the new set is really crazy. I was heavy into magic before the last set was released (and a bit into the release) but then got obssessed over the Wii.

Holly and I were on Main Street today and I was going to go to the comic store to get something to read but I decided against it. Why buy when you can get it for free? I'm going to definately try to download a few comics to catch up on what's going on. Reading comics is actually more beneficial this way because reading a large numbers of titles (as i was doing) monthly can cause you to forgot what's going on title to title. Definately have to catch up on Hulk, Civil War (Is it over yet?), Astonishing X-Men, JLA, and everything else. Have a lot of reading to do.

My main hobby has gone from:

Comic Books to Fishing to Mountain Biking to Magic Cards to Hockey to Magic Cards to Video Games

Get out

I've been in one of those adventurous moods the last few days where I want to go out and do all kinds of crazy things. I've especially been in the mood to rock climb or paintball or do some kind of crazy difficult obstacle course or Adventure Race. They had Adventure Racing on the original X-games and it fascinated me all those years ago. They even had Rockclimbing and Skydiving and/or Bungee jumping but they were all too boring to even watch. I definately want to do more outdoor activities this upcoming year. Last year was the first year I spent a lot of time in the wilderness since I was a kid. I love mountain biking and really want to make some trips to new trails this year. Finding worthy and difficult terrain can be a real pain in the ass though. I'd like to do some real rock climbing, hard hikes, and easier fun hikes with holly. And camping. Holly and I are DEFINATELY going camping this year as our yearly vacation and maybe a weekend getaway or two.

Beckham is coming to the MLS which means the socer league no one cares about or pays attention to will get coverage all over the world. There must be extreme amounts of money at hand.

Here are the overall top 10 best-selling videogames for December 2006:

Gears of War - Xbox 360 (Microsoft) (Have it but haven't even tried it yet. I'm making it my business to sit down with this this weekend and play it!)
Guitar Hero 2 Bundle- PS2 (Activision) (Beat it on medium and struggling through hard mode)
Madden NFL 07 - PS2 (Electronic Arts) (Want it but don't know if i'll get into it enough)
Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess - GCN (Nintendo) (Reserved and will never be picked up)
Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Wii (Nintendo) (Ahhhh! Perfect game. Entering Sand Dungeon.)
WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007 - PS2 (THQ) (No interest)
New Super Mario Bros. - NDS (Nintendo) (Beat it. Little too easy but very very fun. Have to finish the hidden levels)
Call of Duty 3 - Xbox 360 (Activision) (Forth level in Campaign Mode. Current online ADDICTION)
Yoshi's Island 2 - NDS (Nintendo) (Maybe in the near future)
Call of Duty 3 - Xbox 360 (Activision)

Now, here are the overall top 10 best-selling videogames for the entirety of 2006:

Madden NFL 07 - PS2 (Electronic Arts) (Every year on top!)
New Super Mario Bros. - NDS (Nintendo) (DS has sold more units than everything except PS2)
Gears of War - Xbox 360 (Microsoft) (This is going to be a long running franchise.)
Kingdom Hearts II - PS2 (Square Enix) (Not too sure about this one. Disney and FF characters??)
Guitar Hero 2 Bundle- PS2 (Activision) (This is going to get people to try playing real guitars...and prompty quit)
Final Fantasy XII - PS2 (Square Enix) (Getting this in the near future)
Brain Age: Train Your Brain - NDS (Nintendo) (Have to watch the video on this one. )
Madden NFL 07 - Xbox 360 (Electronic Arts)
Tom Clancy's GRAW - Xbox 360 (UbiSoft) (May pick this one up in a fewmonths when the price is right (20.00)
NCAA Football 07 - PS2 (Electronic Arts) (This one suprises me)

Christmas 06'

The Giant's are out of the playoffs. They played a good hard game and their defense just couldn't stop the Eagles on the last drive of the game. I stayed home from hockey tonight (which is amazing considering I haven't played in two weeks because of the holidays and I almost NEVER stay home). It was the wisest decision and although my ankle doesn't feel too too bad, I doubt there will be any shortened days at work this week.

Christmas this year was very good, as it always is. I'm also trying to remember the last few years of Xmas presents.

Christmas 06'

Xbox 360 Premium (Chris and I)
Call of Duty 3 (Wii, Chris and I. Bought before the Xbox 360 version)
Call of Duty 3 (Xbox 360, Chris and I. Discounted special with the 360)
NHL 2007 (Regular Xbox, Chris and I. Stupid worker gave my mom the wrong game)
Final Fantasy 3 (DS)
Tekken 5 (PS2)
80lb Heavy Bag
Boxing Gloves
Practice Gloves
Paul Coffey Feather Light Hockey Stick
New York Rangers Hat
New York Rangers Hooded Sweatshirt
New York Rangers Dad T-Shirt
Fishopoly Game
3 pairs of sexy silk boxers
1 pair of Starter sneakers
Hulk vs. The Leader figures
Bass Decal for Car
3 pairs work jeans
1 pair of nice jeans
Cheap Hooded Sweatshirt
Weird Slippers with no front
Collapsable fishing rod
World's best uncle pen
Long John's
Wool Socks

Christmas 05'

Nintendo DS
Paintball Gun
Super Mario 64 (DS)
Meteos (DS)
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil Expansion Pack (Xbox)
Half-Life 2 (Xbox)
Spinning Rod Fishing Pole
Baitcaster Fishing Pole
Sirius Radio
Nixon watch
Jeans
Cerebus T-Shirt
Pacman T-Shirt
Cheap Crossbow

Christmas 04'




Christmas 03'

Week in Review

New Year's Eve

Chris and I played tackle football with his friend's in the afternoon. The field was wet and muddy and I should've worn my mountain bike cleats but was in too much of a rush to get them out of the car. During the game I fumbled on a kickoff return, kneed a guy in the thigh, gave my brother an forearm to the face, got my glasses bent on the one play I wore them, and rolled my ankle. First injury of the New Year.

Holly and I had a nice quiet New Year's Eve at her house. She had a few drinks (enough to get tipsy) but I didn't. I really have to be in the mood to drink and I haven't been since Labor Day. To get into the mood takes days of mental preparation. Sometimes that doesn't even work. I prepared myself to drink on Christmas Eve and then quit after one sip. We watched the ball drop on TV and then just relaxed the rest of the night. Her sister got really drunk and called her repeatadly, threatening to go to the lake in her underwear and all other crazy kind of stuff. Her dad came in at eight in the morning real wasted and woke us up. He went straight to his room, put on the tv and proceeded to curse at the "Stupid Fuckers" on the news. He said "Fuck" more in the next twenty minutes than i've heard him say in all the time i've known him.

Rest of the Week

I was off the next day so Holly and I went food shopping, went to Subway and relaxed with Jeremy. I got out of work early Tuesday and Wednesday because it was amazingly slow. A nice change of pace. Two easy weeks in a row at work. Chris and I went to Dickson City on Thursday to get the winch so I could hang up my heavy bag in the garage and to return Call of Duty 3 for the Wii. We exchanged it for a year's subscription to Xbox Live, went to Taco Bell and came home. Thought I was getting out of work early again on Friday (In fact almost everyone did) but I ended up stuck there unloading a horrible Watkins Truck. My first time doing a live unload on them and I hope it's the last. On Saturday Holly and I went to Wilkes Barre so she could get a new jacket. Thankfully, she found one that fit in DEB. We stopped at the mall for food and then left after walking around the mall for a little while. My dad set up the punching bag in the garge and I punched it twice with bare fists and kicked it once and proceeded to hurt my ankle. What luck! Chris and I returned NHL 2007 and got Gears of War in exchange. I feel bad getting another game right now but I would've bought it eventually. We went to Aunt Mare's for dinner and we hung out there for a few hours. I played Texas Hold Em' for the first time in real life. I've been wanting to play for a long time and was supposed to play with guys from work but it never happened. It's much more fun in real life and although we didn't play for money tonight, I'd like to real soon.

In Closing

I watched Beverly Hills 90210 for the first time this week and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The episodes are pretty easy to watch. I'd like to start going to library and renting TV shows I haven't seen (Sopranos, Lost) and then burning them to CD. I've eaten worse in the last two weeks than I have in a very long time and i'm going to stop that this week. Very much looking forward to using my punching bag and learning how to box/mma fight. I hope the ankle injury isn't a sign of things to come in the New Year.

Sporty kind of day

The Rangers won today against the Canadians which makes four straight wins. They're very streaky and in the last 16 games they had five straight wins, then seven straight loses, then four straight wins. They are currently in 4th place in the east. Jagr suffered a mild groin injury today, first such of the season. The groin is a very difficult injury to deal with as it can and will nag a player consisitantly. If only Crosby's groin injury would bother him some more!! Blair Bett's signed a two year contract with the Rangers which makes me extremely happy. He's a worker and a very good asset for the team.

I haven't watched much football this year (or ever after only getting into it a bit this year) but the Dallas game tonight was awesome. A real nail bitter the whole way through. This game and the Rutgers game (against Lousville I think) were two games that make me want to watch a bit of football if I have the time. I'd watch hockey over it anytime and in almost any circumstance. Going so far as watching five year olds play hockey over watching college or professional football.

07'

I don't like making just one resolution (or sticking to one for that matter) so here's some stuff I want to do in the new year

Be more patient and less angry
Somehow manage to stay a full time dock worker or find another decent paying job
Get into better shape
Learn to box/MMA or find out that I hate it
Learn to ice skate a lot better
Write in this blog at least once or twice a week
Put at least 500 miles on the bike, visit new state parks and maybe make a small mountain biking trip
Teach jeremy how to play hockey
Sleep less
Beat all Zelda games (Have only beaten Ocarina of Time, Minish Cap, and Windwaker.)
Go paintballing and rockclimbing
Learn something new

Concerts in 06:

Beck with that crazy one man band guy
Buckcherry and Blackstone Cherry
Flaming Lips with a band not worth remembering the name of

Sporting Events of 06:

FC Barcelona vs. New York/New Jersey Red Bulls (August)
New York Rangers vs. Devils (April) Devils win 3-2
New York Rangers vs. Florida Panthers (December) Rangers win 3-2
New Jersey Devils vs. Philadelphia Flyers (October) Devils win
Wilkes Barre Penguins vs. Hershey Bears (May-2nd Round of playoffs) Wilkes Barre gets their ass kicked
Wilkes Barre Penguins vs. Philadelphia Phantoms (December) Wilkes Barre 7-1

Games I'm most looking forward to in 07:

Super Mario Galaxies
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Super Smash Brothers Brawl
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (Better come out for the 360)
Legend of Zelda: Phanton Hourglass
Halo 3

Movies I'm most looking forward to:

300
Spiderman 3
Transformers
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (I didn't see the first movie but I'm a fan of the Silver Surfer. With the Surfer there has to be a Galactus based storyline. Maybe he's actually the nemesis in the movie. Or maybe it's a lead in for a triology. I haven't read up on it and don't feel like it right now.)
TMNT

Concerts I'd like to see in 07:

Flaming Lips
Beck
Nine Inch Nails
Audioslave
Rob Zombie

Music I'm most looking forward to:

Meh. NADA

Dock Rage

I have dock rage at work and I just want to ram my lift into someone else's, lift them and flip them right off the fucking dock.