Giving it a try

David had great success on the tube.

After watching the adults ski David decided he wanted to give it a try. He was up! For a second.
I give him two thumbs up for trying.

Soccer

Heidi signed David up for youth soccer, while she was at it, she signed me up to be the coach.
Makes me a little nervous. I have no other details at this time.

First Ride

I got out on the bicycle this morning and started to learn to ride again. It took five miles to figure out how to shift the gears. The shifters are built into the brake levers, what will they think of next? The tires on the machine are very narrow, if the rider were to swerve off the pavement and onto the soft shoulder there would be an accident. The bike is wobbly and does not like variations in the pavement.
I can tell that with more time spent on the bicycle the more comfortable I will become. I will be out there again tomorrow morning, becoming more familiar

Bicycle

It is the dawn of a new era in exercise, I had a second knee operation in April and during my follow up appointment I asked the surgeon when I could start jogging again, he said never, go buy a bike. I got one and plan on using it. I had a road bike in high school and really enjoyed the time I spent on it. I traded it in for a mountain bike when I went to college which I road a ton. After I got married the cycling stopped, now it is going to start back up. If you see a fat guy, in goofy pants, riding a red bike, please do not run me off the road.

SDS

Sudden Deceleration Syndrome has been a serious problem for me my entire life. I never got hurt falling, it has always been the stopping that left the scars, tears, concussions, dislocations and broken bones. I was born without the mechanism that says "you probably shouldn't try that" when other kids were backing off the ledge I alway stepped up, much to the chagrin of my body.
Now at 38 all of these sudden stops are starting to catch up with me. My wrists and shoulders ache chronically, but worst of all, my right knee is junk. It was about 16 years ago that I severed my posterior cruciate ligament, I fell asleep at the wheel of my pick up truck and came to an abrupt stop at the base of a cliff, on a dark, quiet, back road in Vermont. The dashboard of the truck hit me just below my knee tearing my PCL in two.
Unlike your anterior cruciate ligament the PCL does not need to be fixed, strong quadracept muscles can hold your leg in place, with just a bit of wiggle. That bit of wiggle ruined my meniscus cartilage and 3 years ago I had it fixed, the meniscus and PCL, it was a terrible experience. I slowly recovered and eventually got back to jogging. Jogging was not a good idea, after a year of jogging my meniscus began to tear again and eventually, like before the big operation, I found it hard to get through the day with out my knee swelling up.
Two months ago I went back and had my meniscus trimmed again, this time I walked out of the hospital the same day and with in six weeks was playing golf and chasing kids. I did not even need crutches, I used a cane for about three days and then dropped that. The arthroscopic surgery was simple and my knee felt better almost immediately.
I had one follow up visit with the surgeon about a month after the procedure. During this visit I asked him if and when it would be possible for me to start lumbering again. It was obvious by the look on his face that he had no idea what I was talking about so I explained, "Lumbering is one speed slower than jogging."
His response was not what I wanted to hear, "You only have thirty percent of the meniscus cartilage you were born with in your right knee and you should not waste it lumbering." "Go by a bike" was his advice.
Sudden Deceleration Syndrome has finally caught up with me and it makes me feel old.

Celtics

What fun, the Celtics are World Champions! Get the Bruins up to speed and Boston is the modern day Utopia for a sports fan. To be emotionally invested in every season is such a treat it is hard to explain. Go Red Sox!

DAMN

Mercury Morris will never shut up.
An almost perfect season is not perfect.
The Pats offensive line was offensive, the Giants ran right through them.
When it came down to it, the Giants made all the plays the Patriots usually make.
Damn!

Patriots vs. Jaguars,

Halftime
The Pats are going to come out in the second half and leave the Jaguars behind.
The beating starts now.
Wes Welker reminds me of Troy Brown
BRADY FAKES TO FAULK
What a fake !
Yes!
The best fake ever!
Brady to Welker back of the endzone TOUCHDOWN PATS 21-14 Brady turns his back to the defense takes a deep breadth Reengages, surveys the situation and FIRES
DEFENSE
I have a man crush on Tom Brady
28-17
Brueschie hits Garrard in the nuts, missed the tackle but hit him in the nuts. Then he goes deep, Jaguars score a field goal.
Welker drops it. Brady puts in the basket and he drops it Field Goal 31-20 Fucking Rodney 4th and 5 I love Rodney Interception!
4 Minutes left in the 4th
Game over
Great Football Game
Post Game press conference.
Tell me about the fake Tom.
I want an academy award for that play. We tried it in practice, it worked there and in the game.
What did you say to Wes after the drop?
Lawrence Maroney announces the next game is a "speed bump" on the road to our next Super Bowl. To Steve Burton pats Fifth Quarter on CBS affiliate in Boston.
Who folds Scott Zolack's Pocket handkerchief? Fancy.
Brady 26 of 28 best completion percentage ever. 92.9 percent I think.
Randy Moss blocking was exceptional. Play after play blocks great down field. One catch for 14 yards but responsible for at least 75.

Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Saturday Night Patriots Game

12/29/2008
Giants march down the field 7-0
Pats first set of downs moving the ball effectively. Great catch by Moss, down low fingertips Run screen pass on 3rd and long Go for it on 4th and 2
4 yards to Randy Moss
Pump fake 6:42 in 1st period beauty for first down Working Maroney Ben Watson drop 3rd and 8 pass out the back of the end zone Kick field goal
7-3

Good defense 4:12. 3 and 11 dropped ball Giants punt Pats ball on the 50yard line Maroney stuffed
3 and 14
Sack!
Flag giants 1 st down PATS

Heat to Stallworth
Pats marching
Moss could be hurt 0:17 1st
He is OK
End of 1st quarter Pats marching
Start of 2nd 2nd down on Giants 4 yard line Play action TD Moss Fake to Maroney fade pass to Moss Nice little dance
10-7 Pats
Bad penalty. Excessive celebration?
Giants run kick off back 14-10 before you know Bad Penalty the refs f#ed us!
LAWRENCE for 13 yards
Welker screen, fights for 12 yards

3 and 14. Kevin Faulk for 6
Pats get three
14-13 Bad Guys

Manning wide open big white guy 89
Nice play Bruschi
3 and 7 shutdown pass Rodney Harrison
Punt

Maroney 10 yards
Moss 8
Maroney 3, 4
Welker 5
3rd and 1
Evans runs for 1st down
3:55 2nd Q play action looks deep, checks down to Ben Watson 21 yards Good game Pats are loosing but I feel like they are in control of game

3rd and 4
Shotgun to the end zone, Moss is defended Field goal is good
16-14

1:53 in half
DEFENSE!
Manning scrambles and scrambles
Complete 1st down
Giant hurt, O'Haran knee, center

Great catch Armani Tumor
Underneath to Jacobs beats blitz for at least 15
31 seconds left fight
Penalty against Pats. Wilfork tried to stick his finger in Jacobs eye

Giants on pats 14 yrd line
Manning dives for first down
21 seconds left
1st and goal
DEFENSE!
Pats 2.5 yrd
2nd down
18 seconds left
TD Giants
21-16, Bad Guys, pass to big white guy 89

That sucks!

Half Time

Giants think they won the game. This game is not over yet.

Selling the NFL Network

Patriots receive kickoff
Start at 20
Under center Ben Watson hit hard for 3yds 3rd and 7, shotgun, blitz, whips it, Moss drops it Punt Giants ball on 40 Jacobs running to Pats 40 Harrison misses tackle Pats 20yrd line Run stuffed DEFENSE!
3rd and 9
Touchdown
Plexico Burress
28-16 down two scores
Is doubt creeping in? If I am asking it must be.
Go Pats! Eli does not have the chops to keep this up. I believe he wll fluster.
The Giants are pumped!
1st down Pats Ben Watson to Pats 45
Welker Giants 29
5 more Welker
Welker makes a move Giants 14
Run for nothing
Brady dodges sack
Pass interference against Moss
Giants 1
Thru Vrabel's hands
Flag
Illegal formation Pats
Giants six yrd 1st goal
Maroney breaks tackle Touchdown Patriots!
28-23 Giants

Missed tackle on kickoff
Giants ball own 40
Drop of screen pass
3 and 3
Defe F:Jck
DEFENSE!
SACK!!! Loss of 20 nice
3 and 22 4th down
Punt 37 seconds left in 3rd
Pats get ball on own 17
Faulk for 5
4th Quarter

Maroney for a loss of a bunch
3 and9
Faulk screen for 1st down
Brady skips one to Moss
Brady under pressure
Pass to Watson no yards
3rd and 11
Timeout before delay of game
Big play
4th down high out pass thru Moss's hands Punt

3rd 11 for Giants
DEFENSE!
Timeout Giants
Big play coming up
4th down
Out pass for 3yrds
Punt 11:41 in 4th

Pats ball own 35
Tipped on line
Play action,Deep and Moss dropped it
Hit him in his hands. Ouch, 3rd and 10, Try it again Moss deep, in stride TOUCHDOWN!!

Go for 2pt conversion
Maroney powers it in

GO PATS! WOO HOO fist pump
Record setting FIFTY TOUCHDOWN PASSES
23 TD caches for Moss

SO NICE!!!
31-28 Pats
10:57 in 4th

Giants good on kick return
Late hit flag against Pats
15yrds courtesy of Meriwether
Refs are confused reverse call
Giants start on their 25
Holding Giants things are going bad for the Giants Timeout Pats INTERCEPTION!!!
Ellis Hobbs

Pats ball own 48. Out pattern to Stallworth 1st and 10. Giants 36 Brady sacked 2nd and 20 Giants 46 Welker makes a move for 9 3rd and 11 Faulk underneath, runs for 12 1st DOWN. NICE!

Maroney for 5 Giants 20 yard line
2nd and 7
Maroney dumped in the backfield
Micheal Strahan
3rd and 9
1st down Wes Welker inside the 10
Moss inside the 5
5 minutes to play
Maroney powers in for the TOUCHDOWN!!!
Carries two guys in
38-28 Patriots Baby!!!!!

Do net let up boys, do not let up!

Flag against Rodney 15 yrds
Dummy
3rd and 1 Pass for 6
Pats 35yrdline
Giants are not managing the clock
Time is ticking away

2:00 minute warning
Pats have 10 point lead
Giants threatening to score inside Pats 20yrd line Giants fumble ball out of bounds at 4 yrd line Pass back of end zone 2nd down Pats call timeout Ball at 4yrd line Pass back to almost line of scrimmage Giants timeout Ball on 6yrd line 3rd down DEFENSE!!!
Flag defense
3rd down
Touchdown Giants
One hander Plexico Burress
38-35 Patriots 1:04 left in game

On Side Kick
Vrabel takes it clean
Patriots ball
Taking the knee

A perfect regular season,
WOW
16-0
38-35 PATRIOTS!

What a Great game. Did I doubt for a second I did ask the question but in my heart I knew they were going to win.
That was a terrific football game
The best of the year

Congrats

Bits and Pieces

Moving through life I am confronted with many interesting, thought provoking episodes. In the past I would stop, make a note and bring a coherent post to this little blog.

Life has really picked up speed and I can't seem to take the time to pull over and make a note. The lessons are lost to me. I can remember three or four times in the last six weeks that I thought about slowing down the train to make a note of a situation. Thinking isn't doing and the moments are lost.

Halloween is fast approaching and on many levels feels as though it is already here. Is there another Holiday that last this long? It started with David's fourth birthday party,10/18, the theme was Super Heroes, the point is costumes. The following Saturday 10/20, our first Halloween party. The town hosts a Halloween parade, which we marched in 10/26. Next the businesses downtown give out candy, that happened 10/27 and then there is 10/31, Halloween. Can't get here soon enough. There is another holiday, Hanukkah, that lasts as long.

The hard part about being a Red Sox fan is staying up until 1:00 in the morning and still getting up to go to work. Thank God they swept and got it over with in a timely fashion. One night is not so bad, three nights in a row is torture.

The Patriots are destroying their competition. They won this weeks game 52 to 7, next week is the battle of the unbeaten and I do not think Indianapolis stands a chance.

Did I mention Boston College is ranked #2 in the nation. How about them Celtics?

What a great time to be a sports fan!

Only Child

Merry and David left town Saturday morning. They went with Grampy and MayMay for an over night in Maine. Turned out to be two overnights but we were unaware of this when they left.

Heidi and I were left with only one child, Thomas was no longer the baby, Thomas became the only child. At two years old next month, Thomas has not had a lot of time in his life where he was the center, this weekend he was the center of my world and I hope he enjoyed it as much as I did.

The best part of the time we spent together was in my chair watching baseball. Thomas loves balls, bats, running and throwing he cheers for every pitch and if the batter gets a hit stand back. We sat in my chair Saturday afternoon and watched the Red Sox game and I felt so close to the child nuzzled in my lap sipping his milk that I wanted to cry.

So I leaned down and kissed the top of his head again, for the umpteenth time, and watched Mike Lowell knock the Yankees second basemen on his ass and we cheered.

Hurray!

Magic?

Did you see that? I have magic in me. I talked trash about the Yankees and they won because of it. The Sox had 'em on the ropes last night and I fell asleep. I woke up this morning to the news that A-Rod belted a two run homer off of Papelbon. I bet if I had stayed awake The Sox would have won. I never realized I held such power.

The Yankees are still cooked no matter what I say they aren't going anywhere.

Night Night.

Say Goodnight to the Yankees. After this weekend is over nothing is going to save them. The only thing I like better than the Yankees losing is the Red Sox winning.

After the Sox take two out of three, who on the Yankees roster is going to be left standing? I wonder if Roger has a "No Trade" clause. They are going to need a new manager, it was a good run Joe. They are going to need a new G.M. Tough being Georgy's puppet, he decides who you sign and then blames you when it doesn't work out. See you later Mr. Cashman.

It is a new Era, Red Sox fans feeling strong and talking smack that sticks. Still I do find it odd, my fixation with the Yankees, I wish I didn't care, but I do.

Tuckerman's Ravine

9:00am
Ready to hike.
11:00
From Spring to Winter
The Hermit Lake Shelter

11:33am
The Ravine

Lunch Rocks

Assent into Heaven

Over The Headwall

View from the Top

Back to Lunch Rocks

Last trip up

Preparing for Take Off

Rendez Vous at the base of the Ravine

This is where the next adventure begins. I never skied off the mountain before and it was tons of fun. This however is enough for today, it is only one third of the story.
Maybe tomorrow I will write about the motorcycle wreck/car accident that happened on our way to the mountain.

Crash

Just like the rest of the eastern seaboard we had one heck of a snow storm Friday night into Saturday. This Nor'Easter made for some prime sledding conditions and we took advantage of them on Sunday.

There is one stump on the sledding hill, it is located about half way down the slope and it is off to the sledders right. The plan was to send Merry and David down in the first sled with Thomas and I chasing close behind.

I got them set and sent them off with a big push away from the stump. Like a long, arching putt they went out and curved back around. It was almost as if the stump was a magnet and Merry's nose was steel. They crashed into the stump with enough force to launch David over Merry's head and the stump. Merry was not so lucky, instead of going over she went into.

My heart stopped, I could see it coming, I could not believe it but I knew from the way the sled was coming around back towards the stump that it was going to be close. I put Thomas down and started running towards the impact zone. Merry was shaken up but a "blood check" revealed nothing. She complained about her nose and lip, neither of which swelled up. David ended up 100 feet down the hill with out a scratch.

Thankfully everyone was alright. We sledded for the rest of the morning without incident. That first run scared the hell out of me though, and Merry and David too!

Dance Recital

There was a large audience on hand for the recital.Primaballerina Merry had the largest gallery consisting of Grampy, Thomas, Dad and David.
The show started with some long stepping.
Thomas could not contain himself, he had to get involved.
Next they performed some excellent skipping.
Finished off with a perfect first position.

Fun

Merry looked out the window of the Old Blue House Saturday morning and declared "Daddy, it's a winter wonderland out there!" and you know what?

She was right.

Friday night we got two or three inches of a wet sticky snow that with the falling temperature was like cement on Saturday morning. Merry, David and I ate breakfast,got dressed and headed to Heidi's Uncle Dougy's. Uncle Dougy is Grampy's brother and he has an awesome hill for sledding.

Grampy met us there and the four of us sledded our asses off. We sledded all morning and through lunch. We broke all kinds of speed and distance records, we went of jumps and had wipe outs, it was great. David and Merry are even big enough to walk up the hill under their own power, most of the time.

We were all pooped but Merry had a play date, her bestest friend was coming for the first sleep over at The Old Blue House. Everybody had a great time and went to bed at a reasonable hour. The interesting part of the sleep over story is that our guest is afraid of dogs. Odd to go to a house with two large dogs for your first sleep over when you are afraid of dogs. In the end, it worked out fine.

Sunday, I dusted off the jogging shoes, the last time they saw action was 1/13, 21 days ago. It was nice, nice and cold and tough, hopefully it will not be 21 days until I get out there again.

Sunday night I watched the Super Bowl home and alone, the children were in bed and Heidi was working the tutus. The commercials were fun, the game was tough. Rex Grossman was terrible and the Colts finally finished their season with a win. No more Peyton can't win the big one talk. Thank goodness.

Ouch!

That hurts, 38-34 the Colts win. I did not believe it was possible until the Pats gave the ball back with 3 plus minutes left in the game.

That is when my heart sank.

See you next year.

Ski Day

I went skiing yesterday and it was great. I love to ski and had a terrific time with auntie Shannon. Shannon is Heidi's best friend and Thomas's godmother. Shannon had a free ticket to Sunday River and asked me if I wanted to go. I answered "Hell Yes!"

When we arrived at the mountain the thermometer in my truck read 2 degrees. Undeterred we ventured forth. Shannon has all of the gear, she carries a bag packed with supplies for any circumstance. My ski gear is a "hodgepodge" of things I have accumulated over the years. While questioning Shannon about the meaning of "hodgepodge" it was determined that my ensemble resembled a pile of dirty laundry. Shannon remarked that it was a good thing that I knew how to ski because I certainly did not have the gear.

When I skied every day I had gear. I got that gear cheap because I was a ski racer and we had all kinds of ways around paying full price. We got deals on everything from goggles and sun glasses to skis and bindings. This was 15 years ago, holy shit, 15 years ago.

Anyway I started asking about the price of gear and Wow! is skiing expensive, at the end of the day we went into the shop and had a look around. Yikes! is about all I can say.

Shannon and her expensive gloves and ski socks got cold. Her hands and feet needed a break 2 hours into our day. This is not a problem for me, I love taking breaks and having hot chocolate. My hands in their $13.00 thinsulate, work gloves and my feet, in a pair of thin dress socks, stayed nice and warm all day.

Neither of our bodies got cold, her jacket cost in the vicinity of $300.00, my jacket cost $50.00 and that includes the Team GES bug logo. When I asked her what the difference was between our jackets I found out that hers has "pit zips" for when it gets warm and lots of pockets.

What is the reason I am pointing all of this out?

FEAR.



David is all set, he has skis boots and a helmet all passed down, now I have to outfit Merry. I am hoping to do this for under $200.00. Then next year Thomas who can move into David's stuff which means we have to hook David up. Then they become teenagers and need the "in" jacket, ski pants, goggles, poles, skis, boots. I am working myself up, take a deep breath Peter.

Head over to the Tutu Boutique and buy a Tutu, I need all the help I can get. If you want to look younger and feel better we have some stuff for you in that department as well.

Thank you Auntie Shannon for sharing the day with me. I had a great time and really appreciate the fact that you thought of me when you got your hands on that free pass. There is nothing better than spending the day, skiing with a friend, for free. Nothing!