My blog n'at

July
Began the month with recording at the BeerDependence Day celebration at Bocktown. Attended the Penguins Stanley Cup DVD Release Party. Started a contracting job at EDMC that would become the longest month of my life and that’s all I’m going to say. Enjoyed my first ever bowl of Pho. Rocked the Beer on the Bay festival in Erie which the videos are epic and may never be released. End the month being interviewed by KDKA for the Craft Beer Summit.

August
Won a 2009 Mustang! Bees invade our bathroom (landlord still has yet to remove the dead bodies). I got a full-time job in social media/web dev that has turned out to be freaking cool plus I’m on a rockstar team. Threatened Lushie with divorce after she gets rid of the Back to the Future marathon channels.

September
Attended “Best of the Burgh” at the Warhol with sickpuppy, PittGirl, Woy and Rachel. Go big time and hosted Beer School at the Cabaret downtown to a sold out crowd. Teaspoon hits 17lbs.

October
Hosted 2 sessions at Podcamp Pittsburgh 4. Should I Drink That passed 500,000 download mark. Pens start defending the Stanley Cup. Revised Google Maps errors. Celebrate 4 years of marriage with Lushie. Lay the smackdown on poor fact checking by the Post gazette about Erie. Teaspoon goes pumpkin farming.

November
I blogged the whole month. Seriously. Bought a X-box. Teaspoon’s first Thanksgiving. Wonders of fatherhood and a kid who grows like a weed. Craft Beer Dinner with Lew Bryson, Education on the Pittsburgh Potty. Making your own Bacon. BEER AT GIANT EAGLE! Yinz Bowl 2.o

December
Still living it for 5 more hours. Remembering dad on his anniversary. Hosted a Christmas beer sampling at Bocktown. Saw KISS in concert. Teaspoon’s first Christmas. Finished the school year with a 3.65GPA. SNOW!

So what do I have to look forward to in 2010?  Come back tomorrow and find out!

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.

click here for the full gallery

Unfortunately Teaspoon will never see a Pens game at the Mellon Arena, since this the last season before moving to the Consol Energy Arena across the street, so I was psyched to get him down there for season ticket holder family picture night.

Teaspoon was in awe. First it was the lights and banners, then it was the ice when I gave him his first skate and finally going in between the pipes like daddy used to. The real test came when he sat down for a chat with Iceburgh. In his mind he was probably thinking “whoa a big toy”!

The night was incredible and some of these pictures will be used for our first family Christmas card. I’m glad that the Pens have given us this chance to hang out at the arena on a non-game day. I know he won’t remember any of this and someday when he’s looking back in the archives of this site he can see the proof that he was there.

I’m looking forward to the day when I can share more hockey with my boy.

This is in reply to a piece that Jessica Isner wrote titled “Top 10 Reasons Boston Will Dethrone Pittsburgh as Best Sports City in 2010“. Lets address each of her claims as to why Boston will win.

10. Pittsburgh has no MLS team and no NBA team.
Didn’t realize people actually followed MLS and NBA teams still. That’s SO 90’s. We’ve been too busy to notice down here, you know, winning hockey and football titles. Honestly, if not for ESPN would anyone even know the NBA was around? My bet is that if you throw a bunch of “pro” teams at a city eventually one of them will win.

9. The Penguins may be better than the Bruins, but…
But nothing. Penguins are 5-1, Bruins are  2-3.  No Stanley Cup since 1971-72? Wow that’s almost as pathetic as Toronto. suck it.

8. The Charles River trumps all three rivers in Pittsburgh.
Here’s the part that kills me, “The Charles has history, collegiate regattas and celebrity fans.”. Darlin, you may want to check out the Three Rivers Regatta and Head of the Ohio. Since you’re up on history I’m assuming you know about Fort Pitt? right? What a joke. Did you even fact check?

7. Pittsburgh doesn’t have cool celebrity fans.
What does this have to do with best Sports City? Oh well I’ll humor it. If you could fill your seats on your own you wouldn’t need celebs. That’s why we have waiting lists to get into our games.

6. Sam Adams > Iron City.
Iron City? Really? I like Sam and all but I think you need to have a few beers from East End Brewing. You’ll find the emerging craft beer scene here quite impressive. Take off the beer goggles.

5. Boston is a college hockey utopia.
Granted you have a GREAT hockey program up there but you should check your facts. True that Pitt doesn’t have a  Div 1 hockey team but Robert Morris does and look at the score sheet of the last time they played.

4. After much debate, it’s true: BC football is better than Pitt football.
Debate with whom? the mailroom guy?

3. Fan devotion
Steeler Nation would destroy you and Penguins fans would trample your weak and hurdle your dead Bruins fans. no contest.

2. Speaking of the Patriots and the Steelers …
Yeah speaking of, I forget, which city does your football team play in again? Ours is actually IN Pittsburgh so I was just curious.

1. This is a baseball country, and — shocker — the Pirates just don’t cut it.
Its whatever country you want it to be when you’re trying to grasp for hope. Pirates have lost for 17 straight years and the only person this seems like news to is you. Seriously, we don’t even notice anymore.

5 hours. That was the wait to get your picture with the Stanley Cup today if you are a ticket holder. I had every intention of waiting in like with Teaspoon but when I arrived and the line was reaching the Marriott I knew it wasn’t going to happen.

The problem was that it was a “suggested” time and not a hard time so anyone scheduled on Saturday could show up. I called on Friday to double check my time and was told ‘Well really you can show up whenever. Its just a suggested time to help move things along.” Know what happens when you give options like that, knuckleheads muck it up. You now how many fans you have coming based on the tickets you sent out, so give them a time to be there and if you can’t make that window, oh well. Yeah it’s harsh but so is waiting 5 freaking hours. CYS would have arrested me if I stood there with 7mo old Teaspoon that long.

This wasn’t the only problem over the last 24 hours for the celebration for me. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m 110% in support of the Pens but some things last night at the game chapped my ass.

1) No forks – Pizza Hut stand in E Balcony North informed me as they handed me a heaping serving of Monster Chicken Nachos that they no longer offer forks. I thought it was a joke at first but the workers informed me that they were no longer provided forks. People, this is a pile of acid reflux hell that gets the chips all soft from the cheese plus its piled high with chicken. YOU NEED A FORK! I thank the ladies for running to find me a fork but whomever runs that stand needs to get their heads out of someone’s ass.

2) No Banner – Probably the sweetest thing I have ever received as a giveaway came last night in the form of a mini-version of the banner that was raised last night. Right away I thought this would be a great addition to Teaspoon’s room. Midway through the 2nd period I realized that my banner was gone. I leaned it against the railing in front of me (in F balcony the railing goes to the floor) along with my program. Some magic being came down and took it. I asked the guys in front of me and they claimed they only had their banner. The woman next to me said she didn’t have it. Well someone does and it isn’t me. If you took it on purpose, you suck and I hope you headbutt a train.

3) Soggy Program – to highlight the night my program was ruined. The lady who sat next to me arrived and threw down soaking wet sweatshirts on top of my program. It wasn’t until I looked for my banner that I realized what she did. All she could say was “well they were wet.”

So in the last 24 hours I had forkless nachos, a soggy program, a banner stolen and unable to see the Stanley Cup.

Never fear the FAIL, I have the WIN coming up next. Pulling the video off my camera now!

HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY! HOCKEY!

Looks weird when its repeated over and over again eh? You know you wanna spell check it.

I wish I could properly express how freaking psyched I am for tonight. Not only is it the home opener but its the raising of the Stanley Cup Champions banner and the start of the final season at the Mellon Arena. Oh yeah, and there will be fireworks!

The home opener is the one game I get to when the gates open. I like to get in early so I can walk around without much obstruction, walk through Pens Station so I can shop without elbows to the back from a crazy yinzer rushing to get that Crosby jersey that’s been hanging since last year, and I get a chance to sit in my seat and absorb the moment… Stanley Cup Champions.  Its like the calm before the storm.

I find it hard to hate the Rangers this year. Jagr isn’t gone. Straka is gone. Avery is there but that’s not even an effort anymore since he writes his own jokes. I guess Rozsival or Prospal could be whipping boys but they’ll have to stop skating into the boards like Happy Gilmore. This leaves the hack thug Brashear. Honestly I’m expecting Avery and Brashear to beat the tar out of each other. Knuckleheads do that.

Game starts at 7:30, gates open at 6. Game is sold out so if you don’t have tickets sit on the lawn and bring an umbrella or as Yinz Team would tell you, “bring a fucking towel”.

Final score: Pens 4 – Rangers 1

From pittsburghpenguins.com
Each 14 karat white and yellow gold ring contains 167 diamonds, totaling approximately 4.50 carats of diamonds and averaging approximately 100 grams of gold. The top of the ring is crowned with a custom-cut black onyx imbedded with a 1.3 carat pear-shaped diamond to create the Penguins logo. The logo is placed on an image of the Stanley Cup, which is sitting on a bed of round diamonds replicating the arena and ice surface.

The ring is further adorned with 12 princess-cut diamonds on each side of the shanks. The title “Stanley Cup Champions” is written along the ring’s left and right outer rim/bezel. The left side of the ring features the player’s name and number as well as a list of the team four playoff series victories. The right side of the ring has the year 2009 split with three Stanley Cups, adorned in diamonds. The two outer Stanley Cups are inscribed on top with 91 and 92, paying homage to the Penguins’ two previous championships.

Holy freaking ring! When Sid was on the news showing the media his new ring you’d think that it weighed more than the cup. What I think is an ironic twist is that the Steelers, who are more “yo yo yo lookit my bling yo! its the shizzle dawg!” have a smaller ring than a group of guys who are most likely to put it on a shelf in their house and be “yeah that’s cool… but I drank from the cup!”.

Ahhh hockey season is less than 72 hours away.

What a beautiful world…

Monday night I was at the Penguins DVD Release Party with Bobby, Jimmy and my new Twitter BFF Laynie. First off seeing the Stanley Cup was amazing. I always get a chill when I see the Cup in person because I know it’s not something I get to do often. I’d love to get Teaspoon in the bowl but that’s a long shot.  The night was filled with fans lucky enough to win passes, local media and female heartthrobs Tyler Kennedy with his stick licking skills and Kris Letang and his sexy hair(ask @kdudders about that or any female pens fan). Red carpet treatment and 5 star seating.

The DVD was absolutely amazing. It was filled with tears, cheers and many jeers for Hossa. Plus it helped watching it on a screen the size of a house. I heard the DVD is almost impossible to keep in stock so do yourself a favor and pick yours up now.

I only took a few pics but you can see them on Flickr.

so git up and git git git down

What the bloody hell was that last night? Seriously NHL. Last night’s awards show was not only a suckubus but an insult to hockey fans. I wasn’t expecting the greatest and best awards show of all time but last night was more of “wtf is THIS?”.  It was the public access of awards shows. As I posted on twitter last night… “NHL Awards is on VS cuz not enough strippers for Fox, too french for ABC, too many big screens for NBC & CBS really wants you to see NCIS”

First off the awards. I think Ovechkin gets more credit than he deserves. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good player but when you have 528 shots and only record 110 points that shows to me that you’re a spaz who can’t pass.  If Happy Gilmore had that many shots he would score too. Meanwhile Evgeni Malkin has 112 points on 290 shots and lead his team from a 10th seed on 2/5 to the 4th seed less than 2 months later. Do the math. That is the sign of Most Valuable Player. Someone was snubbed as MVP. I know the award doesn’t have to do with playoff performance but getting your team there does. Geno was all around a better player.

Secondly, someone new to the game has NO idea what these awards are about. A montage of the award and maybe a picture of it would help over a scaled down version and hack Hollywood presenters.

Now for the entertainment. Whomever hired Chaka Kahn should be shown the door. Not once but TWICE we had to put up with her bad American Idol performance. The look on the faces of the crowd explained it all as a collective “WTF” was shown.

Dear NHL, the RedWings and Pens gave you a gift with one of the highest rated cup finals of all time and you failed on capitalizing on the momentum. This isn’t a foo foo la la cute and cuddle me sport. Its fast paced, tough and gritty. It’s metal, not washed up 80’s pop. Fix it.

Who’s that dead sexy guy at the 1:45 mark? I think he’s also mentioned here in today’s Beaver County Times.

I arrived at Station Square shortly after 8am yesterday morning and met up with Stoosh on my way over. The weather couldn’t have been planned more perfect than sunny and temps in the high 70’s/low 80’s. Granted the parade didn’t start until 12pm we wanted to make sure that we had the perfect spot.

Here are some teasers from the day I took with my Nikon and Blackberry:

(click here for the full album on Flickr)

The Penguins displayed once again why they are a top notch organization. The parade was fantastic and players took time to walk along the fences thanking fans. An estimated 375,000 fans showed up for the parade which is roughly 25,000 more than for the Steelers bash in February. Anyone who thinks hockey is a dead sport or is a passing fad needs to spend some time in the City of Champions. For the first time in Professional Sports history a city has a Stanley Cup and Super Bowl Champion in the same year.

Following the parade I met up with Jim and Scott for after parade beverages and grub on the patio of  Palomino’s and then outside 1902 Tavern followed by a quick trip to the new KDKA HD studios which went live today.

It was a great day for hockey!