October 28th - 23-16

So, the home winning streak ends. The Wild lose to one of the other worst teams in the NHL, the Predators, at home. Down 0-2 in the second, we scored 3 goals in 1:47 to take the lead, then got shut down for the rest of the game, losing 3-4. Now we suck all over the country, so this season is done. I don't mind rebuilding years, and I like draft picks, but do I really need to have both of teams blow in the same year?

I consciously made these decisions. I have no loyalty to Seattle or Minnesota. Why the hell didn't I pick the Red Wings or the Patriots? Who purposely brings this misery upon himself?

Hiner do. That's who. Hiner do.

On the home front, today was Sammy's trick-or-treat at day care, which basically means he goes from room to room in a costume and gets candy from the workers. He's dressed as Wolverine. That yellow guy, not the kids from "Red Dawn." I tried to convince Tieraney to let them go as John and John from They Might Be Giants. "No one will know who they are," she said.

"So, no one knew who Bryan McQuillan and I were when we went to a party as Bourgeois Tagg."

"Who are Bourgeois Tagg?"

"See? Easy costume."



Can't recall if I was Brent or Larry.

Incomplete pass.

My ball. 4th and 13 on my own 25.

October 27th - 23-16

Worked from home to take care of the boy, who of course wasn't at all sick. Managed to get things done, though, despite tending to him all day. Sophie's easier to manage when I'm working at home, but that's expected. Age and all.

Little else going on. Not even any games to play. Appletell work takes up the bulk of my free time, so I guess it's not really free.

Incomplete pass.

My ball. 3rd and 13 on my own 25.

October 26th - 23-16

Tieraney had to pick up the boy from daycare today. Fussy, and complaining about his ears. So, she took him to the ear doctor, where he threw up. Better there than in the car or in my house, I say. He's on antibiotics...expensive ones. Better work. Threw up a few more times at home, but in a bucket. It's a pleasant day when you realize your kids are old enough to hit the bucket or the toilet.

My hockey team was on the TV channel, where I got to watch them suck to a 1-3 loss. Seriously, I'm not the most intelligent hockey fan out there, so when I can see all the things they're doing wrong, you know they're looking terrible. This is a bad, bad team with a new coach who's clueless on how to make things work. Long season of football and hockey for me. I wish I knew how to just take a year off.

Run is stuff for a three yard loss.

My ball. 2nd and 13 on my own 25.

October 24th-25th - 23-16

Spoke too soon about my hockey team, but I will continue to do so (defense mechanism, don't you know). We won 3-2, again after regulation. Three home wins, all post regulation. All road losses in regulation. Sure would like to squeeze a point out of one or two of those.

No football, so the weekend belonged to the theaters. Saw "Whip It" Saturday afternoon with Tieraney. It was enjoyable enough. I like that Ellen Page, and I like women in fishnets bruising each other's buttocks. Could've been better, but what am I going to do? Rag on Drew Barrymore? I can't do that when this guy I know once had sex with her (pre comeback years, he says).



Sunday, then, we took the kids to see Astro Boy. It was Sam's first movie theater trip, and he didn't really do all that well. Wouldn't sit still, wouldn't keep quiet...not as good as Sophie did with her first movie. But the movie did kind of suck, so I'm not too upset with him.

And that'll do it.

Kickoff returned 25 yards from the 3.

My ball. 1st and 10 on my own 28.

October 23rd - 23-16

Got home last night to find out that Tieraney was going out for drinks with her coworkers. So, she's become that person. Next up, sitting at a table at Applebee's with a group of women drinking margaritas and bitching about their husbands while they're out golfing. Only I won't be out golfing. I'll be at home. She said she'd be home by eight, to which I replied, "Okay, see you at 11:00." She came in at 11:05. See? We should be on the Newlywed Game. Only I don't think we qualify anymore.

Anyway, decent evening with the kids, the video games until bedtime. My hockey team blew in St. Louis, though, losing 1-3. We're back home again Saturday night, where we're undefeated! I expect that'll end now. We're playing Carolina, 2-5, but they've lost those five in a row. It's against my teams that streaks like that end.

Life makes the 51 yarder to bring them within 7 early in the fourth.

Life's ball. 51 yard field goal is good.

October 22nd - 23-13

Ate pancakes and eggs for supper.

Now, here's the dork in me. I was debating between going to see OK Go or Ace Frehley in November. OK Go is obviously the far better band, but my brother and I would've had a good time at Ace's show with all the Guitar Center rejects and KISS Army cast-offs. But OK Go is on a Friday night, and Ace a Wednesday. So, what to do?

Go see Styx and REO Speedwagon instead. Why? Because it's a Saturday night, it's in Youngstown (closer to us than Cleveland and easier to navigate) and because friggin' Night Ranger is opening. Styx, REO and Night Ranger? That's, like, my girlie rock dream show. Years of teen angst wrapped up into a night of goofy '70s prog and crappy (but lovable) '80s power ballads. Yes, I will take my wife to that show, and we shall hold a fist in the air as the bands sing about the plight of the blue collar man trying to find love.



Know where you can still rock? In America!

Life calls timeout to debate what to do here, punt or try the 51 yard field goal.

Life's ball. 4th and 4 at my 34.

October 21st - 23-13

My God, finally. Wild won at home last night, 3-2, after dropping five straight on the road. We were down 1-2 at the end of two, but newly appointed captain Miko Koivu scored with about four minutes left to force overtime. We then went to the shootout, where the only goal scored was again by Koivu. El capitan!



There was still a lot of blowing going on, we were outshot in the second period something like 4 to 17, but I'll take the win.

And don't those green jerseys look snappy? I'll be placing an order soon. But dag, hockey jerseys are expensive. You want an authentic with numbers and a name and a captain or alternate designation, you're paying nearly $400. Fuck you, Reebok.

Editor-in-chief at our sister site, Gadgetell, gave his two weeks. Not sure how this affects me. Likely, it won't at all. But maybe, just maybe, the NAPCO guys see this as a warning, and they offer me and the Gamertell fellow retention bonuses, which the Dabbledoo boys recommended from the start. That will pay for a hockey jersey, I should think.

Pass for the first down is well covered.

Life's ball. 4th and 4 at my 34.

October 20th - 23-13

The answer is "yes." Horror is scarier when you're the one with the flashlight. Well, still not scary, but the "startles" (different from being scared, mind you) are more effective. Weird game, that Ju-On, and I'm looking forwarding getting deeper into it to see if a game with no real point other than to frighten you can be worth $40.

Got some good news on the Seahawks front. Seems that Lofa Tatupu's injury may not be season ending. He could be back within a few weeks. It still won't make a difference, but even during down years you want to see your best players on the field.

I've learned that tacos are the one food item that consistently tastes better at home than at restaurants. I wonder why that is...and i wonder why I don't make tacos at home more often.

Two big changes in the works. First, I bought EA Sports Active thing for the Wii. I'm now working out about half an hour a day, doing the strength/cardio thing to get in shape for the cruise come June. This is painful. I'm going to find the man who invented the alternating lunge jump, and kick him in the head...once I'm able to move my legs again, anyway.

Two, Rogaine. It's true. Why? I have no idea at all. It was $15 off at CVS over the weekend, so I thought, "What the hell?" I've got the hair now, no buzz-cut, but I've got a dent up on top. Let's see if the dent can get filled in. If not, no big deal. I'll just go back to the buzz cut. If it does grow back...well, I have no desire to buy Rogaine for the rest of my life, so I'll likely still get the buzz cut. But it's an experiment nonetheless.

4 yard pass.

Life's ball. 3rd and 4 at my 34.

October 19th - 23-13

No football or hockey today to drag me down, just work. Not that work drags me down, of course. It doesn't. It's just work. You do it. Like riding the subway in New York. Not a pleasant experience. Crowded and hot and smells like piss. But you do it.

Got another Wii game for review. "Ju-On: The Grudge." This one's interesting, as it's not a game. It's a haunted house simulator. There's no combat and no real goal of which to speak. Rather, you just walk around haunted locations with a flashlight and get the bejeezus scared out of you. Now, I don't scared during movies. It's too easy for me to separate myself from images on the wall to be frightened by them. But will that change if I'm actively participating in the images? Let's see.



2 yard run.

Life's ball. 2nd and 8 at my 38.

October 17th-18th - 23-13

There you go. 0-5 on the road trip. We lost to Vancouver 1-2. Something like 17 shots on goal. Defense played well for the first time, I've read, but the offense wasn't there. It's going to be a long season. Likely even longer than that of the Seahawks, how looked absolutely terrible against the Cardinals in a 3-27 loss. Tatupu's out for the year, but who cares? He's been average at best for the past two season. Losing him does nothing to make us worse than we already are.

What sucks is that Hass is done. I'm ready to admit he's been overrated, and hasn't done much of anything without Zorn and Holmgren to tell him what to do. Oh, yeah, he's fine when there's absolutely no pressure and he's not losing. But our o-line isn't good enough to keep pressure off of him, so expect plenty of sacks because he holds the ball to long, and expect plenty of dumb decisions and picks because he tries to force things. He's done nothing in the past three seasons to indicate he can lead this team through any sort of adversity, so call it a season...and a career. The Seahawks are 6-10 at best this year, but I'm expecting closer to 5-11.

Saturday, Tieraney and I bought life insurance. Figured it was time, seeing that we've got the cruise coming in June. We'll have to cut back quite a bit to afford it, but honestly, we've got so much debt right now that a death to either one of us would be catastrophic to the kids. Now, we're covered. I'm officially worth more to my family dead than I am alive, so should something happen, assume that one of those made for Lifetime channel movies is playing out, and call the authorities.

18 yard pass completion.

Life's ball. 1st and 10 at my 40.

October 16th - 23-13

Good day. Because of one of those inservice things, Sophie had the day off from school. So, Tieraney and I took the day off, and we drove to stinking Pittsburgh so the kids could see the bones. The Carnegie Museum of Natural History has a rather impressive display, so that was our day. Kind of fun, although the kids did get a bit rambunctious towards the end of it all. Also, I had to be on a conference call with NAPCO at 2:00, so I became that dad who takes his kids places but does work while there. Yea me!

The museum was okay, but not worth another trip back to stinking Pittsburgh, which really is quite an ugly city. I'm not just saying that because it's stinking, but because it really is quite ugly. Like Youngstown, only bigger and more depressing.

My kids didn't seem to mind, though.



Upon getting home, we got the kids in bed and caught up on TV. Report card: "The Office" = wildly unfunny. "Parks and Recreation" = disappointing, but only because last week was so great. "Community" = best of the week; I'm a legit fan of this show now. "30 Rock" = bad premiere, but I expect it'll pick up. Enough moments for me to not lose hope this early.

Oh, and my suckwad hockey team keeps on sucking wads. Lost in Edmonton 2-5. If we don't beat Vancouver Saturday night, we'll have gone 0-5 on the first road trip of the season. Yea!

40 yard punt. Fair catch.

Life's ball. 1st and 10 on their own 42.

October 15th - 23-13

Per the usual Thursday, nothing to report.

Although, why did I not know there was going to be a sixth book in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy? Perhaps because its author is dead? But here it is, "And Another Thing..." by Eoin Colfer. Not sure how I feel about this. One on hand, a Hitchhiker's book by anyone other than Douglas Adams just seems wrong. On the other hand, it can't be worse than "Mostly Harmless," so I'll give it a shot. I like the characters, and I like the universe, so why not see what someone else can do with them? If it sucks, who cares?

Incomplete pass.

4th and 10 at my own 18.

October 14th - 23-13

Oh, Lordy, my hockey team blows. Lost 2-3 to Anaheim last night, but it wasn't that close. We scored with about 6 seconds left in the game with Backstrom pulled to get our second. That's 1-4, bottom of the division, and bottom three in the league. I'm not certain, but it's possible we're already out of playoff contention.

But I wasn't following it, so I didn't have to deal with it live. Rather, I was on a boat. We had a company outing last night on the Nautica Queen in Cleveland, which was basically a cold, dark cruise on the Cuyahoga River, complete with dinner and bad music. I ate, then spent practically the entire evening on the deck, watching the lights go by.



Families were invited, but it was a school night and we couldn't find a babysitter, so Tieraney stayed home with the kids. Too bad. I tend to enjoy such events more if Tieraney's there to help me make fun of everyone.

In the morning, I took Sam to the ear doctor. One of his tubes is out, the other is getting there. We have another appointment set up for December, and if he remains clear, we may finally be done with these tubes. That would please me. Ear operations are expensive.

End run out of bounds for no gain.

3rd and 10 at my own 18.

October 13th - 23-13

No hockey news, no football news, no news of any type.

Oh, wait, I decided on the way in to work that I was going to surprise my wife with a charm for her Pandora bracelet (not worth looking up), so I did. Gave it to her, and ends up she already has that particular charm. Her mom gave it to her about a month ago.

Again, Tieraney's mom screws up my attempt at being a good husband. I totally understand all the jokes about mothers-in-law now.

Pass falls incomplete.

2nd and 10 at my own 18.

October 12th - 23-13

Chamber show. Lord, how I hate the chamber show. Once a year, we set up a booth at the Beachwood Chamber of Commerce Chamber Show, and we stand in front of it while people come up to pretend to be interested in what we do, then try to sell us toner. Such a waste. I absolutely hate business and everything about it. If I had my way, we'd all still be trading beaver pelts.

But, I only had to be there for two hours. Show runs from 2:30 to 7:30, and I was there from 2:00 to 4:00. That's the benefit of having a child who must be picked up by 5:00. I've been with this company for nearly 11 years now. I get to pick when I work the chamber show.

Run off tackle for three.

1st and 10 at my own 18.

October 10th-11th - 23-13

Tieraney's mom flipped out on me at the nephew's birthday party Saturday afternoon. I'd filled my plate and went to sit down, and there were a bunch of plastic eyeballs and ears and junk on the table (I later found out they're for sticking into pumpkins). So, I started to move them, and Tieraney's mom went ballistic. She yells at me, "I had those in order and you fucked them up." I swear to God, she yells this in front of all the kids. Then she storms off into the living room, and I yell back, "Okay, we're not doing this today, Pat," although I'm not sure exactly what that meant. Before I could really go off on her for swearing in front of my children, Tieraney steps in front of me and says, "Let it go." So, I did. I obviously didn't talk to Pat for the rest of the day, but Tieraney told me afterwards that she and Tally discussed that their mom was in a bad mood before we even showed up, and that I apparently was the one to get dumped on.

But dude, the swearing in front of my kids has to stop. I'm not above punching a 60 year old woman.

Actually, I am, but I'm not above thinking about punching a 60 year old woman.

Anyway, we went to a pumpkin patch, which bores me. That's another problem I have with Tieraney's family. Why do they think that every single thing they do has to become a yearly tradition? Every year, over and over, it's the same boring things.

Then, my hockey team blew a 2-0 lead to lose to the Sharks 2-4.

Then, Sam threw up Sunday morning, so Tieraney stayed home with him while Sophie and I went to church. Things were looking pretty bad; certainly I couldn't rely on the Seahawks to save the weekend, could I?



Yes, I could. 41-0. I can't remember the last time we dominated a team like that, but I'm guessing it would've been in 2005. Felt good, and I actually found a feed on the computer so I could watch it. Now, if we could just do that one more time before the by week, this feeling of dread will be lifted.



QB is sacked for an 8 yard loss, but the defense jumped offsides.

2nd and 2 at my own 15.

October 9th - 23-13

Dog's turn to be sick. Sophie I were sitting in the living room when the dog just hurled on the carpet. No warning. No gagging. Just a sudden, silent puke. It was weird, and stinky. That's stuff stinky. I managed to get it cleaned up before Tieraney got home, but the smell was lingering, so we went out to eat. Trouble is, how do you find a place to eat at 6:30 on a Friday night? You don't. Everything was packed. So, we ended up driving all the way out to the old Stow turf to eat at Bellacino's, only to find it wasn't there. I told Tieraney the place was way too popular to have gone out of business, so she looked it up on the iPhone, and sure enough, they'd just moved.

Wasn't that a wonderful story?

Draw play gives us a little more room with which to work.

My ball. 2nd and 7 on my own 10.

October 8th - 23-13

For some reason, the Wild decided to start the backup goalie last night. Backstrom is fine, but Harding was in goal, and we paid for it. Two of their first three shots were goals. We were down 0-3 at the end of the first, and went on to lose 3-6. The Kings had 23 shots on goal. 6 goals on 23 attempts. Horrible.

This is the first game in a five game road trip. Tough way to begin a season, but you shouldn't be losing 3-6.

Stayed home with my daughter. She threw up in the morning, so about 10 minutes after I got to the office, I got the call to head back home. She was fine all day (throwing up tends to solve the problem, after all), mostly playing in the living room while I worked in the office. Easy enough to work when she's home. Not so much with the boy.

And the first of the big announcements has come down from NAPCO. They've lifted the post cap, meaning I can put up as many articles as I want. This will help with page views, as being restricted to an average of three posts a day wasn't really doing much to keep people around. Supposedly, the next announcement will have to do with my pay scale. That'll be the fun one.

Life punts. Fair catch at the 7.

My ball. 1st and 10 on my own 7.

October 7th - 23-13

Hockey team was off; at the Kings on Thursday.

Sophie apparently wasn't feeling well at school. Note from the teacher said she complained about her stomach and slept for half an hour during class.

Slept a half an hour during class, I said.

Know what would've happened to me if I fell asleep while Mrs. Hard was teaching (yes, my kindergarten teacher was named Mrs. Hard)? Let me just say those were different times.

Anyway, she seemed fine, but Heather (the neighbor who watches her after school) called to tell Tieraney that Sophie didn't look good, so Tieraney went home early. The girl seems fine now, but we'll see how that turns out.

Otherwise, not much to report, 'cept that I'm finding both "Parks and Recreation" and "Community" quite funny (DVR), and that Saturday Night Live with Megan Fox had its moments. Not a lot, but enough to make it worth watching.

Life can't find a receiver and throws the ball out of bounds.

Life's ball. 4th and 7 on my 42.

October 6th - 23-13

Well, now, that's better. After a scoreless first period, the Ducks of Anaheim scored three on the Wild in the second, which is when I gave up hope. By the time I went to bed, the Wild had put up two of their own in the third. Woke up to discover they'd managed to tie it 3-3 late in the third, then won it in OT, 4-3. I do enjoy the hockey wins.



Somehow, though, the Flames are already 3-0. We're two games into the season and we're down four points? That doesn't seem right.

Another "yellow card" for Sophie. Been a while since the last one, though, so I'm not too mad about it. No They Might Be Giants for a week. May not sound like much, but if you knew how much she loves that They Might Be Giants DVD, you'd understand.

Got a scale for review. A scale? Yes. It connects to your computer via WiFi to record your weight and such, allowing you to track your progress. I only have it for 45 days, but it may prove useful enough to just buy. For instance, did you know I've gained eight pounds over the last six months or so? Neither did I. Wrong direction, considering the cruise in June.

Pass falls incomplete.

Life's ball. 3rd and 7 on my 42.

October 5th - 23-13

Hangover from the shutout of Super Sports Weekend. Pretty much in a bad mood all day, but I kept it inside. I've learned how to hide my feelings. Me and Melissa Manchester.

Official word went out to the writers that the Dabbledoo sites have been sold to NAPCO. It hits the PR wire today. Odd that I'm part of something that will hit a PR wire. NAPCO is issuing a special press release to PR agencies and developers so that they to now consider us bigwigs. They want Appletell, Gadgetell and Gamertell to be in the first tier of product release samples, interviews, etc. I'm being promoted to Editor-in-chief of Appletell. Not sure what that means, yet, as far as salary goes. I talked to Bill last night about being my managing editor. I'll need a much bigger time commitment from him if he wants that gig. I'll likely also bump up Jake Gaecke, but I'm not sure he'll want that commitment. Anyway, it's all kind of exciting, and kind of intimidating, but I can handle it. I am the Mountie!

More on this story as it develops.

Life dumps a quick pass to the flats, but it's well covered by the defense.

Life's ball. 2nd and 7 on my 42.

October 3rd-4th - 23-13

Total destruction on Super Sports Weekend. My Wild lost Saturday night, 1-2, in what was otherwise a fantastic game. Plenty of shots, plenty of end-to-end action, plenty of fantastic saves. Columbus opened with the first with a short-handed goal, which sucked. We tied it up on a power play in the second, then they retook and held the lead with a shot from the point in the second. We had a power play in the final two minutes and pulled Backstrom to go 6 on 4, but couldn't score. Frustrating.

It was a sold out crowd, though, and they were up for it. Good to see hockey doing well in mid-Ohio. I wonder if Columbus can sustain that enthusiasm past opening night, however.



I met some cool Wild fans at the game, who never seem to believe I'm not from Minnesota. They always want to know how I became a Wild fan. I wish I had a good story to tell.

Dinner with Steve and Kristin Crane, which was cool. Decent restaurant, and the Arena District in Columbus is fantastic. Great place to be.

Sunday's loss was much worse. We got to the tailgate at about 9:30 and hung out there with my Seahawks brethren for a couple hours before heading to the stadium. That was fun. Everyone was friendly, including the Colts fans. Of course, they have no reason to spout ill-will at us. They knew they were going to win.

Which they did. Absolutely horrible showing by the Seahawks, easily the worst I've seen them play live since Dan McGuire was QB. We left before the third quarter was over, but that's fine, because it allowed us to make the five hour drive back to Ashland + one hour to Mogadore and still get home in time to watch some TV.

The thing about Lucas Oil Stadium, though, is that it's very quiet. I've never seen fans so polite and calm for football. It's like they had to raise their hands and be called upon in order to cheer. Also, no black people. I'm barely kidding here...I've never seen so many white people under one roof, and I've been to Duran Duran concerts. I was afraid an RNC rally was going to break out at any minute. How can you have a football stadium of 66,000 people and have fewer blacks than I saw at a hockey arena of 16,000 the night before? It was just weird, and a little creepy.



Regardless, losses are much easier to take when you're amongst fans, even if the loss is hideous, so I wasn't freaking out. That doesn't cushion the blow of an epic fail weekend, however.

Life completes an 18 yard pass for the first down.

Life's ball. 1st and 10 on my 45.

October 2nd - 23-13

Big day of meetings. Easily the longest day of meetings I ever had. 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with a couple breaks in between. Still can't go into too much detail, as it hasn't yet been announced, but things look good, provided we weren't just being pacified. I know how these things generally work, and lot of the talk can be just smoke. But we'll see. I left feeling rather optimistic about the whole thing. I was promised 12th row blue line tickets for a Flyers game if our group performs to a nigh impossible level, but it's a fun incentive nonetheless.

And this company has the greatest hallway I've ever walked.

Cramped flight back, but uneventful. Philadelphia has a terrible airport, and we were stuck on the runway for about 45 minutes. Much rather be stuck in the airport, but not worth complaining about. It's easy for me to find ways to pass my time.

Home by around 10:30 p.m. Next up, Super Sports Weekend!

Incomplete pass.

Life's ball. 3rd and 12 on their own 37.

October 1st - 23-13

Worked from home. Had the oil changed. Lunch with Tieraney. Worked some more, then off to stinking Pittsburgh. It's a weird airport. In the middle of a field, kind of like ONU. There's literally nothing else around it. Not even a parking garage, just a lot and an on sight hotel. Clean, though. Modern.



Decent enough flight, and I met up with the Dabbledoo guys at a restaurant in Philly where I dined on crab cakes and wine. Tasty. The guys were cool. It was a fun evening. Decent hotel, too, although I got the side without the view.

Run is stuffed for a two yard loss.

Life's ball. 2nd and 12 on their own 37.

September 30th

The 3rd quarter draws to a close with not much happening. Third quarter saw us get our first lead of the game, and build on it. 10 points for us, none for them. Certainly the best of the year. Considering the game has been a battle of defense and field position throughout, you have to like our chances in the fourth. However, football/hockey season will be in full swing, and that means a lot more ball movement in both directions.

As for right now, though, nothing.

We punt from our 29. Not a great punt, but no return.

Life's ball. 1st and 10 on their own 39.