Some random thoughts

Well, I am wrapping up work here and leaving to visit Sean and Ali in Albany. I can only imagine what kind of trouble lies ahead...

I saw American Ganster on Wednesday night. I highly recommend this movie. Denzel, as usual, was awesome. The movie was fantastic and it is based on a true story. That is really the most amazing part.

I only hope that Johan Santana does not go to either evil empire (Red Sox and Yankees). This guy is the best pitcher in baseball, has been for 4 years and will be for the next few. I hope the Dodgers or White Sox get him but if they do not, anyone but those two teams.

Sports guy's buddy starting doing color commentating for the PBA on sundays. Sports guy, in his last chat, talked about making an apperance. THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!!! Two of my favorite things coming together. Sweet!

Dallas is off to a great start but I want to warn all Dallas fans to be careful. Wade Phillips is your head coach. As a Bronco fan, I can tell you this. It will not end well.

Have a great weekend!

Middletown, NY

So, I made it to Middletown with no problem on Sunday. We made up time in the air on my first leg on Sunday and it was smooth sailing. Thank God since I was on a propeller jet on the first leg that had 10 rows on the plane. It was a little small.

There is not much to report. I have been sick as a dog and been working a good amount. This weekend I am heading to Albany to visit Sean and Ali. I am pumped to see their house and use the world's largest bathroom.

Hope all is well with everyone!

LeBron and the Celtics

LeBron has been a man amongst boys lately. His last 6 games he has averaged 37.5 pts, 10.2 rebs, 9.5 assists before last night! He had 38 pts and 13 assists last night against the Celtics. These numbers are just ridiculous. What is even more amazing is that his team around him is garbage. If you get the chance, watch this guy play!

The Celtics have the best record in the NBA. Everyone has heard about their new big three, KG (one of my favorites ever!), Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen. What I do not understand is why the Celtics are playing like it is the playoffs. Ray Allen is averaging around 40 minutes a game. Pierce is averaing around 40 min a game and so is Garnett. Garnett is a freak of nature and the minutes will not bother him. Ray Allen needs his legs to be successful and he is no spring chicken. I just think they are shooting themselves in the foot. They need to take a closer look at how the Spurs play.

On the road again

Well, I am heading to Middletown, NY today for work. There is no easy way to get there. Stewart airport is the nearest one. I have to take a connecting flight to get there.

I am actually flying out of Bloomington, IL's airport. People here say it is really small but I have been in smaller. It is small. The security check was not running when i got here. They said they would be back at 9 am. That is crazy to me! Of course, I was through at 9:03. Well, my first flight is delayed which means I will probably miss my second flight. Great... Nothing like being stuck in detroit...

The only plus is that the airport has free wireless!

A couple things I forgot

This year's turkey bowl was the first one ever that no uncle played. It was all cousins and their sons and daughters (actually only one daughter) and of course a couple friends of the family. We had seven on seven so there was plenty of people. Technically speaking, there were a few uncles including myself, Bryan and my cousin Joe. It seemed like the changing of the guard in way. Of course no one noticed until after the games were over.

Also, my sickness may be attributed a few things or just one person... When we were in Florida, Michelle's mom was just starting to get over a really bad cold and Vic was not sound too good Saturday or Sunday. Well, i woke up with a sore throat both Monday and Tuesday. By Wednesday, I knew it was down hill. Of course, playing football outside for 90 minutes did not help....

That is all...

November in Review

November was quite the whirlwind! I swear I was just down in Nashville for Barry's 30th birthday party. Lets do a quick review.

First weekend in November (2-4): In Nashville for Barry's 30th birthday party.
Second weekend in November (9-11): In Clemson, SC watching Leslie dominate in volleyball.
Third weekend in November (16-18): In Florida, visiting the in-laws and visiting the swamp.
Fourth weekend in November (23-26): In Elgin and Bloomington for Thanksgiving

November 30 through December 2, I will be visiting Phelan and Ali in Albany.

It has been quite the ride. Not sure if I ever want to do that again.

FYI - Just talked to Neyer. He said Liverpool DOMINATED today and we are hoping LU does the same. He is drinking quite the souped up coffee right now. The partying has already begun for the 7 PM game at Purdue! AWESOME!

The Swamp!

Last weekend, Michelle and I visited her parents in Florida. On a quick side note, two big pluses on visiting Florida is Chick-fil-A and Publix subs...love both places! Well, as everyone knows, Michelle and her mom got tickets to the Florida game for us. The whole experience was quite fun. It took us a longer to get there than we thought which means less time to tailgate. I was not too happy about that but knew I would still have time. After we parked, Michelle and her parents took off for the bookstore and I stayed at the car and started drinking a beam and coke. When they got back, we headed to a tailgate that Michelle's friends were at. They had a great setup. They had a slingbox hooked up to a computer so they were watching gameday and some of them were drinking PBR! WOW! A+ for this tailgate. We then headed into the game. It is a cool stadium and the weather was about perfect (70). Their defense started slow but their offensive despite not having Percey was rolling. We decided to leave at halftime (up 35-20) to hit up a bar called the swamp.

I was expecting Clemson prices but what I got was Chicago. A draft beer was $4.25 and a bucket of beers (6) was $22.50. The prices are jacked up for gameday and there are a couple other bars right around there that are a lot cheaper...from what I hear. Rumor has it there is a bar that has FREE natty light on Saturday nights from 8 until 12...that is amazing! Michelle said there used to be a picture of kelin (and the rest of the swim team) on the wall but it was not there anymore...the bar has moved on. We sat outside watching the game and drinking some beer. It was a great atmosphere! We left a couple hours later and headed back to the in-laws house. It was a fun time and hopefully, we can do it again soon.

Liverpool, Loyola, and Beer

Yes, this was a subject on an email I received from Neyer earlier in the week. I got so excited and then when i opened the email, I realized that I would be missing out on the whole thing...

Liverpool is playing right now (up 2-0). Neyer is having people over for the game right now. A little later today a few of my friends are driving to West Lafayette to watch LU play Purdue tonight. This is going to be a lot of fun and LU should win. Should they ever lose? Not really. Plus, Purdue is a great place to grab some beers after the win!

Anyway, it is tearing me up that I missing it but it is a blessing in disguise because I recently picked up a nasty cold ( I will explain in the next blog) and I have to leave tomorrow for work.

Well, I hope those guys cheer LU to a victory and have a beer for me!

Gerrard has one goal and two assists through the first 65 min of the game...I heart Gerrard!

Saturday morning - Thanksgiving wrap up

Well, it is Saturday morning. I am sitting in Bloomington and it is time for a little review.

The football game Thursday morning was fun. I would have had more fun if Chief was there but fun none the less. My cousin Nate was clear MVP. He was QB for the other team and he was riffling passes on the button the whole game. In the wind, against the wind, it did not matter. For me, I had fun pushing people off the blocks, catching balls at my feet and not feeling tired. I caught one TD pass and had a few catches that were inches off the ground but I dropped a couple that hit me in the hands...oops. It was cold at first but once we were running around, it was great weather. Final score: 7-4 (we just count TDs).

The big plus was my hip/groin area...no pain...nothing hurt.

The food was great as usual and the euchre tourney was fun. We only had 5 teams playing so it was tough to configure. We did a double elimination tourney where we kept our teammates. It was Bryan and myself. We had a good run, made it to the semis but ended up losing to the eventual champions, my dad and my aunt Karen. It was her first win ever and my dad's 2nd in a row! Congrats to them! Lets hope this does not mess up my mojo for the Euchre championship Jack and Coke has coming up!

The drink of the day was Vodka and lemonade. Last years was mimosas and mo-drivers and the year before that was white russians. Who knows what is in store for next year...

i hope everyone had a great one.

Happy Thanksgiving

Let me first say I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving. This is my favorite holiday of the year. It is a four day weekend from work every year! Who can not love that? This is the biggest holiday for my side of the family. Everyone on my moms side gets together. It is usually around 40 people. The morning starts off with the turkey bowl, then eating, and then a euchre tournament!

On the topic of the turkey bowl, I am leaving in 5-10 min. There is snow on the ground and I am ready to hit some people! I am bummed out that Chief will not be there. I was looking forward to some fights on the offensive and defensive line. He is much stronger than me and he plays a lot of football so I always look foward to the challenge. Oh well...with him gone, I will just find someone else to lock up with.

On to the game...enjoy the day!

Think, ya big dummy! 491...

Bowlig started off just painful yesterday. Through the first two games I had one strike. My first ball was just not hitting the pocket. Instead of moving my approach or mark, I continued to be frustrated. I know the game of bowling pretty well but for some reason I refused to use that knowledge.

The last game I moved over one board...yes one board to my left. All of a sudden my game came alive. I left the 10 pin in the ninth but picked up the 5-10 split in the 10th for a 212 (6 strikes). Of course, my first two games were 136 and 143.

What felt good was we totally won the third game because of me. Of course, we lost the first game because of me...

We took 5 out of 7 points last night. Rock on!

Damn you, Al Davis!

Even when the Raiders lose, it hurts me. WTF!

So, I put the poll up there for the readers to decide my team. Well, I picked the Raiders at Minnesota. It seemed like a good pick. Minnesota only wins games when Adrian Peterson runs for 500 yards. He was hurt! It seemed easy.

Well, one of my big rules this year was to go with Vegas. JAX was -3 and Oak was plus 5. I threw that to the side.

The AFC west is garbage this year. No team looks good. I should bet against them whenever I can and never for them. I threw that to the side.

Well, I threw all logic out the window and forced myself into rooting for the RAIDERS! ARGH! I would rather defend Barry Bonds...well lets not go too far.

I have no idea how I ended up here but Smitty took JAX and I took OAK. I lost.

Congrats Smitty. Buy Connor a new pair of shoes!

Updates later!

So, on Friday I flew to Florida...that made 5 states in 5 days...

On Saturday, we went to Gainesville for the Florida game. That was very cool but we somehow found the most expensive bar on campus.

On Sunday, we flew home. It was a fun weekend but I am happy to be back!

My readers have let me down in a BIG way!

And last but not least, congratulations to my cousin Leslie! With the win on Friday, Clemson volleyball are ACC champs! That is the first time since 1999! Nice job!

Jack and Coke update

Well, Jack and Coke is back in the championship. All that is left to play is the championship game and the other team has decided to set up a time when everyone can play. That is awesome! Ploth and I get to defend the title.

Nice job Bryan filling in for me and nice job to the both of you!

Back to back here we come!

Of course, we never got paid out for winning the last league so it will potentially be just another league that we receive nothing for winning...

Good Luck Jack and Coke!!!

Well, because I am traveling for work, I am missing a couple leagues this week, more specifically, bowling and euchre. Bowling is no big deal because it is a long season. Euchre is different story.

We are the defending champs and it is playoff time. Actually, it is the semifinals and finals tonight. We have made it to the final four (out of 16). Luckily my cousin, Bryan is filling in for me tonight. Hopefully, Ploth and Bryan can get it done!

Bring home the gold fellas! Back to back champions!

NY - Thumbs down

i jsut do not understand who can like this city. There is people everywhere at all times. Do these people not work? At 2 pm yesterday, I went to a drugstore to by some tums (my stomach was bothering). Well, the streets were packed with people. Get out of my way! WTF! There are trash bags on the sidewalk. Cars are jammed into spots touching on both ends. We are in Brooklyn but right next to the Brooklyn bridge.

Another example of NY: I ate dinner at the hotel bar on Monday night by myself. I ordered wings and had a diet coke. The diet coke was about 8 oz and I had two of them. My wings were $12 (i think the cheapest thing on the menu) and they were good. Now, my bill was $21. How was the possible? Each diet coke was $4!!! WTF!

I did walk the Brooklyn bridge with a couple coworkers last night. That was cool. You walk in the middle above the cars and the view is good. You end up in Manhattan and you get a cool view of the Statue of Liberty.

Anyway, NY gets a thumbs down.

Gators...LIVE!

So, this coming weekend Michelle and I are visiting her parents in Florida for a quick weekend. Yes, I am all over the place right now. Well, Michelle adn her mom have decided they want to go to the Florida home game. I am all for it. I have for years told her that I wanted to go to a game in Florida. Well, we are going this weekend. Tailgating, live football, sun, more tailgating...it is going to be awesome. First Clemson and now Florida...I am calling November college month.

The only thing that bums me out is that Loyola is off to a undefeated season and I have not been to a game yet! ARGH!

Go RAMBLERS!

Running

I have had a lingering hip injury for a long time. It continued to get worse the more I ran. It came to head training for the half marathon in Chicago this summer. I put running on hold and decided to build strength in my hip. I have been lifting for about 4 months now and have enjoyed it. Plus, my hip has been getting much stronger. Well, last weekend I ran the "leisure trail" at my aunt and uncle's house in SC for the first time in over three months. The trail is 2 and 5/8th miles. And I am happy to report that I felt no pain while running or after. I struggled a little bit during the run but I did it in around 24 minutes. I was pumped!

I found out tonight I still need to take it easy. I was doing intervals on a treadmill but felt a little pain in my hip. I need to take it slow...

On a different note, I can easily say I am stronger now than I have ever been. Of course, that is not saying much...

AFC Elimination Pool and Smitty

Congrats to Smitty. The elimination pool is down to Smitty and myself. Each week I have to pick an AFC to win. If that teams wins, I win. If they lose, I am out. Well, I am not out of 10 AFC teams...not much left to work with.

Here is what I have used: DEN, PIT, NE, SD, TENN, BALT, CINCI, INDY, CLEV, BUFF.

Here is the schedule for next week:

Sunday, November 18
CLE @ BAL
TB @ ATL
ARI @ CIN
NYG @ DET
MIA @ PHI
OAK @ MIN
CAR @ GB
NO @ HOU
KC @ IND
SD @ JAC
PIT @ NYJ
WAS @ DAL
STL @ SF
CHI @ SEA
NE @ BUF
Monday, November 19
TEN @ DEN

From my calculations, my choices are as follows: NYJ, JAC, KC, OAK, MIA, HOU.

I need your help! I am making a poll. Who should I take????

Weekend Wrap Up

So, Michelle and I are back from South Carolina. Yesterday entailed checking out a waterfall, some amazing views, and riding the lake on the Mansfield boat, followed up by a night of grilling out and watching the Florida game. It was an amazing three to four days in SC. Mary and Dave's house was absolutely gorgeous and enormous (it is three times the size of our place) and they were great hosts. We both really enjoyed Clemson and it still amazes me that I am related to one hell of a D-I athlete.

Well, with the long weekend behind us, I now have to go back to the airport in a short four hours. When we were leaving the airport, I printed my boarding pass for tonight's flight. That is a first for me. I am heading to NY for the week for work. There should be some good blogs coming up because I am not a fan of New York city. It will be quite the change coming from the friendly south the last few days.

It is a good day. Denver beat KC. YES! In your face Bob!

I leave with a pretty cool picture of Leslie celebrating after a point against Duke. In the background, you can see Michelle, myself and my aunt Mary. Dave is blocked by someone's head.

College Campus Prices

After the big win last night, Leslie and Andy (her BF) wanted to go somewhere to grab some food. The rest of us had ate but as long as there was beer we were good to go. We decided to go to Peppino's pizza because it would not be crowded. Most other places would be packed Friday night because of the football game on Saturday. The pizza joint has a few pool table and tvs spread out around the place.

Now, a pitcher of domestic beer was $4.95 and a pitcher of premium was $5.95. I love college campuses just for this alone. What shocked me more is that it was not crowded. Other places are either cheaper but just more fun. SCARY. I would have lived in this place if I went to school here. I found out tha this is where the baseball team comes after every game. Looks the like baseball team is the smartest team on campus!

Tailgating at Clemson

The volleyball stadium is across the street from football stadium and right by the baseball stadium. Well, also near by is a giant empty field. Yesterday afternoon we took a tour of multiple sports complexes and much to my surprise, the field already had many RV parked and tailgating for the Clemson football game that is happening on Saturday. Ummm, you are a day early. What is going on... I respect that a lot.

Our tour was awesome by the way. We got to check out the volleyball locker room, the trainers room (which has an underwater treadmill where you run against current and breathe through a tube and they monitor you), the athlete's weight room (heaven for lifting), the baseball field (baseball players locker room, the dugout, i was told earlier we could have done batting practice...ARGH!), a close look at the football field and a general tour of campus. Despite being a major conference school, it only has 16,000 students. It has a small school feel to it. Anyway, the tour was great and I like the tailgating tradition here.

400 people are turned away

The stadium that Clemson volleyball plays in holds a little more than 2,000 people. Well, for yesterday's game, they had 2,200 people in attendance and they had to turn over 400 people away from the game. It was awesome. Clemson was playing Duke. Clemson is number one in the conference and Duke is number 2. If Clemson wins the match, they go up two games with four to play. The game was HUGE. The crowd was loud. Clemson crushed Duke 3-1. It was awesome. Everyone on Clemson played well. Leslie had an awesome all around game. I have never been to volleyball game that was that intense. Every point was a fight. All the girls after the game keep saying they were so exhausted. I believe it. Once I figure out how to post a pic, I will post a pic of the crowd. Unbelievable!

Ramblers are EVERYWHERE!

So I am visiting my relatives around Clemson, SC. My cousin plays volleyball at Clemson and my aunt and uncle have retired to an area around there. I will get to their house and lake (keowee) later. We went to death valley last night to watch my Clemson play Wake Forest. We stopped at a bar before the game for a quick beer and what do I see...a guy wearing a bright Loyola University of Chicago sweatshirt! Awesome! I of course talked to him. He graduated last year and he was down here visiting a friend. Well, at the volleyball game, there was an old guy sitting about 5 rows behind me wearing a Loyola University Chicago t-shirt. I was floored! I dont see this much Loyola gear in Chicago! Clemson won easy last night and have Duke tonight which is a big game because Clemson and Duke are battling for first in the conference.

Bring it AK! BRING IT!

Dear Aunt Karen,

I will spot you the first game. I struggled the whole way. Opened the first three, the tenth, had three splits, just a bad game. I will still take you in series. I say bring it!

Love, Andy

P.S. I came alive for the first time in years tonight. I do not remember, but I had a minimum of 12 strikes over the last two games and strung some. I broke 200 twice and it was not barely. Well, it was solid. I will say that. 219 and 226 were my last two games. If only I did not have a 139 the first game. ARGH! I had a 584 series. Not too bad....

P.P.S. I should have done better in every game though. That is the scary thought. I missed some easy ones. I will take what I can get! BRING IT!

Beers of Europe

I took my trip to London as a great opportunity to try some different beers from around the world. I kept my choices to beers on tap. Let me say that many of these beers were just amazing. I will star my favorite on the list. London gets an A+ on the variety of just great beers they had on tap. It really puts any city I have been to in the US to shame. Anyway, here is the list of beers in no precise order...

Carling
Old Speckled Hen
McMullen
Timothy Taylor Landlord (rumor has it - this is Madonna's fav)
Carlsberg (Go Liverpool!)
Heineken (still didnt like it)
Brains Dark*** (good)
Guiness
Kronenberg
Fuller's London Pride**
Grolsch
John Smith Extra Smooth**** (my favorite - luckily it was in the hotel bar!)
Original Budweiser (czech beer)
Stella Artois
Fosters
Wadworth 6X
Staropramen
Adnam's Broadspire*** (good)
SeaFarers Ale
Black Martin (i think that was the name...)
Fuller's Honey Bee
Tsing Tao (I was in chinatown...)
Leffe
Wells Bombardier
Bread of Heaven**** (good, second favorite and a great name)

Yes, that is 25 different beers. I also tried a Strongbow but that is a Cider beer.

A+ London, A+!

LU Basketball starts tomorrow (sort of)

So my fellow Ramblers start their season with an exhibition game tomorrow (it doesnt count against their record). I am pumped for the season. Despite losing two good seniors, they have a good team. I am a little bummed out that I am missing the first three home games this year which means I wont see a game in December.

Before the first game, I will give a breakdown of how I think the season will go. Considering I am highly biased, it should be a great read. I mean last time Navy beat ND, Loyola was NCAA champs...

GO RAMBLERS!

Charlie Weis' Free Pass

ND is having one of their worst seasons ever. Yet, for some reason, Charlie Weis gets a free pass. Now I understand that it is his third year and the seniors and juniors are not "his guys". However, Tyrone Wilingham was fired after a much BETTER year. It was also after his third year when the seniors and juniors were not "his guys".

I really dont buy that ND has had some bad recruiting classes either. In their down years, they are still in the top 30. Charlie Weis is doing a horrible job of coaching and no one is saying ANYTHING about it!

Charlie Weis really needs to give seminars on "how to manage expectations". He is doing an amazing job of it and all the consulting companies could learn something from him (because its clear his doing a good job teaching the game of football).

Pizza Hut Lunch Buffet

So, a co-worker of mine, Jen, was going to Pizza Hut today but not just any Pizza Hut. She was going for the buffet. Bold move! I had to join her! Pizza Hut restuarants have a lunch special Monday through Friday. All the pizza, breadsticks, and salad you can eat at lunch time. The only catch is that there is no Pizza Huts downtown. So we jumped in a cab and headed to Division and Ashland.

We jumped in a taxi and headed there. We were also meeting her boyfriend there. When we arrived, we got discouraged...it was borded up! Oops...probably should have called ahead. We were not going to give up. We were on a mission! Jen looked up the nearest Pizza Hut on her Iphone and we jumped in the car with her boyfriend. We then headed to North and Western.

This place was glorious and open (big plus). $7.50 with drink and I got to stuff my face! AWESOME. Afterward lunch, I even tried to win a stuffed animal in the three pronged claw machine. I lost...no suprise there. I am not very good at it (unlike Nintendo where my skills are amazing).

We then headed back to work. It was one of my better lunches in a while. Next time, we need to get a big crew out there for lunch (and maybe not return to work)...

Way to go Leslie!

My wife wrote a better blog about this but I am really impressed with my cousin, Leslie. She is a four year starter for Clemson volleyball and became only the fourth player in Clemson history to get 500 kills, 1000 digs, and 200 blocks.

As Bryan clearly wrote "No one is going to believe we are related to her."

What makes that funny is that its true! It is so true!