One final knee, and the game's over. My hockey team lost to Los Angeles, 2-5, eliminating the chance to have the best December in club history. So be it. I wouldn't expect a year to end on a high note in regards to sports.
Decent night with the family. We watched "The Corpse Bride," put the kids to bed, then spent the evening playing video games and eating cheese, as planned. Low key. Easy. Fun.
That's the year, then, and the end of the blog. Maybe I'll do it again in a few years, but not 2010. We win what was essentially a defensive struggle. Life had the big field block for a TD, but we otherwise kept them in check and put together a couple solid TD drives. Not many big plays from us, just solid defense to give our offense a chance. And honestly, when we sold our house in April, I had a feeling we'd be winning. That was Life's whole strategy, so they were pretty much winging from that point on.
I take a knee, and that's game.
Final score: 26 to 19. I win.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Thursday, December 31, 2009
December 30th - 26 to 19
Final day off of the year, since I'm working December 31st. Spent it doing Appletell work and some stuff around the house, including hanging up my Minnesota Wild Ave. sign above the kitchen door in the garage. Looks pretty good up there, right next to my Seahawks Fat Head that is now held up almost entirely by staples. I am nothing if not dedicated.
Sophie and I met Tieraney and a coworker for lunch (Sam was at day care, because I can't get anything done with the two kids are together). While at home, Sophie and I watch a few episodes of "Bean." She loves Mr. Bean, and that's okay by me, because I'll certainly take that over Barbie Three Musketeers or whatever the hell girls her age normally watch. Mr. Bean is funny, after all.
I also picked up New Super Mario Brothers Wii for me and Tieraney to play on New Year's Eve. It's become a tradition for our agoraphobic lives. We put the kids to bed and eat quality cheese and drink the liquor while playing video games until midnight. The game in the past has been Mario Party. This year, I've decided on a new Mario game.
There may come a time again where we will dump our kids with someone and go to a party, but two things will have to happen first:
1. Someone must be willing to spend New Year's Eve watching our kids.
2. Someone must be willing to invite us to a party.
Until that time, ringing in the new year with video games, my wife and cheese is about as perfect as New Year's can be.
I take knee (without incident this time).
My ball. 2nd and 12 on my own 32.
Sophie and I met Tieraney and a coworker for lunch (Sam was at day care, because I can't get anything done with the two kids are together). While at home, Sophie and I watch a few episodes of "Bean." She loves Mr. Bean, and that's okay by me, because I'll certainly take that over Barbie Three Musketeers or whatever the hell girls her age normally watch. Mr. Bean is funny, after all.
I also picked up New Super Mario Brothers Wii for me and Tieraney to play on New Year's Eve. It's become a tradition for our agoraphobic lives. We put the kids to bed and eat quality cheese and drink the liquor while playing video games until midnight. The game in the past has been Mario Party. This year, I've decided on a new Mario game.
There may come a time again where we will dump our kids with someone and go to a party, but two things will have to happen first:
1. Someone must be willing to spend New Year's Eve watching our kids.
2. Someone must be willing to invite us to a party.
Until that time, ringing in the new year with video games, my wife and cheese is about as perfect as New Year's can be.
I take knee (without incident this time).
My ball. 2nd and 12 on my own 32.
December 29th - 26 to 19
Gelert is found!
Tieraney spent the morning making calls and visiting pounds. I drove around with Sophie for a while before her annual doctor check-up. No luck. We're told that people who find huskies often don't turn them in, they keep them, and I find this oddly comforting. It's easier for me to deal with this under the belief that Gelert has been taken in by someone instead of lying dead on the road.
But then, come 5:00 or so, there's a knock on my garage door. I see a black pick up outside, and the whole way to the door, I'm thinking, "They have my dog." The guy at the door asks the question, "Do you know anyone with a white huskie?" I say, "Yeah, that's me." He laughs. "You're kidding. This is the first house I stopped at."
Here's the story. This fellow, Ernie, lives across the street from my sublet, right night to the Jehovah's Witness church, at which he's pointed a canon, perhaps oblivious to the symbolism. Big property with a pond in front of the house and a huge backyard / wooded area. Monday, Ernie and his wife heard howling all night long, which they believed to be a coyote (plausible, as Tieraney and I saw one in our back yard this year). When the howling was still going on Tuesday morning, they decided to check it out. Behind their shed, about 40 feet deep in the woods, they found Gelert. She'd wrapped her chain around a tree, and was stuck there.
Ernie and wife took Gelert back to their garage, gave her food and water, and eventually started their hunt, which quickly found me.
So, my dumbass dog spent around 15 hours--overnight in 15 degree weather and steady snowfall--in the woods (as Sophie would later say, "She must be very brave."). But now she's home, and is showing no ill effects of her adventure. In fact, when she got back inside, she took a quick drink, went outside to pee, then fell asleep under my computer desk for the rest of the night. We celebrated by shoving her in her crate and going out to dinner at Red Lobster. Welcome home, Gelert!
This is when Sam told me, "I told you she was at the neighbor's. I told you." And he had. He kept telling us that Gelert was at the neighbor's behind a red barn, barking. Great. Thanks for the help, Sam. If he'd said she was behind a shed, howling, maybe that wouldn't have been so useless.
And then the Wild lost to the fucking Ducks of Anaheim.
Life tries to go deep, we make the pick.
My ball. 1st and 10 on my own 34.
Tieraney spent the morning making calls and visiting pounds. I drove around with Sophie for a while before her annual doctor check-up. No luck. We're told that people who find huskies often don't turn them in, they keep them, and I find this oddly comforting. It's easier for me to deal with this under the belief that Gelert has been taken in by someone instead of lying dead on the road.
But then, come 5:00 or so, there's a knock on my garage door. I see a black pick up outside, and the whole way to the door, I'm thinking, "They have my dog." The guy at the door asks the question, "Do you know anyone with a white huskie?" I say, "Yeah, that's me." He laughs. "You're kidding. This is the first house I stopped at."
Here's the story. This fellow, Ernie, lives across the street from my sublet, right night to the Jehovah's Witness church, at which he's pointed a canon, perhaps oblivious to the symbolism. Big property with a pond in front of the house and a huge backyard / wooded area. Monday, Ernie and his wife heard howling all night long, which they believed to be a coyote (plausible, as Tieraney and I saw one in our back yard this year). When the howling was still going on Tuesday morning, they decided to check it out. Behind their shed, about 40 feet deep in the woods, they found Gelert. She'd wrapped her chain around a tree, and was stuck there.
Ernie and wife took Gelert back to their garage, gave her food and water, and eventually started their hunt, which quickly found me.
So, my dumbass dog spent around 15 hours--overnight in 15 degree weather and steady snowfall--in the woods (as Sophie would later say, "She must be very brave."). But now she's home, and is showing no ill effects of her adventure. In fact, when she got back inside, she took a quick drink, went outside to pee, then fell asleep under my computer desk for the rest of the night. We celebrated by shoving her in her crate and going out to dinner at Red Lobster. Welcome home, Gelert!
This is when Sam told me, "I told you she was at the neighbor's. I told you." And he had. He kept telling us that Gelert was at the neighbor's behind a red barn, barking. Great. Thanks for the help, Sam. If he'd said she was behind a shed, howling, maybe that wouldn't have been so useless.
And then the Wild lost to the fucking Ducks of Anaheim.
Life tries to go deep, we make the pick.
My ball. 1st and 10 on my own 34.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
December 28th - 26 to 19
Never mind my Wild win (4-3 over the Kings in Los Angeles), my dog is gone.
I chained her up yesterday before going outside to shovel the snow. The kids were out front with me, then went to the backyard. About 20 to 30 minutes after first chaining up the dog, I went out back to check on the kids.
No dog. No chain. She somehow yanked it up out of the ground and made off. The kids said they never saw her back there, and figured I'd taken her inside. So, my dog is gone, and had a nearly half hour head start on me. Needless to say, I couldn't find her. Tried following her footprints and the chain track, but that disappeared when she reached Martin Road. Drove around the places she's been known to go when getting loose before, but nothing. I even dumped the kids with the neighbors so I could continue looking (no car seat for Sophie, and it was snowing pretty heavily), but an hour later, it was getting too dark to see anything.
I think she could survive the night despite the 15 degree temperature. She's a husky, after all, and she knows how to find the warm areas. There's also the chance someone took her in. But we live in a largely wooded area, so she could've ended up there, possibly got her chain stuck on something. Also possible she got hit. Things I don't want to think about. Tieraney posted a notice on Craig's List and is checking the pound. I'll be going out again with Sophie.
This is sad. Over the past few months, Gelert has been great. No more peeing problems. No more chewing and scratching at her cage. Things were going good, and now this. It's heartbreaking.
And that's Miracle in the Meadowlands style play. Botched snap. Somehow, Life ends up recovering a fumble. The crowd is stunned, and Life's still alive with seconds to go.
Life's ball. 1st and 10 on their own 41.
I chained her up yesterday before going outside to shovel the snow. The kids were out front with me, then went to the backyard. About 20 to 30 minutes after first chaining up the dog, I went out back to check on the kids.
No dog. No chain. She somehow yanked it up out of the ground and made off. The kids said they never saw her back there, and figured I'd taken her inside. So, my dog is gone, and had a nearly half hour head start on me. Needless to say, I couldn't find her. Tried following her footprints and the chain track, but that disappeared when she reached Martin Road. Drove around the places she's been known to go when getting loose before, but nothing. I even dumped the kids with the neighbors so I could continue looking (no car seat for Sophie, and it was snowing pretty heavily), but an hour later, it was getting too dark to see anything.
I think she could survive the night despite the 15 degree temperature. She's a husky, after all, and she knows how to find the warm areas. There's also the chance someone took her in. But we live in a largely wooded area, so she could've ended up there, possibly got her chain stuck on something. Also possible she got hit. Things I don't want to think about. Tieraney posted a notice on Craig's List and is checking the pound. I'll be going out again with Sophie.
This is sad. Over the past few months, Gelert has been great. No more peeing problems. No more chewing and scratching at her cage. Things were going good, and now this. It's heartbreaking.
And that's Miracle in the Meadowlands style play. Botched snap. Somehow, Life ends up recovering a fumble. The crowd is stunned, and Life's still alive with seconds to go.
Life's ball. 1st and 10 on their own 41.
Monday, December 28, 2009
December 26th-27th - 26 to 19
Boy, my Seahawks suck. Two weeks ago, I mentioned on Facebook and on the forums that this is the worst Seahawks team in franchise history. People thought I was nuts. No one's disagreeing with me any more. That's a horrible product we keep putting out there. Go draft picks!
My hockey team, on the other hand, won again on Saturday night. I think we shook off a five game slump to the Blue by finally beating them 4-3 at home. The new Canadian got two of our goals. Guillaume Latendresse had two goals, including the game winner, for the lift. Lat has been one of those rare instances where he was underperforming on his original team, but is shining in his new surroundings. Nice to see that finally swing my way.
Even better, my team won the Turkey Bowl on Saturday. Actually, considering when we play it now, I should start referring to it as the Sausage Breakfast Casserole Bowl. Down 7-14 at one point, we moved Jack Jose to QB, and quickly saw a 35-14 swing. We called it at 35-21, and started a new two-possession game to end it. I had one TD and one fumble recovery, but never once played QB. My favorite play was when I got absolutely drilled by Steve Uhler, who hasn't played in about ten years (we had eight on eight, by the way...nice turnout). I shook a couple defenders on crossing pattern and thought I had a TD, but turned to see Steve barreling down on me. Tried to stiff-arm him, but he blew right through it and slammed me down into the mud. It was awesome. For a moment, we were both 23 again. When I woke up on Sunday, though, I was closer to 48.
Worth it, though. Totally worth the pain.
And because of the game, I got to miss 3/4 of the Patterson family Christmas party. Bonus! I hung out with former Shattered Image band members Steve Johnson (drums) and Jack Jose (keyboards/vocals) and the wives at BW3 Saturday evening before heading home. All in all, a good time.
Another run for eight, and that's the game. All that's left is to take a knee.
My ball. 1st and 10 on Life's 39.
My hockey team, on the other hand, won again on Saturday night. I think we shook off a five game slump to the Blue by finally beating them 4-3 at home. The new Canadian got two of our goals. Guillaume Latendresse had two goals, including the game winner, for the lift. Lat has been one of those rare instances where he was underperforming on his original team, but is shining in his new surroundings. Nice to see that finally swing my way.
Even better, my team won the Turkey Bowl on Saturday. Actually, considering when we play it now, I should start referring to it as the Sausage Breakfast Casserole Bowl. Down 7-14 at one point, we moved Jack Jose to QB, and quickly saw a 35-14 swing. We called it at 35-21, and started a new two-possession game to end it. I had one TD and one fumble recovery, but never once played QB. My favorite play was when I got absolutely drilled by Steve Uhler, who hasn't played in about ten years (we had eight on eight, by the way...nice turnout). I shook a couple defenders on crossing pattern and thought I had a TD, but turned to see Steve barreling down on me. Tried to stiff-arm him, but he blew right through it and slammed me down into the mud. It was awesome. For a moment, we were both 23 again. When I woke up on Sunday, though, I was closer to 48.
Worth it, though. Totally worth the pain.
And because of the game, I got to miss 3/4 of the Patterson family Christmas party. Bonus! I hung out with former Shattered Image band members Steve Johnson (drums) and Jack Jose (keyboards/vocals) and the wives at BW3 Saturday evening before heading home. All in all, a good time.
Another run for eight, and that's the game. All that's left is to take a knee.
My ball. 1st and 10 on Life's 39.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
December 25th - 26 to 19
Know what's a good Christmas? One where you don't have to go anywhere. We got up with the kids (we actually had to wake them up at around 8:00 a.m....we were tired of waiting for them, having already showered and all), opened gifts, cooked up the breakfast casserole (there are few meats I enjoy more than the ground sausage), and waited for our parents to arrive.
The kids seemed pleased with what they got. Tieraney was okay with her gifts. I was okay with mine. She got me this thing:
Sad thing about this is that they don't work in garages. I'm guessing it's the cold. The instructions do say that they're for indoor use only, but I figured that was a rain/sun thing, not a temperature thing. But it doesn't want to stick to my wall, so I'm periodically stapling it in place as it peels in new areas. Eventually, I figure it'll just stop. If not, that's either a lot of staples or a $90 gift down the drain.
Even in my garage, the Seahawks find a way to disappoint.
My parents were up first for a little bit, and Tieraney's parents pulled in right as mine were leaving. Most didn't eat the food Tieraney had prepared, so that means leftovers. And since I'm off my workout schedule until after the new year, that means weight gain.
But who cares? I'm married. I don't need to look good.
Run up the middle gains four.
My ball. 2nd and 6 on my Life's 47.
The kids seemed pleased with what they got. Tieraney was okay with her gifts. I was okay with mine. She got me this thing:
Sad thing about this is that they don't work in garages. I'm guessing it's the cold. The instructions do say that they're for indoor use only, but I figured that was a rain/sun thing, not a temperature thing. But it doesn't want to stick to my wall, so I'm periodically stapling it in place as it peels in new areas. Eventually, I figure it'll just stop. If not, that's either a lot of staples or a $90 gift down the drain.
Even in my garage, the Seahawks find a way to disappoint.
My parents were up first for a little bit, and Tieraney's parents pulled in right as mine were leaving. Most didn't eat the food Tieraney had prepared, so that means leftovers. And since I'm off my workout schedule until after the new year, that means weight gain.
But who cares? I'm married. I don't need to look good.
Run up the middle gains four.
My ball. 2nd and 6 on my Life's 47.
December 24th - 26 to 19
Good day at work, but you'll have that when you're there all alone. Got some solid work done, handled only a few calls, ate Chinese food. Nothing wrong with any of this.
Christmas eve service was fine. Out church has an odd habit of doing mini-plays or dramatic readings or something. Church members over the age of 55 reading from scripts. Angels talking to various people. Thing is, most of these people were teachers, so they sound like teachers reading to grade school kids. Not sure I get it. I'd rather we just sing for an hour straight, but it's all okay in the end when we do sing "Silent Night" by candlelight. It's beautiful. I mean, "Silent Night" is the second most beautiful song ever written. But there in church, everything is so quiet. It's peaceful. I means something, and I like that. It's why I don't care about the commercialism and the shopping crowds and the non-existant war on Christmas, because I get that moment on Christmas eve. Everything that people freak out about because they think we're losing the purpose of it all, it's all right there. I don't need it to be in airports or on TV, and I'm not sure why everyone else does, either.
So, I'll call it a successful night. Kids in bed by 9:00, me and Tieraney by 10:45 because we had nothing to put together. Merry Christmas, all of you who don't even know this blog exists. As Kermit the Frog once sang:
I don't know if you believe in Christmas
Or if you have presents underneath a Christmas tree
But if you believe in love, that will be more than enough
For you to come and celebrate with me
Incomplete pass. I take over on downs.
My ball. 1st and 10 on my own 49.
Christmas eve service was fine. Out church has an odd habit of doing mini-plays or dramatic readings or something. Church members over the age of 55 reading from scripts. Angels talking to various people. Thing is, most of these people were teachers, so they sound like teachers reading to grade school kids. Not sure I get it. I'd rather we just sing for an hour straight, but it's all okay in the end when we do sing "Silent Night" by candlelight. It's beautiful. I mean, "Silent Night" is the second most beautiful song ever written. But there in church, everything is so quiet. It's peaceful. I means something, and I like that. It's why I don't care about the commercialism and the shopping crowds and the non-existant war on Christmas, because I get that moment on Christmas eve. Everything that people freak out about because they think we're losing the purpose of it all, it's all right there. I don't need it to be in airports or on TV, and I'm not sure why everyone else does, either.
So, I'll call it a successful night. Kids in bed by 9:00, me and Tieraney by 10:45 because we had nothing to put together. Merry Christmas, all of you who don't even know this blog exists. As Kermit the Frog once sang:
I don't know if you believe in Christmas
Or if you have presents underneath a Christmas tree
But if you believe in love, that will be more than enough
For you to come and celebrate with me
Incomplete pass. I take over on downs.
My ball. 1st and 10 on my own 49.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)