furiousBlog - in my diatribe » Flyers

enjoying the ride

furiousBall — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:35:25 +0000

I had one of those days yesterday that us coders run into once and a while – lots of stuff done, but one unsolved problem ruins the entire day. Microsoft is world renowned for their ability to break previous versions during upgrades and MS Access 2010 is brutal. I ultimately had to tell a customer that I wouldn’t be able to help them, ate the 3+ billable hours of research time, and let them know they need an Access programmer that can come on site to take a look at what is going on. I did fix a couple of issues, but I am still agonizing over not getting that fixed for them. You win some, you lose some.

On the bright side, Abbe had a great first day of work yesterday. My buddy Ricky Oyola came over to watch the Flyers beat the Wild (and Viv made him sit and watch a bunch of Simon’s Cat videos, then Bubs showed him a few things on the Xbox). And I have a couple of potential clients that would lead to some fun projects and nice people to work with in the next few months. I need to shrug that speed bump off and enjoy the ride. Life is good.

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Happily Loud Again

furiousBall — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:56:29 +0000

I spent most of yesterday working, but thankfully, did get enough work done to enjoy some of the Winter Classic on TV. Titan was picked up in the morning. The kids came home in the evening. The home is happily loud again.

Just a few days before Abbe, Bill, and I will be running all over Disney World. We would love for you to follow us during race day(s). You can do so by signing up here. You can follow us via phone, email, Facebook, or Twitter.

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Ok, 2012… let’s do this!

furiousBall — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 21:01:37 +0000

Happy 2012 everybody! This has been quite a year for our home: I ran my first marathon, I proposed to Abbe, Bubs played his first ice hockey games, Viv made some amazing art, I turned 40, the kids went camping for the first time ever in a real tent in the woods, Bubs got his first straight A’s report card, I got health insurance, Viv and Van both got baseballs at a Phillies game, Abbe and I were in the newspaper, Abbe, Bill, and I raised over $11,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and we adopted Titan. So 2012, I think you’ve got some great stuff in store for us as well – let’s do this.

Oh and before our 10 mile run (the last big one before next weekend’s Goofy Challenge in Disney World!)… Abbe discussed black toenails that we runners are prone to get… and I react…

And before I forget, here are some pictures from NYE with the Mecks, we had a blast!

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Happiness is…

furiousBall — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 12:56:57 +0000

Texting a Pens fan after Jagr scores a goal for the Flyers against the Pens in Pittsburgh…

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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

furiousBall — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:39:24 +0000

WOOOOHOOO!!! Look what arrived… That’s right that is Frankie Edgar‘s walkout shirt and an autographed photo of the UFC Lightweight Champion of the World!!! This will be raffled off at the Beef N’ Beer December 4th at the Marlton Tavern between 5-8pm. Please contact myself or Abbe for tickets – $30 for adults, $15 for kids. If you can donate, please consider even a small donation ($5 or $10) – and remember every $100+ donor will get a chance to turn my head into a mohawk! Only a few weeks left for us to hit our goal, we NEED your help folks!!!

In addition to the cool raffle prize that arrived yesterday, the kids Abbe and I went to catch The Muppets (it was awesome), pigged out at Five Guys, then watched Bubs’ ice hockey practice, and then my good buddy Ricky Oyola (my son thinks it’s so cool when an X-Games medalists is in the house) stopped in for a couple of glasses of wine and to watch the Flyers notch a pretty sweet OT win.

We are off to Longswamp now, be back on Friday!

Here’s a Happy Thanksgiving message from Abbe…

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run all day, why hockey players are the best, and THANKS We Should Be GMs!

furiousBall — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 12:47:34 +0000

I had a monster run yesterday. 11.13 miles and I felt very strong; could have run all day long! Abbe and I are coming Disney, get ready!

As Bubs and I pulled into the rink parking lot, we noticed a long line of folks on the sidewalk. I asked what was going on and a nice lady said the Flyers had just finished practice and some stop to sign stuff. So Bubs and I had some time before his game and sure enough, Sergei Bobrovsky showed up and signed Bubs’ t-shirt. A little while later, Max Talbot pulled up where everyone was, got out of his car and signed stuff until the line was gone. Both players were incredibly nice and that really put a big smile on Bubs’ face.

Oh and before I forget, look at this… the folks at my favorite Phillies’ blog, We Should Be GMs put up a nice article promoting our Stand-Up to Cancer comedy night with Mo Mandel (Helium Comedy Club in Philly, December 1st – if interested in tickets, they are $15, please contact myself or Abbe for details). Thanks Corey and Carson, you guys rock!

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An Amazing Night of Hockey!

furiousBall — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:55:25 +0000

Wow, we had a blast at the Flyers-Devils preseason game last night. I knew the seats were going to be awesome, but there was a lot more cool stuff in store for us than just sitting one row from the glass. Around mid-afternoon, I checked the Flyers’ website for tonights’ lineup and found some big surprises – Pronger, Jagr, and Bryzgalov were all playing tonight! Our seats were next to the Flyers bench, right by the tunnel to the dressing rooms – 2nd row from the ice. These tickets were a replacement birthday present for Bubs – originally we had tickets for the game that was canceled due to Hurricane Irene. I really, really lucked out when I got this pair of insanely great seats for $65/piece (face value… gulp… $165 a piece) – you gotta love preseason ticket prices on the open market!

When we got there, the lower level seats were packed with hopeful fans begging for pucks from the players warming up, but we excused ourselves through the crowd and got to our seats. It wasn’t long before Danny Briere was flipping a puck back and forth on his stick blade right in front of us. He flipped it over the glass and it sailed just over Bubs’ head and a young teen behind us caught the puck with my hands on top of his. He smiled, looked at Bubs and gave him the puck. The teen got an applause from everyone in the section. Bubs was soaring now.

Then the pregame introductions happened and the folks in the seats next to us (right next to the players’ entrance offered for Bubs to come over and high five all the players as they hit the ice. And there they went all putting their gloves up and getting some encouragement from my son…. Jagr, Pronger, Hartnell, Bryzgalov, Giroux, Simmonds, Rinaldo… everyone! In fact, here’s a video of the tail end of Bubs getting fives from the guys in orange…

After the second period, the nice folks next to us left early and offered us their seats, now Bubs was sitting right next to Ilya Brzgalov. Bubs high-fived all the players two more times (coming out for the third period and at the end of the game). Our friends Bill and Lori texted me between periods. I invited them down to take our old seats next to us for the third period and they made their way down and enjoyed some crazy-close hockey too. The Flyers went on to win on a sweet goal by Jagr and I brought a very tired, but trilled 10 year old boy home. All the way home, he was asking me questions like, “so how many future hall of famers do you think I high-fived tonight?” and “Do you think I can get Danny Briere to sign my puck at the carnival this year?”

And this just in, I checked out the highlights clips from the game last night and watch this… around the 0:40 mark, after the Wayne Simmonds goal, look to the left and you can see me turn and get five from Bubs!

A horror writer named Christine Dougherty hired me to build a website for her and while game planning the site, I mentioned that maybe she could do a book signing at the Carriage Trade Cheese Shoppe. I gave Christine Abbe’s number and hoped for the best. Turns out there is a ghost tour in Medford on October 22nd, and it worked out perfectly for everyone that night! Go see Christine, enjoy the ghost tour, and have some cheese! Also, be sure to check out Christine’s books, I got my copies in the mail yesterday and can’t wait to dig in.

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baseball, The Duck Song, and some hockey up close

furiousBall — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:00:48 +0000

First off… what an amazing night of baseball last night! The Phils knocked the Braves out of the playoffs, got their franchise record 102nd win of the season, and made Charlie the winningest manager in Phillies history. I do feel bad for my BoSox/Bravos friends out there, that is just a crushing way to end a season.

At our last visit to Longswamp, Abbe’s mother, Jane shared The Duck Song with us and I knew I had to get a copy of the book for Viv to read. Lo and behold, what arrived via intralibrary loan yesterday? Oh yeah… and I think someone else is enjoying the book too…

Tonight, Bubs and I are going to the Flyers-Devils preseason game. I got really lucky on some incredible seats – we are going to be right behind the player benches, 2nd row! They haven’t announced the line-ups yet for tonight’s game, but I really hope we get to see Jagr skate tonight.

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some hockey, finding Zeus, and learning to run faster

furiousBall — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:03:18 +0000

Well, Bubs did great during his hockey evaluations last night. I surprised him with a new stick for his try-out and I’m surprised he didn’t cuddle up with it last night when he hit the hay. Viv spent the majority of the time doing “make-overs” with Abbe… and we had a Lappy sighting too…

Well, if all goes well, we might be getting a pup soon. Meet Zeus. He is resembles Yogi in so many ways, it’s crazy. That I-just-can’t-help-myself-I’m-so-big-and-I-just-love-you-so-much-I-wanna-be-a-lap-dogness. It looks like he will need some obedience training for sure, but that spirit is awesome. I filled out the application last night and I hope we get a chance to meet him. I have probably watched his video about 90 times since I found this big lug yesterday afternoon. So now the rescue group will need to make sure we have a great home for this guy and we also need to make sure he’s a match for us too.

I got a run in yesterday and was a little too overzealous in trying to hit a goal of mine the first run after the mud run. I’m trying to nail a sub-9 min mile pace on my standard short run course. I’ve been way ahead of the pace, only to cramp in the last mile and half mile on my last two attempts. I’ll get it. I do need to actually do some speed training (sprint intervals in the middle of steady pace intervals) and work up to it a little more. Also, before the end of the year, I’d like to post a sub 8:30 min/mile pace on this same cours too. I’m gonna do it.

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Pizza!

furiousBall — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:30:59 +0000

Kids had a great first day of school and to celebrate the return of the school year, Abbe got the kids set up to make their own pizzas last night…