Let’s Go Red Wings… clap, clap….clap, clap, clap

My bud… yes, I do have friends, gave me a call earlier this week wondering if I wanted to go see the Red Wings play game 1 against the San Jose Sharks. I said sure. I hadn’t seen him in a while, and we usually have a great time together.

He lives in Cleveland, and you may think to yourselves, how come this guy gets DETROIT Red Wings tickets. I guess some guy he works with gets them every year and sells the playoff tickets. So it was the two of us again going to the Wings game. The last we did this, it was the last time they won the Stanley Cup. So we think of ourselves of some kind of good luck charm.

Some general observations from last nights game…
We went to American Coney Island downtown for a few Coneys’ before the game. It’s a great place to go to before a game if you need to get some food fast. They’ve been open at that location since 1917 and they're open 24/7.

The bronze and glass Gordie Howe statue is pretty cool. The sculptor instead of having Mr. Hockey pose for countess hours had him sit on a couch and he shot hundreds of photographs of him to get his expressions an physical appearance.

I thanked and shook the hands of three soldiers that were in their uniforms… they seem real young… could be that I’m getting old.

$8 for a beer.

We had good seat right on the blue line. We sat right in front of a guy from work and his wife.

Joe Louis arena was not sold out. This was shocking to me as I would have thought that this would have been a hot ticket. Apparently, the last few years of getting to the playoffs and getting knocked out in the first round is finally getting to the fans.

Wing Nuts caps are much better then Cheesehead hats.

They gave away white towels to everyone at the game. At the beginning of the game the PA announcer asked everyone to get their towels out and spin them to rev up the players… not as impressive with the building being half empty.

There are a lot of white middle aged men that go to hockey games. Ok, that may not be much of an observation…but still.

Whenever there is a timeout and the scoreboard will show some general crowd shots and there is an attractive female that they show, inevitably a big fat dude will stand up in front of her and show us his belly… why?

If the Wings fall behind the fans will change their chants. By this I mean that at the beginning of the game chants were “Let’s go Red Wings”… by the end it was “Just F#%&ing Score!”

Oh, the final score of the game was Sharks 2 Wings 0… the game was over in the first five minutes of the game as it seemed that the Sharks had their number on this night.

Weekend Top Ten List

This is going to be a big weekend at the old homestead. The weekend plan is...

1. Swap out the winter clothes for the summer clothes in the closet
2. Take back the basketball backboard to Target and swap it out for a better model and put the backboard up for the kids to play on
3. Clean the shed
4. Take out the patio furniture and power wash it
5. Put the Christmas tree in the attic of the shed (it’s bulky and this is the first weekend that I will actually be able to see the floor of the shed)
6. Cut the stair treads to size and install them
7. Clean the yard of they winter debris and put down a coating of fertilizer to kick start the lawn
8. Clean the BBQ
9. Buy a new hedge trimmer and trim the front yard hedges and bushes
10. Clean my office desktop
    
    

Life Expectancy

It seems that I won’t live to be 127 years old, but 93 isn’t that bad. I took a short quiz at http://www.livingto100.com/ and based on the outcome of the quiz I will live until at least 93 and can add another 9 - 12 years if I change a few lifestyle choices. Getting rid of my coffee and Diet Cokes will add another 2 years and reducing some of the stress will add another 2 years. Taking an aspirin a day will add a year as will getting rid of the occasional fast food. Flossing more often, and adding another two days of training will add another year as well. The other things only add half years or less so, I’m not sure if it’s worth it. : )

Oh… the 127 years is what I have told my kids that I will live to.

Why I am a Superhero

I remember it like it was yesterday. My youngest was a mere 3 years old and a friend of mine asked me to move a tree for his dad.

So this friend calls me and asks if I was doing anything on said date. I said nothing much… I’m just watching the kids while my wife is at work. He proceeds to asks for a hand in moving a small tree at his dad’s house and that his mom would be willing to watch the kids while we moved the tree. I said sure, as he is a real good friend, and I had nothing else planned.

We had planned it for a few weeks and he said that by the weekend, the roots where going to be cut out and the only thing that we would need to do is to pull the tree out of the hole and move it to the other side of the driveway.

The weekend finally arrived and I got out of bed on Sunday and proceeded to go to his dad’s house. We looked at the tree and I was floored. This so-called small tree stood at least 25 feet tall and it looked to be about 15 years old. Not only was it twice as big as it had been alluded to, but the roots were far from being cut out. This was going to be a bigger project.

We spent the better part of the morning digging and cutting around the roots so that we could pull the three out of the hole. When all of the prep work was done, we tried to move it out of the hole. The tree just swung from side to side in the hole… it wasn’t going to budge this easy. We were left scratching our heads as to how to get this small tree out of the ground and moved to the other side of the driveway. We ate lunch and to give us some time to think of a method of getting this project done without getting ourselves hurt in the process. We quickly formulated a plan to use the Jeep and a winch to get the tree out of the hole. We put the tree on the ramp. This contraption acted like a sled. It was believed that the Egyptians used this technique to move the stone blocks for the great pyramids.

When the contraption was ready for trial, the girls came out and giggled at us for trying to move such a big tree. We strung a few ropes at he top of the tree to keep it steady just in case this actually worked and we got the tree out of the ground. We told the girls to move back and I jumped into the Jeep to give the tree a tug. It started to work but the tree was just too big for us to simply pull it out of the ground with the Jeep. The girls laughed out loud. My youngest suggested that we call Superman. I told her that we weren’t going to call Superman, because he was busy and besides, and that we were engineers.

We needed to make the edge of the hole a much smoother ramp or else the tree wasn’t going to budge. We dug the hole wider and made the edge smoother. The second attempt we also used some 4” steel pipe and rode the sled on them. When we were ready, the girls came back out of the house to see us work. Slowly we tried to pull the tree out of the hole, the pipes helped as the sled slid over them while they turned. We eventually got the tree out of the hole as the girls cheered. The tree swung from side to side on the pallet. In addition, it was a good thing that we had those ropes holding the tree steady so that the tree didn’t hit the house.

We had half of the job done; now we needed to move the tree to the other side of the driveway. We went slow and steady as I pulled the tree with the Jeep and the sled slid over the pipes. My buddy helmed the tree with the rope and his dad moved the pipe from the back of the sled to the front when the sled slipped over the piping. This worked great and the tree finally got pulled into the other hole and it stood straight up.

The girls cheered and my youngest called me a Superhero just like Superman. I still drive by that tree every once in while and it brings a smile to me when I remember how my kids eyes lit up in amazement as that tree moved across the driveway.

Interesting Statistic

I heard an interesting statistic this morning.... In the United States, only ten percent of married couples have equal paychecks. I find that statistic amazing given that in this day and age when both men and woman work I would have thought that it would have been much higher. Then again, Just in my personal family, when my wife and I first got married, she earned much more then I did and as the years progressed, I caught up to her. It has been only in the last few years that I actually out earned her.

I wonder if this statistic has any impact on how many people get divorced in this country. By this, I mean, is there any resentment from a man (or woman) that their spouse makes more money then they do? I would think that this would be an interesting piece of research instead of the usual crap that they do research on. Does the fact that a woman that out earns her husband cause the husband to resent her and file for a divorce? I for one didn't have a problem back then (of course I think of myself as being quite liberal towards this.) I don't care if my wife works and/or how much she makes so long as she wants to work. I wonder how some of the other cultures treat woman that work and out earn their spouse?

I Heart Eduardo... 2?

You may recall a few months ago about the photograph my friend took of a woman who must have a BIG crush on Eduardo did to herself.... if not check out this link.

Well it seems that it is not just young collage coeds on spring break but also wealthy woman that have a sweet spot in their hearts for Eduardo. If you look real close you will see what I mean. It is on the car.... yes there is a car in the picture... look again! Geez... get your mind out of the gutter would ya.

Me Time

“I Vant To be alone” is what Marlena Dietrich said in the 1932 film classic Grand Hotel.

Isn’t it strange that something this simple can be so satisfying every once in a while. Heck, if you need it… do it more often. At least for me, Me Time is very important. It gives me a chance to recollect, refocus and keeps my sanity level stable.

I know what your thinking… who has EXTRA time just for “Me Time”? Who said it has to be special or extra time? Sometimes, Me Time occurs for me going to or from work. I will just shut off the radio and just listen to the tires hum on the road. Other times, Me Time occurs while on a bike or running. That is what I call quality Me Time. Not only am I strengthening my body, but I’m also refreshing my mind.

My suggestion to you is to go out and make a point of spending some quality Me Time this week with yourself. Find something you can do by yourself (shopping, going for a walk, playing the piano, etc.) and go do it. You’ll thank me for it later.