Thanksgiving and Turkey bowl

Sarah and I had a nice quiet Thanksgiving at home this year; we had a free Turkey given to us by our downstairs neighbors Tom and Caley (As they had gone out of town to visit family). Thanks guy's, I hope you had a good time out of town… and I hope you will enjoy your new (Honda) Element!

Dinner was excellent! Kevin Bacon agreed. Sarah makes a mean Thanksgiving Dinner!

As some of you may know, Turkey Bowl 2005 was in effect on (Black) Friday morning... and even though I showed up about a half-n-hour late (And missed my chance to be on the news), I still managed to get VERY sore (It was only two hand touch... what's up with that?). I mean, I was like "Car accident" sore from the shoulders down for the rest of the weekend (whatever that means) (Please tell me that I was not the only one to get sore?). Thanks to Corry (Right), we were all warmed up with his special blend of Irish Coffee!

I managed to catch a few balls on offence and knock a few balls away on defense, but didn't manage to score a touchdown the entire game. As it was, I didn't need to score since our team won 5 to 3 (That’s 5 touchdowns to 3). Rich was on the opposing team... he did manage to score 1 or 2 touchdowns for his team (As I recall). Good Job Rich (Tell me that you were as sore as me that night, and especially Saturday morning due to the pounding our teams very own Corry Lino put on you... but a few times?)!

Although I didn't take too many pictures of actual playing time... I snapped a few pictures during half time to show you at least how the conditions were during this years Turkey Bowl (2005).

I think we had a very good Thanksgiving this year... and playing in the Turkey Bowl just made this year’s Thanksgiving complete (With sore back, legs, groin, arms and feet included).

Hope everyone else had a spectacular Thanksgiving!

Over My Head...

'Over My Head (Cable Car)'

12 WINS FREE COKE!

No it doesn't.

Weekend Happening

This past Friday Sarah and I went to Fox & Hound for an evening of high quality food, drinks and entertainment in an upscale, casual environment. It was a nice night, if you don’t count Sarah being sick all night with something that could not be categorized or easily referenced (some sort of food poisoning). But other than that, it was gravy baby. Before Fox & Hound I went out to take some Pictures and got a few pics of some local Gulls flying about. They were diggin the Jalapeño Flavor Kettle Chips I was dishin out. I tried to get a Gull to take a chip from my hand, but 1) It was too windy and 2) These weren’t your garden variety beach Gulls (Beach Gulls would take a chip out of your mouth if you let them). Before the night was over I managed to get a few shots of the sunset down at Port Erie (You can never have too many pictures of a good sunset in Erie).

Saturday evening was Sarah’s moms Birthday Party at Fox & Hound (Two nights in a row, this time Sarah didn’t get the Chicken). The party started around 7:30 and ended at (?) (Question mark, Ooooo, when is it gonna end?). It was Diane’s (Mom) 50th Birthday (as you may have already known) so it was quite the party. There were around 51 people in attendance ranging from Friends, Family and two people who were just there at the right time. Sarah Decorated with a bunch of Balloons and home made table-standing pictures of Diane (Mom) when she was young(er). We had Appetizers, Beer, cake and I think this one guy had a few too many shots of Mr. Jack. We played Pool, Darts, Video games and I think that same guy with the Jack played a round duck duck goose (He had the most fun out of everyone). By the end of the night, ? Mark turned into 12:30 and guy with Jack turned into “That Guy”. In the end it was a very nice 50th Birthday bash… and Sarah, you did a great job (With everything).

Also this past weekend we house/dog sat at the same place Sarah usually baby-sits. They have two dogs, Gracie and George… I can never remember what kind they actually are, but I know it’s a mix of two different breeds (Maybe English Beagle/something else). We (even Sarah) watched football on Sunday (Thanks Sarah, I know how much you hate it), and then had “Delivery”… I mean Digiorno for dinner. Now I didn’t get to watch, but I saw the scores online when My (The) Packers beat The Falcons 33 to 25. That puts them 2-7… “Way to go Sam Gado! Favre, you can do it!"

It was a good time, and time good a was it.

This concludes our broadcast weekend. Thank you, and have a pleasant tomorrow.

Wednesday

Wednesday is such an odd day of the week... I mean, it's better then Monday but not quite as good as Thursday and definitely not even close to being as good as Friday. Def… Definite… Definitely not as good as Friday… (This will differ if you are currently unemployed. If you are unemployed weekdays are all the same and weekends are when you see you friends and family. It doesn't matter really which day of the week it is. You’re set. This really doesn't apply to me though).

Wednesday’s are usually filled with, "Ahh... two more day's till Friday..." and "Ahh... I made it half way through the week..." (This may differ, if your job is the only thing you like doing and if you didn't have your job you would go crazy. Again, This doesn't apply to me). Wednesday’s are filled with busy days, slow days and just plain lazy days (Most fall into slow and lazy). If you’re a football fan, it's like, "What am I going to do from now until Sunday?" If you’re a Martha Stewart fan, it's like, "I wonder whom Martha is going to let go this week on Martha Stewart - The Apprentice?" (Which is now on at 9, I didn't get the memo...).

For me Wednesday’s are some, if not all of the above. You could add on Poker Day, if James White could get a damn spot for us on one of http://www.pokertropolis.com/ ‘s private tables (Which I heard yesterday, he finally did. Woot Woot! Way to go Jim!) .

If we followed the days of the week the way it was in The Godfather, I would like Wednesday’s a little bit more... "Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday." But since we do not, ”I am reluctantly crouched, at the starting line…” But seriously folks, Have a good Wednesday on me.

If you thought you knew, you have NO idea… This is the diary of Wednesday…

Niagara Falls

We left Saturday afternoon to go to Niagara Falls Canada (For Sarah's Mom's Birthday getaway!), it was around 3:10 pm when we finally got on the road; so it took us about 2 ½ hours to get to the Welland Canal (The Canal is a man made Canal that stretches from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie.). We stayed at The Inn at Lock 7 as mentioned before (Located right next to one of the Locks on the Canal, Lock 7 to be exact. Bruce (Sarah's Step dad) made the reservations for Sarah’s Birthday Mom and us at the Inn!). During our stay we saw at least 7 ships go through the Lock within 5 ½ hours that Saturday night (Usually you can see an average of 4 all day long; but toward the end of the season, it’s usually a lot busier). It was dark by the time we got to our hotel, but it gave the mood a whole “Foggy London Town” type experience (Sarah's mom loves to come to the Inn at lock 7 to watch the boats). These boats are truly massive! It was quite neat to see how these huge boats could fit into the Locks with only a few feet extra on both sides. I've never seen anything like it. We woke up Sunday morning to a beautiful sunrise... we took some picuters and then headed for the Falls. We separated from Sarah's mom and Family from here... they went to Goat Island to finish celebrating (Sarah's mom) the Birthday and headed home.

Unlike our morning sunrise, it quickly turned into a huge gust storm; that eventually turned into a downpour. We had umbrellas but it didn’t seem to help us, as we waded in some huge puddles. It only lasted about 30 minutes and it was an on/off storm that went by fairly quickly. During our stay, we went to the new Niagara Casino, then walked along the falls, then stopped by the place where we got married last summer to take a few more pictures (The Oakes Garden Theatre "July 2004").

The day after we got married last year we walked around downtown looking for a good place to eat lunch and found this little Pizza shop called "Antica Pizzeria". It's this very nice little pizza place that we now go to EVERY time we are at the Falls. They "seriously" make the best Tiramisu in the world… The Pizza they have there is also in a class of its own. We get the same thing every time we go there… Garlic Cheese Bread for an appetizer, small Number 1 (Pizza with pep, mush, bacon and cheese. Good things), and for dessert we get a piece of Tiramisu cake and a fresh cappuccino (You cannot get it any better than this). Try it, I know you'll love it!

We wrapped things up after the good eats and hot treats at Antica Pizzeria and finally headed for home. We made it home just in time to watch the second half of Green Bay losing to Pittsburgh (Damn it!).

Even though it rained and blew pretty hard on Sunday, we ended up having a very nice time at the falls. Who needs a tripod when you can hold the camara and get a picture like this. "Love you Sarah, I hope you had a fun time too! Happy One year and four months!"

Love,

Mike

Ben Folds...

Well, let me just tell you that going to a Ben Folds concert is "Off the hook!" And this is where our story begins…

Sarah hears about this restaurant called "Chovy's" (A nice Casual Italian joint) in Meadville. She's been wanting to go for a while now, so we leave early enough to get something to eat there before we go to the show (I just got some good old fashion Italian Pizza and she gets this spaghetti/linguini tasting pasta. Both were very good). We really couldn't finish the whole thing, because, 1) It was a lot of food and 2) See below...

We enter Chovy’s (The place wasn't that busy), the waitress starts walking us to our seats… and all of the sudden... we pass… BEN FOLDS!!!… on the right of us, sitting with his feature bassist Jared Reynolds and drummer Lindsay Jamieson. Sarah walks by first and does a double take and then I walk by and do a triple take. I nudge Sarah seconds later and she just turns around and whispers, "I Know!" So the waitress sits us like, 30 feet away and we keep turning our heads for like ten minutes straight (Trying not to do it so much that they start to notice).

I continue to ask Sarah to let me know when they are getting up to leave (So I could run over and talk to them and ask for a picture. I didn't want to bother them while they ate), she finally said, "There paying... there getting up!"... I stand up, walk quickly over and say, "Hi, Ben? Ben Folds?" He say's, "Yes, how are you?" I quickly introduce myself, tell them that we are in town to see their show and ask if we could get a quick picture. He kindly says, "Sure, no problem." I motion for Sarah to come on over (She was patiently waiting for the signal). The bassist say's, "Yeah, that would be great, I can take it for you." (The Bassist and Drummer have this awesome English accent). Since we were standing like in the middle of the walkway they say, "Why don't we go to the front so we won't be in anyone's way?" I agree and we walk up front.

Jared (Bassist) say's, "Hey, cool... why don't you all sit on the bench (Picture below)? We sit down and Ben (Folds) says, "Let's sit straight up and take a real serious shot?" (He is a funny guy, and Jared and Lindsay were both very nice too) But by the time we sat down, we just couldn't stop smiling (As you can see, Ben was the only serious looking one). We all got up and Sarah and I thanked them very much for their time. We shook hands (For the second time. Hello/Goodbye), told them to have a good show and we would see them there. They all said “Thanks”, shook hands once more and said, “See ya”, and we went back in to try and finish our meal. THIS WAS A VERY AWESOME EXPERIENCE!!!!

We get to the auditorium, get our tickets and find some of the better seats (It was first come first serve) in the auditorium with Paul, Tom and Caley and waited for the show to begin. We ended up with some good seats but when things were just about to start, they said if anyone wants to come up to the front of the stage, we were all welcome (Just no Mosh Pitting!). Immediately 100 kids ran down to the front. We stayed where we were, seeing how we had pretty good seats to begin with and let everyone else cram up front (No Problem, we were good).

Ben Folds had an opening band that we had never heard before... their name was "The Fray". They ended up being a very good band (They kind of sounded like Maroon 5, and the singer had a hint of David Grey’s voice... sort of). They were pretty darn good though. They played for about 45 minutes and then came out in front of the auditorium to sign some autographs. I went out to buy one of their CD's and tried to get a picture of them close up (They signed with EPIC records, so I don’t think that they’re doing THAT bad at all). I bought a CD, they signed it and while I took a picture of them signing it, they asked if I wanted a picture with them. I said that would be great... and if they become more famous in the near future (Which I'm sure they will), I will have an autographed CD and my picture taken with them.

I go back in and sit down and just as I do... the lights dim and Ben Folds comes out. Let me just tell you... Ben Folds puts on one of the best shows I have ever seen! He is hilarious too! They played like 7 songs straight... stopped to act crazy... played another 5 songs... stoped to talk a bit and make up a few songs on the spot (Friggin Hilarious stuff)... and played another 20 songs the rest of the time with intermediate babbling in between (They played a lot of songs)... and then they ended the show once, came back out for an encore and had us all take part in their last song by teaching us the chorus (It was more like... aahhhhAAAAHHHHH for the chorus). He ends the song by conducting everyone in the audience to sing the chorus up and down and all around while standing on top of his piano (It was truly an experience we will never forget)!

We had a great time, and meeting Ben Folds at Chovy's before the show just topped it ALL off!

I highly recommend everyone (If you get the chance) to go and see one of Ben Folds shows. You will love it! Ben has one of the best voices you will ever hear and his shows are VERY fun… and are VERY entertaining!

And now, I leave you now with...

It's Friday... again. Hi Five, do the shimmy shimmy shake! Talk to you all later. If not Sunday night, I will let you know on Monday how our Canada trip was.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!!!

Today is Friday... no really.

Today is Friday for me at least... to you it is probably still Thursday. I am taking the real Friday off this week, which for all of us is tomorrow. Sarah had off all week and I wanted (She of course did too) to have at least one day off so we could do a few things on her week off.

Tonight Sarah and I are going to see "Ben Folds" in Meadville, PA Allegheny College - Shafer Auditorium. We just love Ben Folds... the band was originally "Ben Folds Five", but the band does not play together anymore since 1999... so it is just Ben Folds. At any rate, it should be great show! We are going to go with our friends Caley and Tom… it was Tom's birthday this past week and the tickets are a surprise... he doesn't know anything yet (So mums the word...).

Are there any other Ben Folds fans out there? We used (as I mentioned before) one of Ben Folds songs off of Rockin the Suburbs... which was Ben’s first solo album after the break up... for our Wedding Song. Our song was "The Luckiest"... one of the best Wedding songs I have ever heard.

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This weekend we are celebrating Sarah's mom's birthday on the road. We are going to Canada to stay at the Inn at Lock Seven to watch the ships roll in, and then shoot over to Goat Island, Niagara Falls on the way back home. Her mom does not know we are coming to the Inn at Lock Seven; it will be another surprise (Icksnay ethay irthdaybay urprisesay!)

This weekend is full of surprises... but not necessarily for us. I will be showing you all of my photos from the concert and the Canada trip, so stay tuned...

I am not sure how the “It’s Friday!” ritual works, when in actuality…”It’s Thursday!” So I’m going to just give the “Hi Five” and call it a day.