Shipoopi!!!!!!

Ever have the day where everything goes right? Where you score the winning touchdown? Where you can fix all of the relatives' IT issues of the world? Where you walk into the school cafeteria and it's pizza / ice cream day? (Remember Pizza/Ice Cream day? That was the best!! Way, way better than that scoop of mashed potatoes with the mystery meat sauce over it served with the 2 stale lemon cookies.) Where you finally nail a PS3 or Wii game system? Where you finally find out what Fleet Farm is and just love it?!! (ppssssst... Hey, Aunt TRine & TRisa (names disguised to maintain secret identities...) I love that store!!)

Well for those occasions you need a celebration dance and just have to say, SHIPOOPI!!!!!

U.S. Open in June 2007

This coming year in 2007, the US Open will take place in the Keystone State. That's right the best golfers in the world will travel to right outside of Pittsburgh at Oakmont Country club.



So being that it is in our state, I thought it would be cool to go. So I logged onto the USGA website and took a look see at getting tickets. I found out that the main "move" day, Saturday was all sold out. Sunday was still available, but usually I like watching the final round from home. I have a ritual where I sit my butt on the couch in my man groove and just vegetate and take in all the US Openy goodness for 3-4 hours. So I decided that Thursday would be a good day to attend. I applied online, yes you have to apply for tiks, and waited to see if my application for tickets was accepted. I received this the other day:



So Sharkey and I are going!!! Sure it sounds like a very old man game, but I just love golf, what can I say. Now I can say I've been at and experienced a major. The other thing was finding a hotel around Pittsburgh. GEEZE!! Marriott booked... Hilton booked... Hyatt booked... Westin booked.... So I found a Holiday Inn Select for us to stay at right in the middle of the University of Pittsburgh. Come on June 2007...

The $8 Beer

Had quite the day Friday. Actually, I had quite the week. Work has been, um, really freakin' sucky, so my posting has suffered for it. Anyway, after finishing a hectic week, Sharkey and I went to one of "our" local favorite places to eat (yes, people it is our exclusive place), Winner's Circle. It is essentially a sports bar. They have about 20 different screens broadcasting a bunch of different sports events going on and they have these speaker contraptions on each table that allows you to tune into a specific screen and hear what's going on. It is a great hang out for the big games and it is also great for families because it's pretty loud and hopping, so if there are screaming kids you don't really notice it. They have GREAT wings and their other food is pretty good as well. My usual fare includes the brown bag fish and chips or the Italian stromboli. The Sharkey woman usually gets the tavern ham and cheese with wasabi mustard on a pretzel road, or the south west chicken salad.

We sat down and the waitress came to take our drink order. Sharkey ordered a margarita and then she asked me what I wanted. I like the Sam Adams seasonal brews so I asked what they had on tap. Found out they had the winter ale. Sign me up!!! She asked if I wanted a 16 oz or 22 oz. Without a second passing, I ordered a 22 oz, because again, bad day/bad week.

So after some good food and 22 oz of ale the check came. My 22oz glass of bliss and happiness, and "proof that God loves us and wants us to prosper," cost $8. $8 for a mug of beer. Sure it was good and I thoroughly enjoyed it, but $8 for beer?? So I told Sharkey that I'm a 16oz man from now on. We paid and were walking out, when the server came running up to us and handed me the mug. Turns out that the $8 beer is a special promotion where you get the 22 oz mug and you can bring it back and get it refilled with whatever tap beer you want for $3. WOW!!! Did I tell you that I love that place!!!



So now I just need to remember to take the mug with me when we go there. Maybe I should keep it in my car glove compartment. Otherwise you'll be hearing: "Honey, where's my mug? What, where are we going? I need my mug. I have to run home and get my mug if we're going there."

Pssst... Hey Dad... This one's for you!!!

So you know Sharkey hails from the frozen tundra known as Minnesota where they just had around a foot of snow this past week. As you also know, we also travel there quite a bit. And I know there are also a lot of Sharkey's relatives who lurk on my BLOG. Yes, you read my rants, my jargon, but never give me any feedback. I'm totally OK with that too. It helps you to know what's going on w/ me and it may give you some insight on what actually goes through my head, as scary and frightening as that may be.

Well in addition to Sharkey coming from Minnesota, her family also has the long standing devotion to the Minnesota Vikings football team. Here's where everything comes apart. See I'm a Green Bay Packers fan. YES IT IS TRUE!! I have never liked the Eagles. And sorry, but I really hate the Philly fans. I think if you're a true fan you stick with your team even when they are in a big losing streak and you don't jump ship at the first sign of trouble. I hate the way the Philly fans turn on their team so quickly. See I was a big fan of "The Preacher" Reggie White. I really liked Reggie. So when he went to play for the Pack, they became my team.

The first time I went to go visit Sharkey's Grandpa Bud and he found out I cheer for the Pack, he told me, "Well you just lost your standing in this family." So if you are unaware, there's a pretty big rivalry between Green Bay and the Vikes. In fact, whenever they play I typically will hear from my Father in Law if the Vikes pound them. Well like the good sport I am, I don't call and gloat and rub it in. But since I know my Father In Law is a lurker, and the Pack beat the Vikes 23-17 today, well Dad, this one's for you!!!!



A Packer fan in a bar leans over to the guy next to him and says, "Wanna hear a joke about Viking fans?"
The guy next to him replies, "Well before you tell that joke you should know something. I'm 6' tall and 220 pounds and I'm a Viking fan. The guy sitting next to me is 6'2" tall, 240 pounds and he's a Viking fan, and the guy sitting next to him is 6'5", 280 pounds and he's a Viking fan too. Now, do you still wanna tell that joke?"
The Packer fan says, "Nah, not if I'm gonna have to explain it three times."

GO PACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Top Ten Things That Make My Head Explode

So you think last night's rant was bad? Childish? Pathetic? Well you ain't seen nothin' yet!!!

1. Dell customer support. Hey let's face it, if you cannot understand my question and I cannot understand your answer, what good are you?

2. People that say "youse" and "supposably" Are those words????? Let me look it up in my Lexiconographamathingy and get back to you

3. Servers that have an attitude. You go out, you want good service and you encounter rude servers that feel they are doing you a favor. Know what I mean? And they wonder why they get a $1 tip?

4. People who will not get out of the passing lane. The passing lane means you are supposed to accelerate. It isn't for maintaining a constant speed people!! GET THE HECK OUT OF MY FREAKIN' WAY!!! This is not too bad in PA, but if you are in WI or MN, forget about it!!

5. People who are talking on their cell phone in public AT A VOLUME LIKE THIS!!! REALLY LOUD. ALMOST SHOUTING. LIKE THE PERSON ON THE OTHER END OF THE PHONE HAS A HEARING PROBLEM AND RAISING THEIR VOICE WILL ENABLE THE OTHER PERSON TO HEAR THEM.

6. Slackers. OK this is generalized and can be subjective, but I'm sure you know at least one. I'm not sure why, but as I get older I think I have less and less patience for these people who think they can coast, not be accountable and that it's OK. Well NEWSFLASH jackholes, it is NOT OK!!!

7. People that do not wash their hands after they've been to the bathroom. You notice this once in a while and it really happens a lot more than you think. EEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!

8. Pet owners who dye their pets some unnatural color. Did you see the Dog Whisperer last week with the lady who dyed her dog pink???? What is up with that!!! Um, hello... Dying an animal with those nasty chemicals is really not good for the animal!

8. US Airways Philly Baggage claim. I'm not even sure where to start with this one. Let's just sum it up with this.... THEY SUCK WIND!!!!!!!

9. Car salesmen. If I have to wait for you to talk to your manager about that price of the car, I guarantee you I won't be here when you get back. But I do love abusing them.

10. HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE HEAD!!
HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE HEAD!!
HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE HEAD!!
HEAD ON APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE HEAD!!

What the heck is that stuff anyway????

I am not AVERAGE!!!

So tonight I went to my Graduate school class. It was a school night like any other. It is the same thing I've been doing every Monday and Wednesday now for a few weeks. I've been having a pretty good time learning new concepts participating in discussions, etc. Well tonight I received my first paper back. My first grade in this class. Well to make a long story short, one of my main assumptions in my paper was COMPLETELY wrong. And so it cost me. BIG!! I received a big fat "C." A "C" means you are "Average." You are one of the pack. Nothing special, just average. You're like a lemming following everyone off a cliff. You are just like most of the population out there. You know, not an achiever, just a coaster. Something akin to almost being a slacker.

Well I am not a coaster, I'm not a slacker and I'm NOT FREAKIN' AVERAGE!!! I have never been average, and I do not get "C's" in school. So driving home I decided I need to make things right in the universe again. Driving home I looked and felt like this:




The deal with the class is that if you aren't happy with your first paper, you can write another one on another topic. Well, I'm taking that deal so I'll be in a writing frenzy tomorrow and proving to myself and my prof that I'm not average!! Determination. Oh yeah got plenty of that. Now I just have to find my stride and write.

I "ham" the Dog Picture Printer...

So today Sharkey and I are at the Church doing the annual Blessing of the Animals event. Our Maggie-Moo came from the rescue as did our last little girl Penny. We were also the first people to be foster parents for the rescue. That's a whole post I'll tell you about some other time.

It's funny watching Sharkey in action. She is also quite the task master. I am in "YES DEAR" mode today. Want me to do that? Yes dear. Print that, yes dear. Lift that up, yes dear. Put that here not there, yes dear. She has a heart for the rescue though.

I do give her credit. Last year we were doing announcements about the 2005 Blessing of the Animals and the rescue had asked Sharkey to speak. Sharkey does stand up training so speaking in front of people is no big deal. So as part of the talk the rescue had people bring in their adopted pets to show everyone the great work they've done. So here I am in front of a group of about 100 people holding the Mags and standing next to Sharkey as she starts her big talk. Well Sharkey only made it through about 1/2 of her announcement before she was just crying her eyes out in front of 100 people. I don't mean your mere couple of tears here and there type of cry either. I mean the full blown cannot speak bawling eyes out type of crying. See Sharkey can do informational classes just fine, but when she's talking about things from the heart, she gets a bit, um.... emotional. The funny thing was I was trying to figure out if I should step in and bail her out, but then I looked out at the audience and a bunch of other people were starting to cry as well. So I let her go. But this year when they asked her to speak again, I did the talk for her.... =)

So here I am by the printer typing this post out with the Mags laying down in her crate next to me. It's nice I installed a wireless internet network at the church so I can just hook on and surf. Sharkey is doing her photo thingy. Squeaking toys, trying to make dog and human smile pretty for the picture. It's a pretty neat event. Our church Pastor is blessing whatever manner of creature walks in the door and we do get a pretty good variety: dogs, cats, gerbils, hamsters, frogs, lizards, bugs. I give the man of the cloth a lot of credit, cause there's no way JP would be touching some of those things!!!

So I am proud to present "Zen Dog on Canvas." Ok, not really, but it does look like the Mags is meditating:

The Top Ten Things for now...

Here are the top 10 things that currently amaze me:

1. I really do like to learn new things and participate in challenging, intelligent discussions in graduate school. Who knew?

2. I have worked for the same company for 9 years as of tomorrow.

3. Next month is Christmas. And I already bought Sharkey's gift. And I'm giving it to her on Friday!!!

4. I have a 21 golf handicap. 2 years ago it was 32. Next year it'll be in the teens. I guarantee...

5. I update this blog on a pretty regular basis

6. I thought buying 9 bags of Halloween candy would not be enough for the number of trick or treater's that come to our house. OK, so now we have 5 bags of candy left over.

7. I listen to talk radio. This is purely Sharkey's fault.

8. The pictures that Sharkey is taking are getting better and better. "Sharkey Photographic Studios" has a nice ring, does it not?

9. When I clear my throat I sound just like my father. I like that.

10. I love Sharkey even more now than the day we were married. True story...