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!

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.

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.

I tried to explain the Pirates last 17 seasons to him…

I thought about posting on the whole Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson double header death yesterday or even the fact that today is Lushie’s birthday. Instead I’m focusing on an article I read this morning that has me furious. Ian Snell… grow up.

From today’s Post Gazette – “In a bizarre 24 hours for the Pirates’ enigmatic starting pitcher, Snell approached management late Wednesday to request a demotion to Class AAA Indianapolis because of “too much negativity” in Pittsburgh about his performance, specifically from the fans, media and even independent bloggers.”

Before I rant let me point you to Ian’s stats this year – Won 2 Lost 8 with a 5.36 ERA. He’s in the 2nd year of a 3yr 8.6Mil deal. Ian has, in 6 seasons, posted ONE winning season. He has a lifetime ERA of 4.75.

Ian, you whiny spoiled brat. You have been given the gift that millions of boys wish for when they pick up their first baseball. You get to make a living as a Major League ballplayer. To blame the FANS, you know the people whom your employer wouldn’t have a business without, for your emotional state is not only an insult to myself and other Pirate fans but shows your immaturity and lack of respect. Face the facts,you are not a good ballplayer. If I was to perform well below average with my employer and then put blame publicly on our customers I would get fired. I wouldn’t get sent out for rehab or to have sunshine blown up my butt, I would be fired. Count your lucky stars that you are even in the organization.

You complained in 2007 and you’re doing it now in 2009 about “negativity”. You are a professional athlete. If you cant take being a public figure then turn in your glove now and find someone who’s willing to give you a hug and tell you the bad man will go away. You are in Pittsburgh. We are a city and fan base of bust your ass and suck it up to get the job done workers. When a business fails for 16 consecutive years you have NO room, ZERO, ZILCH, to place blame on anyone but yourself.

I’m done with you Ian. Do me and the Pirate fans a favor. Leave. Your contract is being wasted on your five cent head when it could be used for players who don’t make excuses and want to be here.

Today marks the home opener of the Pittsburgh Pirates and since 1984 I haven’t missed a single game… until now (somewhere in my basement or my mom’s attic are the ticket stubs). I’m not missing it out of some bullshit protest or hissy fit on the heels of 17 losing seasons. I’m spending the day home with Teaspoon so we can start a new tradition of watching each game together.

Opening Day 2007 was tough for me because that was the first without my dad (passed the previous december) by my side eating peanuts and chugging cokes. Last season it was obvious that change was going to be coming as Lushie and I went ourselves and could feel that something was missing. So this year I decided I’m staying home and watching it with Teaspoon and starting a new tradition of our own. I have a little Pirates outfit to put him in and we’re going to have hotdogs. OK, he’s having his milk and I’m having hotdogs.

So here’s to the Buccos and hopefully and end to the losing ways. I have faith, just like I have the last 16 home openers.

I love today, opening day of baseball. All of that hope for a winning season but unfortunately here in Pittsburgh we haven’t had that enjoyment for 16 years. Dejan, whom I think is the best sports writer ever to grace this town, wrote about things that have happened since the Pirates last had a winning season. On the verge of setting a major professional sports record of consecutive losing seasons at 17 I thought I’d put together a list of my own things that have happened since October of 1992.

• I had 1 niece at the time and she was 2. She’s now in college.
• I was 16 then, I’m 33 now.
• I stopped listening to Boyz II Men when I picked up a CD from this new band called Pearl Jam.
• Dallas Stars played in Minnesota, Colorado Avalanche were the Quebec Nordiques, Phoenix Coyotes still skated as the Winnipeg Jets and the Hartford Whalers never expected to be in Carolina.
• I averaged 15-20 Pirates games a summer while I lived in Erie. Living in Pittsburgh it’s 2.
• I hated computers unless I was playing Oregon Trail. Now, well you can figure that out.
• My best friend Tom and I would watch baseball games with the volume down and record ourselves on cassette tape doing the Play-By-Play. Now I have an internet radio show with over hundreds of thousands of downloads.
• In 1992 I drank my first beer, Golden Anniversary. Today I co-host a craft beer podcast and write beer reviews.

Teaspoon is only 5 weeks old. I hope that I can take him to see a winning team before he’s in high school. Then again I bet my brother said that after is oldest son was born too… 16 years ago.

just sayin…

Cheers!

blog update on it’s way. i’ve been busy n’at.

Thanks to everyone who sent it in to me and as an FYI, I’ll finally be back to writing on a regular basis tomorrow or Friday so then the bashing can resume. That was a nice break from being online. Next Wednesday the Hump Day happiness will be back also.

cheers!