My blog n'at

I have to admit that this has been the most life changing year of my life. Some good, some bad and some mind blowing kickass. Here’s a quick recap as I reflect before tonight’s festivities start. I’m splitting this up into 2 sections because lets be honest, no one will scroll through 12 months.

January
Reflected on the first beer I EVER drank and yes, I kept the bottle. Prepare for the end of my 10+ year employment at ForeSystems/Marconi/Ericsson. Bitched about the weather and yinzers inability to drive in snow plus dumb ass snow removal by my neighbors. Both of those still hold true today. Got ready for an unbelievable run to the Super Bowl

February
Steelers won the Super Bowl and became the first ever 6 time champ thus giving every knock off t-shirt maker starry eyes at the potential of “6 pack” shirts. Punxy Phil said 6 more weeks of winter. I was officially laid off, was interviewed for a Post Gazette story on unemployment moments after i was laid off (that never was published), Pens started to turn it around and the biggest shock of them all… Teaspoon arrived 2 months early making me the happiest and most terrified dad. Came in at 4.1lb, dropped to 3.2lb and would leave at 5 in March.

March
It was the month of Teaspoon. Lushie and I spent every minute we could at the Mercy NICU while he got healthy in an incubator. 28 days later he came home. Also witnessed the stupidity of some Hill District parents who think its a hotel in there and the joke that is unemployment system in PA.

April
Went to my first ever Rugby match and got addicted to watching Claire and the girls kick ass. Missed my first opening day of Pirates baseball since 1984 (watched it on TV with Teaspoon and started a new tradition with my boy). Bought a Wii. Enjoyed the greatest comeback in Pens Playoff hockey that I have witnessed as the Pens turned the series around with 1 fight and the Max Talbot shhhhhhh! Saw Beer Wars the Movie with hundreds of other craft beer fans around the world and baked an incredible beer ham for Easter.

May
Should I Drink That turned 3. Pens defeated Washington and Carolina to earn a second trip to the Stanley Cup Finals for a 2nd year. Bought a Blackberry. Joined Sadie’s Soldiers and took some Great Strides. KDKA reads my “tweet of the day” which I WISH they would bring back. The great personalized jersey debate. Meatshield welcomed his first child (i swear it was the year for kids to be born) and we had a cookout with some family. Bowling league ended and we were the undisputed champs.

June
Teaspoon’s first trip to the ER. Coming out of golf retirement after 3.5 year for a day with Yinz Teamer’s Woy, Lokay and Shireman at Cranberry Highlands. The Clarks release Restless Days after 5 years. Pens win the Stanley Cup in 7 games vs Detroit. Pittsburgh floods… again. Unemployed Utensil makes his first appearance as a way to help me get through not working. My first Father’s day and Pirates waste of talent Ian Snell cant take negative people.

up next… July through December.

The last act of Ericsson was to send out a bonus check to those of us laid off folks (go ahead and make jokes, I haven’t stopped about the irony). With that Lushie said that I need to do something for myself with a part of it so I bought us a Wii and Wii fit. Scratch that, Teaspoon got a Wii and Wii Fit for Easter. Love that bunny!

I’ve been dwelling on which gaming unit to purchase for years and what it came down to was honestly the Wii Fit. I was hesitant at first but last night after breaking it in I love the little sucker. PittGirl had named her trainer and I’m still trying to decide if I like the male or female trainer. It’ll probably come down to who I talk back to more. Since Teaspoon was born I’ve dropped 20lbs so I figure that this is more motivation to keep going. Plus I was finally able to get Lushie to play a video game that wasn’t Pac Man

As for the other games we stuck with what came with the gaming unit and extra controller. Hands down bowling is my favorite and I can see this as a huge hit at parties. It has consumed me into a Wii lifestyle. Next up on my shopping list (probably this weekend) is NHL 2K9, Tiger Woods and Punch Out! . I need to earn/buy more points so I can get the web browser and see how SIDT looks on it. Also a big fan of the weather channel. What appeals to me most is that its not graphic intensive as a PS3 or XBOX 360. It’s simple and entertaining. Granted I’d love to play some hockey with rockin graphics but for the price this more than fills my needs.

I also picked up Mario Kart which I really suck at and need practice. Wanna race and kick the snot out of a noob? Send me your Kart code thinger to add as a friend via my contact form. Can you tell I’m still trying to get use to this?

All of you Wii owners out there, what else should I look at buying/playing? What are some MUST HAVE accessories? What is online playing like and what info do I need when wanting to play someone?

cheers!

Oh, here are my 3 top bowling scores last night. If there is an online league I’m SO in!

(photo by Rob de la Cretaz)

I’ve been slacking on my blogging duties this past week but with the holidays and job hunting… yeah I know, I’m making excuses. It’s been more motivation than anything. So here’s what happened since the last post.

Thursday
Went to my brother’s house for Thanksgiving only he and his boys weren’t there. They drove down to Duke to watch the slaughter of Duquesne basketball. Instead we spent it with my Mom (who came down), my sister in law and my niece who was home from college. The meal was nice, the wine flowed and the conversations were decent.

Friday
My Black Friday experience is coming up in the next post. Yes, there was that much drama.  Moving on… Friday night was spent with bowling, beer and buds at Lokay Lanes. Showing off their mad bowling skills along with myself were Woy, the Other White Jim, tehjim, T-ray, Fu, Claire and Justin. I was a train wreck on the lanes but no one noticed as the 103 liter beer dispenser kept everyone occupied. OK maybe a couple of refills on it. I did learn that Brunswick apparently has a music video channel of songs we never knew were made into video. I will be back to dominate.

Saturday
I love that picture above and to fully appreciate it you had to be there. It’s from the Yinz Team Turkey Bowl. I’m in the Steelers jersey, tehjim is to my left and in front of us is mini-bling. The game was Frackle (Flag/Tackle football) and this was at the point where the rush count was replaced by a line. Myself and tehjim being the line. Yes I am laughing, as you see mini-bling is only 12 and much smaller than us. Each play he got destroyed but still rose back up looking for more pain. Kinda like being a Pirates fan for the last 16 years. I wish there was video because seeing 2 grown men swat a kid down like a fly is quite comical. Our team won 6 to something. I had a TD and a sack.

Turkey Bowl Photos: Jennie’s album | Rob’s album

Saturday night was more bowling but with my league and I did better than the previous night. Lushie taunted me and I took it. Seriously, you don’t mess with a pregnant wife. You drink your beer and bowl.

Sunday
Drove mom home and made it back to Pittsburgh in a total trip of less than 4 hours so I could catch the Steelers game.  Erie had a foot of snow and Pittsburgh not even a dusting. You think I’m glad i moved?

I couldn’t resist that picture. Lushie took it while on our way to visit her family last weekend in central PA. That’s right, an Amish buggy on a flatbed and that guy walking would be the Amish guy.

So here we have it, the last day of 2007. I’m at work for a few hours today fixing a couple of things and decided this would probably be the only time today I could write. I plan on a Hendrick’s martini haze come this evening. This past year wasn’t too bad. We found a new place to live, we have our health, had the one year anniversary of my dad’s passing which was rough, went back to school and finished the year as a A student, watched the Pens finally make the playoffs, welcomed some new babies into the family, podcast soared to whole new levels with downloads and publicity, made some great friends through Podcamp Pittsburgh and took on new responsibilities and title at work. So yeah, it was a good year.

When I started to think of what 2008 will bring my wife was quick to remind me that in 08 it will be 13 years since we met in college, 10 years since I moved to Pittsburgh and 3 years since we got married. The college thing amazes me because I remember feeding Griff’s plant with Killian’s Red for a whole semester like it was yesterday (It finally died when he gave it water).

Hrm so what to look forward to… I guess I can spill the beans on some here. Some are tentative but if they pan out will be a damn good time.

Podcast
An overhaul of SIDT website along with hardware/software upgrades and new gear. Studio B will be finished. You will see us on national cable TV and also a quarterly beer article in a new publication. We have road trips lined up with breweries, live recordings scheduled and of course hella more promotions we’re throwing together. We also will be doing our part to promote Pittsburgh as the best friggin place to go for all your new media needs. We’re not going to change the way we do the show but after 30 episodes we have set some goals for what we want to accomplish next. I want to WIN the Podcast Award this year and not just be a finalist!

Food and Drink
I’m going to start home brewing. As I’ve been told, it’s addicting and worth it more than I can imagine. I’m sure I won’t have a hard time finding people to sample. I’ll be cooking more now (with beer) since the arrival of our new toy. I’m still perfecting my BBQ sauce from scratch and plan on attending a couple cook offs. Phil, Grace and the Big Foamy Head guys have all been a great inspiration for me to do more.

Personal
Work will have me busy in 08 as will keeping up my “A” average at school. This year I’ll get deeper into Interactive Media so I’m very psyched for it. Yeah, me excited for school. I want to get more involved with some of the new groups and people I’ve met over the last year or so to promote new media and this city.  Heh, that’s why I love Podcamp so much. Well, when I’m not being hit in the chest.  I have a goal for a healthy lifestyle that Lushie and I have been working on organizing the last couple of weeks.  I know it’s cliché to start on 1/1 of the year so I’m starting on 1/2   Nick and Tara are expecting their 2nd child in Feb so Bella will have a brother to play with. Lushie and I will be traveling more than we have in the past so the Burgh doesn’t dive her completely nuts this summer. I’ll finish moving superunknown content over and do more with this site to market myself.

There you go for now. Now I’d like to know, what are some of your plans for 08?

cheers!

FINALLY I can get back to blogging and enough has happened this past week I have enough to say for the next 2 weeks easy. Lucky you eh?

Finals and my first year back at college wrapped up on Saturday night. Not sure of my overall GPA yet but I didn’t finish lower than 85 in any class so I’m pretty psyched for next year. The color theory class I just finished up kicked my ass but I pulled out a B.

For the first time ever, well besides my honeymoon, I’m taking a vacation from work that’s more than a 4 day weekend. 2.5 weeks to be exact starting tomorrow. Am I going anywhere? hell no. Well I may road trip but for the most part it’s so I can chill, get caught up on Studio B, visit some friends, drink good beer, eat many meals at Fat Heads, bowl some frames, watch hockey until my eyes bleed, work on concoctions in the kitchen and maybe write. I may record a couple voice overs but nothing is planned for SIDT.

I like to call it a “me” vacation. Now I’m sure that my wife will have plans for me and that’s fine but unless it’s meeting up for happy hour don’t expect me to be around (Well of course unless you want an interview). If I say no don’t take it personally

I wonder what ever happened to DTiP anyways?

That image sums up the last 4 days for me which is why I haven’t been online much.  No idea where it came from but I’m sure global warming had something to do with it (ha). Could just be my body’s way of saying “we know a vacation is coming up, get ready to unplug”  or I’m just tired and overwhelmed. 5 days left of class for this year with a final on Saturday. End of year projects closing up.  People who can’t do their jobs right leading to a very disgruntled utensil.

Plus side to this past weekend though was that I bowled a 104-166-185 (in that order) for my first +450 average of the season. First game I was off balanced from my headache but once those meds kicked in I was a machine. Final game I didn’t mark in only one frame and between the last 2 I went on a tear of 7 strikes in 8 frames. It could have been the fact that I drank Mountain Dew all night and not beer which is ironic since it’s rare for me to drink anything with caffeine in it.

That would be sickpuppy with Charlie “Chunky Love” Godart from TV fame, soon to be movie fame and also the head of the Pittsburgh Black & Gold Cheerleaders. Today we were “honorary cheerleaders” so we could promote our radio show and mingle with Yinzer Nation. Anyone else hear us on WDVE and stop on over to the KISS FM tent?  Once we get the pictures/videos off the camera I ‘ll post a recap of the day.

The database for my blog was screwed this weekend. Yesterday’s post that I uploaded before I left for bowling (went 113-141-148 last night) just now posted but since I had it uploaded the time stamp was there so I’m still going NaBloPoMo strong.

I love Sunday nights because it gives me time to read the paper, get caught up on emails and tonight watch every episode of Next Iron Chef. We’re usually addicted to any cooking show no matter how bad it is. The highlight thus far was watching these chefs not only freak out about having to cook on a grill but also fail to manage the fire. I look like a rockstar up against this episode. Now in a kitchen I’m sure they’d kick my ass but on a grill I’d spank them. That reminds me, Lushie has found the missing ingredient for one of her Build a Better Burger burger and a way to make it insanely healthier.

Bowling league started last night and hopefully i can keep up the pace. I’ve always been an average bowler.  I don’t put spin or anything fancy on it, I just throw the ball.  I have aim and know the arrows but that’s it.  Last night I rolled 151 / 131 /161 and we won 2 of the 3 games.  It got me thinking about actually getting a decent ball and learning more about the sport. Originally we went to hang out with friends since this is usually the night that we all have some free time. We have plenty of very talented bowlers in our league that I’m sure would be able to help me out.  I should also have pictures from our banquet in the next couple weeks.

Speaking of pictures, The Steel City Big Pour was a HUGE success yesterday.  I should have pictures/videos and a review in the next day or so.  Not only was it huge for the community but my podcast was given a HUGE boost.  We’ll be in print the first week of October. Details to follow…