This one little tip gets me all the free sex and beer I could ever want.

Long ago, I set a goal for myself of writing a book. I figured that is I was going to be a real, professional, paid novelist, it would be kind of integral in the process.  The thing is, writing is hard.  Like any other skill, it takes years of tireless consistent practice to hone, and no matter how seasoned and efficient you get, no matter how great a writer you become, your success lies in the hands of many people whose interest is not quite as vested as yours;  your editor, your publisher, your publicist, and finally, your readership.  Each one of these can be a massive mountain to traverse.  Breaking into the writing business, undertaking anything really, can seem an impossibility if we sit back and think of all the battles to be fought, and hurdles to be overcome.

This is why I have started writing this blog.  Adding a daily entry will help me get in the habit of writing, improve my keyboarding skills, and set a foundation for my "style".   In my dreams, this thing is going to take off, get half a million followers, and I'll be able to walk into any publishing house in NYC and demand a huge advance before I ever write a page of my first novel.  Or better still, the publishing houses will come looking for me!   I could start a bidding war for my first novel BEFORE I ever scribe a single sentence!

OK, bad memory recall here... but this is what I wanted to write about today, while the above may be true, it is just a segue to the story i wanted to share.  "I could start a bidding war, over me"...  remember that phrase.

OK, step into my time machine and set the dial for February 1989.

I was in 12th grade and winter carnival was fast approaching.  Someone had the bright idea of doing a "pie in the face auction" at lunch period in the cafeteria to raise money for graduation.  It was a brilliant concept.  "Problem" students bid on the vice principle in charge of discipline.  "Jocks" would bid on their coaches who just made them run wind sprints all practice, female student would all want to bid on the cute english teacher right of college who always quoted poetry in class.  Just about every teacher you could put up on the block would generate a flurry of bidding activity for some reason or another.  Revenge, attraction, simple admiration, the reasons could be endless.  The senior class was going to pay for the whole prom with this one event!  I was on the prom committee, and I have to admit, we were totally thrilled with this idea.  We had tried bake sales, car washes, raffle after raffle, and at this point i think we were at about 25% of our goal.  If this went off like we thought it would, we could reach our fund-raising goal in one fell swoop, and I could stop trying to peddle chocolate bars outside of Zellers on friday nights.

Sometimes crucial moments in our lives happen and remain suspended in our memory forever.  These moments can recalled and relived over and over like they JUST happened for decades.  Moments like your very first kiss, or, I'd imagine finding out for the very first time that you were going to be a parent.  We become acutely aware of every detail of our surroundings, the smells, sounds and colors, and we have those instant replays right there for the rest of our lives.  Tremendous triumphs trigger this for me, however, so to devastating defeats.

There we were, all set to dismiss the meeting and seek out the teachers to get on board for the auction when Adageo VanMilligan said these life altering words:

"If we are going to make all this quick dough off the teachers, let's put a bunch of students up for bid too!"

He wore a green sweater.  These was stirring outside the room as students passed by carrying books, holding hands, chattering about the morning class and the weekend parties.  The desks were lined up in a 3/4 circle facing each other.  I could smell the "almost-chicken parmesan", which was the entree of the day in the cafeteria for lunch.  Maryanne was on my right and next to her, John, then Michelle, Cory, Alex, Paul and Deidre.  Jerry was on my left, followed by the other Maryanne, Adageo, Patty and Christine.  There were student projects pinned to the wall in front of me displaying the foods of various regions of the world. The carpet was red.  The room was painted in an off white, like the color used in hospital hallways.  I felt a chill run up my left arm, tickling every hair as it shot up to the shoulder and skipped through my neck.  As Adageo was speaking these words, the sky grew very dark, and just as he completed this fateful sentence, thunder rolled off in the distance.  At the time I never thought much of it all, I mean we did live in Nova Scotia, and the weather changed rather quickly and just as frequently.  Looking back now, I recognize it as a warning from God.

I wish I had said, "Shut up Adageo", instead of letting greed move my lips more to the tune of, "That sounds great man!"

Well, we brainstormed to come up with the students we would put up for bid along with the teachers and staff.  Park View Education Center was made up of over 1000 students, so it was very important to select not just the right amount students and only those who would bring in big bucks.  We decided on a dozen.  Homecoming king and queen, hall monitors, a few potential valedictorians, we could appeal to the same emotions that would drive the bids up on the teachers.  Sex appeal, revenge, even hatred might just translate into a better band at prom, more grandiose decorations, a nice selection of finger sandwiches.  This was all becoming SO easy!

So we decided on 11 students after an hour or so of brainstorming.  We would get them to agree to it by any means necessary,  school spirit being first sell, then the spotlight, heck, we'd even bribe them if it came to that.  There wasn't much PVEC students wouldn't do for one of the cafeteria's strawberry milkshakes.  A pie in the face was certainly an easy price to pay for such a treasure.  So 11 were in the bag, and we seemed to have run out of steam.  After another hour of less effective brain storming, I made the mistake of opening my mouth yet again.

"If we can't decide on a 12th, I'll do it."

I was kind of a big man on campus.  Captain of the Hockey and Track teams.  Involved in several other extra curricular activities, I had a really good looking girlfriend, so I thought that  there had to be someone out there who hated me, or was jealous enough of my high school success to part with a few bucks to get even.  "I'll go last," I said, "you know, save the real prize to close the show," I said arrogantly.  Sometimes it is better to just keep your mouth closed.  I wish I had learned that lesson the day before this meeting.

A week later, auction day came.  We had 20 people up for auction.  10 adults, and 10 students.  For a potential crowd of over 1000, that seemed reasonable.  Some of the dozen students we tried to convince declined the offer, despite the milkshake bribe, but we felt that we could still exceed our goal.  Students had been pooling their money, and whispers of some of the auctionees going for over $500.00 had been heard by a few of the grad committee.

One by one, we put them up on the stage, and we told the students why they should hate or love them enough to bid, and we were AMAZED at how things went.  The first person we put up was Cute English Teacher.  The bidding was furious, and so were many of the boyfriends of the girls bidding.  His price flew past the $500.00 dream right out of the park and went to a group of freshmen ladies who had pooled their cash for over $600.00!

Then we put up the homecoming queen.  The girls who lost out on Mr. Poetry, used the cash they saved to win this one to the tune of over $400.00, outbidding homecoming queens boyfriend, who put up a good show, but was secretly happy to lose.  The girls had a great time shoving the pie into perfect makeup and hair.  Homecoming Queen left the stage looking like a wet dog to a HUGE round of applause and laughter,

Down the list we went.  Bidders were having a genuine good time.  Pictures were taken for the yearbook,  I don't think there was one single student anywhere else in the school.  This event was going even better than we ever imagined, and we had some pretty high expectations.    The basketball coach went for $300.00, The Librarian for $250.00, Valedictorian even topped $200.00.  Before I had the chance to get on the stage, We had raised over $3000.00!  The top bid getters were actually tied.  The Vice Principal went for $750.00 and the sultry female french teacher who never wore a slip and loved to stand in front of the windows matched that, The Nerd Herd got her, and i think it was the closest thing they all ever got to being luck to this day!

Finally, it was my turn to get up on the stage.  The whole process was going very smoothly by now.  I was introduced, and the MC gave lots of reasons to make students want to bid on me.  I remember thinking he may be going overboard quite a bit actually.  I was convinced i could fly cure cancer by the time he was finished.  He opened the bidding and just like that, all of a sudden, in a room full over over 1000 people, the only noise made was coming from a cricket who had found his way in the school before the frost hit, and had avoided capture by crawling under the dishwasher in the kitchen.  What, in reality was only a few moments seemed like the longest month of my life.    No one bid on me.  Not one person.  The silence was deafening.  Has they already spent all their money?  Yes, that HAD to be it.  I mean, the valedictorian got $200.00, come on!  My friends started snickering, enjoying the moment a great deal in fact.  The horrified look on my face was the gasoline being tossed on a fire.  Soon enough the whole school was roaring in laughter at me.  It was "Carrie" all over again, without the pig's blood of course, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't rain fire down on the crowd and incinerate the taunts and taunters alike.  At that point, this was definitely the  worst moment of my entire life.  Worse than getting "pansted" at the pool by my aunt when I was 12 in front of the entire Carey clan.  Worse then when my mom found the picture of Christine Pernette which I had cut out of the 3rd grade class picture and decorated with hearts and "Xs and Os".  In fact I would gladly have relived every other time I had wanted to go be able and crawl in a hole and die a hundred times, to make this moment end. 

Then after forever, from somewhere in the back, a voice cried out, "$1000.00!"  Adageo VanMilligan had run around to every cell of bidding groups who had fallen short in their efforts, and convinced them to "donate" to the cause.  "$1000.00", he repeated, screaming now, in order to be heard above the laughter.  Seizing the opportunity, the auctioneer slammed down his gavel and yelled, "SOLD!" 

I often try to imagine what direction my life would have taken had Adageo not done what he had done.

Later on I learned that the guys on the hockey team had planned the crowd's silencing.  I don't know how they kept it from me and still got the message out to the other 1000 students, and staff, but I have to hand it to them.  They got me.  They got me good. 

Maybe creating a bidding war for myself is not the thing I really want to do after all?


;-)


Oh, and the free sex and beer, well tune in tomorrow for that tip.

Be careful what you take for granted, especially the little things

Of course we all know better than to take loved ones for granted, or weather, or reliability of your car when you are running late already.  In this day and age it is becoming more and more obvious that even taking your job and home for granted are no-nos.  Alas, I do not wish to comment about all that serious, life lesson stuff so much.  If you are taking your mother, or spouse or parents or kids for granted, shame on you, stop it right now!

There are a thousand obvious things not to take for granted that we can all list off without putting in too much thought.  There are more subtle things that you have to actually miss before realizing how precious they were.  These things may be in the beauty of nature around us, perhaps the way the sun casts a gorgeous glowing stripe across the water as it sets, or the way the Lilly of the Valley fills the air  with the sweetest of perfumes for the few days in May when they are in season.  We certainly cannot take our youth for granted.  Eventually everyone's skin sags and wrinkles, bones become more brittle and joints ache.  Unless you are Joan Rivers, and there is only one of her, I hope.  I think she has had every procedure known to man at this current time and has a team of doctors on payroll thinking up new ones!

 

SCARY!!!

OK, Joan seems to have a problem with growing older, but in my opinion, she looks more and more like demon-spawn than human these days.  I wonder how much Joan has spent on plastic surgery and Botox over the past millennium to "look this good?"

I guess I should get back on track here.  The things I want to speak about are things that I took for granted when I was younger.  This will probably spawn (thanks for the segue Joan) a few stand alone blog entries in the future, One of which will be the "Pizzas of Nova Scotia".  NYC and Chicago have NOTHING on the pies made in NS!  There are more than a few other products of Canada that I know I took for granted from the days of my youth in Nova Scotia.  These are things I make a bee line to go get when I am home visiting.

Sorry for the random preambles!   Here goes:

Who doesn't love chocolate?  Even dogs, who DIE if they eat it, can't stop themselves!  I am so tired of the INFERIOR offerings here in the USA, I can't remember the last time I bought a candy bar.  Truly, Canadian candy bars kick the living crap out of their American counterparts.  Here are some MUST tries for my Yankee friends when you find yourself traveling in the Great White North:

-Coffee Crisp is my all time fave.  A nice light snack, wafers, chocolate, and a wonderful layer of coffee flavored goodness.  There is nothing similar in the US, and nothing under heaven compares.

-Wunderbar is second best and delicious, and filling.  Chocolate, peanut butter and caramel with something crunchy which I have never been able to define really.

-Crunchie competes the trifecta of perfection in candy bars for me.  This is English sponge toffee with a layer of delicious chocolate, all of which will melt in your mouth.  This is also not comparable to ANYTHING in the US.

-Smarties are superior to M&Ms in every way, but they don't offer varieties like peanut or almond.  :(

-Caramilk (BEST COMMERCIALS EVER! google "caramilk commercials" and enjoy.  These are almost as good as the product itself)
The list goes on to include Oh Henry, Areo, Crispy Crunch, Mr. Big, Mars Bar, and Cadbury Fruit and Nut which is the only one i have been able to find in US grocery stores.
I guess I should be thankful for the fact that I don't have access to all of these all the time here in the US.  I am sure I would be 300lbs if I did!  You can get these treats here if you want to try a few varieties:   Canadian Chocolate Bars

Shreddies.  I know this isn't a complete sentence, but every maritime kid has eaten their share of Shreddies, probably so much that they grew sick of them at some point.  "Good Good Whole Wheat Shreddies."  I was at the border crossing a few years back, heading back to Maine after visiting my parents.  I had picked up about 15 boxes of Shreddies and they were in the hatch back of my car.  I was nervous that the guard would discover them and think I was starting an illegal importation operation.  In fact, until I discovered the Kashi line of cereals about 3 years ago, I missed Shreddies, almost as much as I missed Alexander Keith's Light beer!

Alexander Keith's Light can be added to my list for sure as well.  There is no "more drinkable" commercial beer  than this, anywhere, and it is only available in eastern Canada..  I actually have to thank this happenstance for developing my hobby of home brewing.  If I had been able to buy Keith's Light locally, I doubt I would ever have tried to brew my own ale at home, which I now enjoy a tremendous amount.

While I have seen and tried "Gyros" here in the US, they are really no substitute for the wonderful little creatures indigenous to the maritimes, known as donairs.  What is a donair?  Flat Bread, Lettuce, tomatoes, onions, carved smoked meat, and donair sauce, which made from milk, sugar and white vinegar.  There are many variations of this basic offering, but the secret is in the sauce.  How do you know a good donair from an average one?  I call it the three day test.  The BEST donairs will leave you with tasty burps for a long time after you push yourself away from the counter where you devoured it.  King of Donair  has several locations in Halifax/Dartmouth, and also in Bridgewater,  King of Donairs however, in Yarmouth may have stayed with me longer than any other donair I have ever had.  Three days was a breeze(literally).  Donairs are a regional treat not to be missed.
-Pictou County Pizza is as unique as anything you will find in Nova Scotia.  It is pizza, but what they have done with the sauce is simply divine.  It is brown, almost green, and has a complexity of flavors and sweetness and spices that makes this one of the best varieties of pizza I have EVER tried.  You can find purveyors of this delicious treat all over Nova Scotia, but it is best to make a drive to Stellarton and visit Sam's on South Foord Street.  No self proclaimed Pizza aficionado should miss this.
-My favorite pizza in the world, ever, bar none, is from a little place in Lunenburg called Big Red's Family Restaraunt, on Montague Street.  At one point there were Big Red's locations in Bridgewater, Mahone Bay, Chester and Western Shore.  I think the Chester location remains, but the best bet is to visit the original.  Why do I love Big Red's?  In part I have great childhood memories there.  In reality though, I have childhood memories all over Nova Scotia.  So, once again, it's the sauce.  It hits your tongue with a delicious sweetness as you chew your first bite, and just as you are about to swallow, you get a hint of heat rising to just the right amount.  The effect it has is amazing and makes it the best pizza ever, regardless of topping.

The last thing I am going lament is Crescent Beach.

 

Looks nice eh?

For the four days of summer Nova Scotia gets every year, there is really no place better?  Sure Risser's has a nice boardwalk and a nice snack shack offering ice cream, and Green Bay has much better parties at night, BUT Crescent Beach is open to vehicles!  Just watch out for the dogs(also allowed) and children, but otherwise, vroom-vroom!  Careful though, salt water with rust the under-workings of your car in a New York minute.

This is my longest blog so far, and the first time I have added photos, which is FUN, and although I could continue on, I should leave something for tomorrow.  By the way, IF you are reading this, why not sign up to follow me, at least click on the ads a few times.  So far I have made 3 cents with my clicks on the ads and they send checks monthly.  I'd at least like to be able to buy a pop with my earning every month!  Eh? 

Yum!?!

I have been introduced to a lot of new wonderful yummy food over the past two years.  I grew up with a pretty traditional diet for the area I lived in, consisting of meat, potatoes, pasta, and lots of stuff grown in our garden, raised in our barn, or caught in the nearby Atlantic Ocean.  My mom claims that she did not know the difference between a frying pan and a colander when she married my dad, but by the time I happened along, she had it nailed pretty good.  While we didn't have many of the finer things growing up, we never went hungry, even if it did mean peanut buttered toast as the main entree occasionally.  My mom was particularly good at making Tuna Loaf, Meat Loaf, and made a damn good home made brown bread, and her scalloped potato dish, I still crave from time to often. I think i am still trying to burn off calories from her divine Whoopie Pie  and gingerbread recipes.  Mom put a lot of love in her cooking and I wish I could give her a HUGE hug to thank her for all the hard work right now.

Occasionally, I would eat at friend's homes.  I generally never remember being overwhelmed with anything any better than what I was eating at home.  There was Mrs. Sawatsky's spiral honey ham however, which I remember very fondly and my grandmother Aucoin's meatloaf may have been a bit better than mom's, but barely if at all.  I have to give props:  I had a very talented mom when it came to whipping up dinner.

Well, I moved to Princeton, NJ last April, and brought along my maritime palette.   I never really thought that I was missing out on much, I mean I never had any problem finding food I liked to eat.  I had my own adaption of mom's greatest hits, I had my gourmet Kraft Dinner (add 2 sliced fried hot dogs, and ketchup instead of butter, or just add a can of solid white tuna to the box recipe- TRY THEM !). I actually make the BEST spaghetti  sauce ever made by anyone in the world, so I was doing OK.  I might pick up a loaf of artisan bread from time to time, some cold cuts, and salad bags, and I thought I was living pretty good.  Ignorance, as they say, is bliss.

Since moving here, I have been exposed to the other side of the tracks however, more of a European fare.  Just last night, while cooking dinner, the extra virgin olive oil dripped empty, and I had to use plain old vegetable oil!  I was horrified!  Truth is, 24 months ago, I had NEVER used olive oil for anything besides a vinaigrette dressing!  I fried everything in vegetable oil.  I didn't really know any better.  Besides, vegetable oil was less than half the price of the cheapest extra virgin olive oil.  I should have learned the lesson a long time ago, I mean, I knew from how poorly the bargain toilet paper performed, and how icky no-name ketchup is, that sometimes, the finer things are worth a few extra bucks.  The proof is in the pudding! 

Olive oil is just the beginning.  The European way of cooking won me over very quickly!  From the simple schnitzel to the complex roasts to the much less sugary desserts, paint me impressed!  Roasted loin, both pork and beef.  raclette, fondue...  croque monsieur,  the list goes on every time I try something new.  For New Years Eve, we have planned a menu with my very first crown roast as the centerpiece.  I plan to take a picture of it an share it here! 

I have learned to make as much of this stuff as I can on my own, and I will continue to soak up the knowledge as fast as I can.  I always thought myself quite limber in the kitchen, but recently I have been able to add what are now some of my all time favorite dishes to my repertoire.  

So is there a lesson to learn in this?  I was happy with my eyes closed.  There is nothing wrong with that
I suppose.  Many live their whole life this way, and are truly happy.  I would recommend that we keep an open mind, or palette, in this case.  You never know what may tickle your fancy.   

Things I have learned this past year.

Regardless of whether I viewed the page 85 or 99 times myself even, my blog has reached 100 page views!

And I thought that it would be tough to get my readership built up!

Today I don't really have anything specific on my mind to write about, but I thought I might take a little time and share a few lessons I have learned, or re-learned in the past year.  The past 12 months have been a whirlwind of sorts to say the least, but a process which has taught me much about life.  If you think you know it all by 30, you are in for a surprise!  I am officially 40 years, two months and 3 days old now.  The biggest thing I learned in this past year, is that I still don't know squat.  I don't know squat about life, my friends, my career, and most of all, I don't know squat about myself!  So, here goes, in no particular order of importance or anything.

-My family is awesome and I regret deeply that I live so far away from them. 
-I still love hockey just as much as I did when i was in Pee Wee and before, even if I can't play all the time anymore.
-I am far more domestic than I ever thought possible.
-Some people lie, even when it doesn't really advantage them in any way to do so.
-Some people will truly give the shirts off their back to anyone in need at any time.
-People are generally good, and will forgive, except for those who lie for no reason, they are not to be trusted.
-There is nothing greater in all the world than to be looked upon with the adoring eyes of a child.
-There is a God.  He is as big as we will let Him be.
-Having nothing makes you appreciate the things that you should appreciate, even when you have everything.
-Money is nice to have, but it is also dangerous to have if you lack a clear direction and purpose in your life.
-Being employed in a real, genuine job is just frickin awesome!
-Hard work, either on the job or at play, makes me feel great about myself and helps me sleep at night.
-There is no better time of day to be awake that just before dawn.
-Pro athletes make FAR too much money.  Why? No one ever promised athletes that they didn't have to work after their careers ended.  (This will be a feature post in the near future, watch for it!)
-Painting is amazing food for the soul.
-Xbox 360 Kinect may be the single most amazing piece of home technology since the flush toilet.
-Life is the greatest gift we could ever receive.
-It is OK to admire men, but don't forget that even the men you admire are merely men.
-Having a small, 6 inch by 8 inch gadget that allows one to carry around 15000 books at once might even be more amazing that the Xbox 360.  
-Love is the salt of existence. 

Some of these truths I learned the easy way.  Some of them I learned the hard way.  Do you have anything you would like to add?  Have you had a realization or two you would like to share?  I dare someone to leave me my first comment!  I dare someone to share as I have!  Take a few moments during the week between Christmas and the week between New Year's to reflect on your past year.  Are you happy where you are?  Are you en route to happiness if you aren't?  I hope you answered yes to one of those questions.  If you didn't take more than a few moments and ask yourself why.

A Day Late? F U mother nature!

Mother nature was a day late, or maybe two!  Yesterday afternoon, central NJ got blanketed in about a foot of snow that Santa could most certainly have used to his advantage just one day prior.  There is something about snow and Christmas that seems right.  I say this, but I must preface by adding, I am not a snow person by any means.  I grew up playing hockey, so the cold doesn't really bother me all that badly, but the snow..  Grrrr.  I guess my disdain for it began when  I spent my college years in Victoria's Corner, New Brunswick, Canada.  Annually we would see snowfall that exceeded 12-15 feet, or 3-4 meters for my Canadian and European friends.  That amounts to about 20 one foot snowfalls during the winter months.  It would start in late November and not end until March.  I can remember being on "Snow Detail" one winter.  At New Brunswick Bible Institute, students had to perform "Gratis" as part of the course of study.  It basically was a way for the school to get free labor for all the menial tasks around the campus, like washing dishes, milking the cows, general maintenance, basic custodial, waitstaff in the dining room, and the list goes on.  The school claimed it went a long way to keeping costs of tuition down, which was great for me as I had to pay my own way through college, so I gladly pitched in.  There were some "elite" Gratis jobs, like Audio/Visual, or Yearbook, but 90% of it was down and dirty manual labor on some level.  Being on work crew meant you got to rake leaves in the fall, weed gardens in the spring, and SHOVEL SNOW all winter long.  A winter semester on work crew would see you shovel about 4 times the snow that most people in the world shovel in their lifetime.  On really bad storms, we would pull guys off other Gratis's and arm them with a shovel too!  It got pretty bad at times.  Storms would last for 3 days, even longer, and the shoveling was endless.  I was blessed in my time there with what I considered to be pretty good Gratis postings.  I had custodial  one semester, vacuuming the main office another, dish washing a couple of semesters.  I had clean up in the dairy barn after the milkers were finished, and one semester of dorm bathrooms which was probably was probably my least favorite post, but even that was warm and inside. I thought as I was entering my final year that I would escape the dreaded "Work Crew" post altogether.  Winter semester saw me placed on dairy clean up for the second time.  Two weeks into it, however, I was informed that I was being pulled from dairy and placed on work crew.  One of the guys on work crew had hurt his shoulder and could no longer meet the demands of tossing New Brunswick snow off the sidewalks, porches and doorsteps of the campus.  He was going to take over dairy clean up and I was going to hold down his spot and carry his shovel for the remainder of the semester.  It took me about 3 minutes of shoveling in that first snowstorm to decide I would hate snow for the rest of my life. 

Fast forward to my first home ownership experience.  I decide to buy a house in Sabattus, ME.  Great place really, lots of yard for the dogs, beautiful pond in the back to go for a swim in, wood lined lot with direct access to great hiking, mountain biking and running trails in the Summer and Fall.  In the winter is snowed.  Of the four winters I lived there, I went through dozens of belts on my snow blower.  I actually went through two snow blowers, had to get the driveway paved in order to better deal with the snow, and had a hell of a time keeping up with the endless string of winter storm after winter storm.  It wasn't quite as bad as it was in New Brunswick, but in NB, there was a team of 20-30 guys in their physical prime tackling the job.  In Sabattus, it was me.  And if the Snow blower crapped out, it was a hell of a job to get through the snow at the end of the driveway, that was constantly piled up by the passing plows.  Last time I went to the doctor for a check up he told me I was in excellent health:  great blood pressure, great cholesterol levels, maybe a few lbs over where he would like to see me, but overall excellent, except for one thing: that I had the back of a 70 year old man.   I thank the Maine Department of Transportation for that.

So this storm kind has me a bit ticked off at mother nature.  Funny gal she is eh?  I decided a long time ago that I hate snow, in any amount.  Apologies to the ski and sled enthusiasts, but I just don't need the hassle.  I drive a lot for work, I enjoy walking and jogging on the sidewalks and in the woods, Snow makes all of these difficult.  So I hate snow. Except for Christmas.  On Christmas, snow adds to the wonderful magic of the season.  The rest of the year, screw off.  I have found a solution though to much of my problem.  As I sit and write this in front of a warm fire sipping mid morning coffee, 10 Hispanic men (I mean nothing by that by the way, its just the truth) are out shoveling my driveway and walk way and clearing the sidewalk in the neighborhood.  I will thank them when they are finished. 

Presents and Pucks! What a wonderful time of year

I was very fortunate to grow up in Canada.  I loved hockey, so it just fit.  I am not sure if I loved hockey BECAUSE I grew up in Canada, or if my love was a product of my environment.  It doesn't matter either way to me really, I am just thankful for all the joy that loving hockey has provided for me from the first time I strapped on a pair or skates and chased the puck down the ice, right up until this afternoon when I plan to brew a nice pot of peppermint tea and tune into the IIHF U20 Tournament, more commonly known as the World Junior Hockey Championships.  Thank God for cable TV by the way! 

Growing up Canadian was wonderful for many reasons, most of which I won't get into, you have to experience it to understand.  Christmas is a wonderful tie of year, no matter what country you call home, but in Canada, as soon as the gifts are unwrapped and played with, and put on the shelf so the house isn't a mess when company comes over, they have Boxing Day, which rivals Black Friday as a shopping day with amazing sales and huge crowds, and when you grown up in a small town, you make a point of heading to gatherings like this.  The Malls would be bustling, the shops a buzz, I always told my parents we should delay Christmas at our house until the 27th, so the dollar could stretch further by taking advantage of the Boxing Day sale.  You could get Christmas ornaments for a song, popular Christmas toys half off, there was always a great deal at all the restaurants in town.  It was as Canadian as toques and beer.  Boxing day was extra special to the hockey fan.  This is the day that our countries future heroes started the pursuit of the Gold Medal at the IIHF U20 Tournament.  In Canada, this is bigger than March Madness, bigger that the World Cup, and if Canada made it to the finals, the TV ratings would make Americans seem disinterested in the Superbowl by comparison.  This is an entire country united by the purest form of sport.  Amateurs playing for national pride, and maybe a little bit to increase their draft position, but rarely do you see selfish play by the Canadian squad at the World Jr's.  Rarely do you ever hear a coach in a press conference after a game say, "We lacked emotion."   How refreshing it that?  In a world where so many athletes play for "me first" seeing a group of young men, unpaid, and giving it every ounce to bring glory back to the great country of Canada, to me is the purest form of sport remaining in this day and age.  If you haven't ever had the pleasure of watching this tournament, you would be doing yourself a favor by tuning in.  The NHL network now covers it in the US, and TSN in Canada.  You can also watch the games streamed online for free through the IIHF website.

Now that Christmas has passed, do yourself a favor today.  If you are living in Canada, go take advantage of the amazing sales at Zellers today, and no matter where you live, tune in to the World Juniors as they kick off the 2011 Tournament.  Today's schedule in Eastern Standard Time:

Sun, Dec. 26	1	12:30 A			Germany	vs.		Switzerland
Sun, Dec. 26	2	16:00 B			Russia	vs.		Canada
Sun, Dec. 26	3	16:00 B			Norway	vs.		Sweden
Sun, Dec. 26	4	20:00 A			Finland	vs.		USA

Merry Christmas

Well, here is my first blog post.  I am sure it won't be my last!

Christmas day, 2010.  I got a great gift from a very special person.  I am so excited about it too!  You remember when you were a kid and your mom and dad had you make a list for a letter to Santa.  Well, now we know that they used that list to find out what you wanted.  My parents handed us the Sears catalog and said, list out your items.  That was our trip to the Mall.  The catalog would come in October sometime and we would wear the print off the toy pages.  As is I got a little older I used to peek at the ladies in their skanties too, but that is another story for another time.

Well the lists would get made, my brother's always had half the things I put on mine, and just about every year, he would get something from the part of his list that he copied from me.  It ticked me off every time, but it was a small price to pay for being the oldest child.  The thing is, rarely did I ever get a gift that wasn't on my list.  Rarely, did I open a gift and had genuine surprise wash over me.  I mean, I loved getting what I asked for, but there is something to be said for the element of surprise.

Today, the gift I got, blew me away.  In fact, I should not have been surprised by the surprise, as I have been received amazing gifts for two birthdays and now for two Christmases from this person.  But I opened the gift, and had no clue, no idea, not even an inkling what it would be.  She had asked me a few times what I wanted, but I just really could not come up with anything that I could get excited about.  I mean, I want an XBOX 360 Kinect.  But at 40 years old, I can't ADMIT that to anyone!!  I need underwear, but not really applicable either for this person.  Well, I have to say, that she outdid herself again.

I had gone a few years without LOVING Christmas.  I haven't been with family, don't have kids, so to me it was a nice day off work, with a few presents, and a chance to watch a few movies.  Since being surprised with the gifts i have been receiving, I have had a blast on both Christmas and my birthdays!

Surprise is great!  It has made me a kid again!
So what did I get?  Not telling!  But i will use it everyday, for many many years!