2008: The Year in Review.

It's time for my 3rd annual year in review. 2008...the highlights and lowlights. In January, Ana Ivanovic provided some personal enjoyment as I got to watch her advance to the finals of the Australian Open, although she did not win the tournament. In February, I dedicated a week of posts here to Valentines Day. Posting some videos of my favorite love songs. In March, Sara Evans announced her engagement and that bummed me out a little bit. Like I had a shot! LOL! I bought a new bicycle in March. I also began seeing a psychologist in March. I'm still seeing him 9 months later. April's highlight was going to see Michael Buble in concert for the 2nd time. This time, the opening act was Naturally 7. They were very good. June was full of many stories. Ana Ivanovic won the French Open, which was pretty cool to see. The Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup. I also went to see Dierks Bentley and Luke Bryan in concert in Muskegon. On a disappointing note, the L.A. Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in the NBA finals. The saddest news in June was the passing of my friend Chris Goedert who was only 45. That hit me harder than expected. My Dad had another heart cath done in early July. He also spent some time in a nursing home afterwards. The bright spot in July was me going to my 20th reunion. Getting to see old friends again. In early August, I took my Mom and nephew to the Coast Guard Festival. I did not realize that a week later my Dad would be at Hospice House of Holland and quickly fading away. He passed away on August 11th. That was a lot harder on all of us than we expected it to be. On a lighter note, I went to Michigan Adventure at the end of August. That was a lot fun. In September, I watched Roger Federer win the US Open on my computer. Isn't technology great? I was forced to change jobs at the end of September. In October, I went to my old high school's homecoming game. I got to see old friends again. I also joined Facebook, which has further helped me stay in touch with old friends. The L.A. Dodgers also provided some entertainment as they did better than expected in the MLB playoffs. November started with a trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Traverse City. Traverse City is a nice place to visit. I turned 39 on November 4th. My birthday dinner was somewhat of a disaster. It did provide the quote of the year from me "You got me a fat book!" The highlight since then was the Dec. 20th Red Wings in Detroit. Detroit won 6-4. Anyway, those were the highlights and lowlights of 2008. Who knows what lies ahead in 2009?

New Pics.

Oh, The Weather Outside Is Frightful!

I'm finally back home. I weathered out the snow storm on Friday. We got about 10-12" of snow here on Friday. It stopped snowing about 1:30 p.m. so I left for Ann Arbor. The first 30-45 mins of my drive sucked a little bit, but the rest of the way, the driving was fine. It took me about 3 hours to get to Ann Arbor. Not too much longer than usual. We had dinner at Outback Steakhouse that night. Our waiter looked like the football player Ricky Williams. On Saturday, we had lunch at Friday's. Later, we drove to Detroit. We stopped at a store called "Detroit Athletic Co." They are located about 1/4 of a block from what's left of Tiger Stadium. All that's left of Tiger Stadium is the stands from behind home plate to left field. I wanted to get a Jiri Hudler jersey, but they didn't have any. They said they could make me one. I told them we had tickets to Saturday night's game and I could check and see if they had his jersey at the arena. The salesman assured me that the jerseys at the arena were much more expensive than what they were selling them for at their store. Not really knowing for sure, I ordered a jersey from them. They are shipping it to me. We arrived at Joe Louis Arena 3 hours before the game. I said we should go to Hockeytown Cafe, but my friend was unsure of how to get there from JLA. So, we walked around the area near the arena. There was nothing there. No restaurants or bars. Just the Detroit River. We finally were able to hang out in the lobby of Cobo Hall. The JLA doors didn't open until 5:30. As for the jerseys at the arena, they were only $5 more than what the store was selling them for, plus they were also on sale for 20% off. If you do the math, that would have made them $25 dollars cheaper than what I paid at the store. However, they didn't have any Hudler jerseys! Some woman asked for a Hudler jersey as well. Get with it, Red Wings! You are losing sales! As for the game, the Kings scored 1:46 into the game to take a 1-0 lead over Detroit. I said to my friend, "Looks like it's gonna be one of THOSE games!" Detroit rallied to take a 2-1 lead. The crowd went nuts, but less than a minute later, the Kings tied it at 2-2. Detroit scored late in the 2nd period to go ahead 3-2. The crowd went nuts, but just 16 seconds later the Kings tied the game at 3-3. The Kings scored early in the 3rd period to take a 4-3 lead. Time began running out and we started getting worried. I said to my friend, "Somebody needs to make something happen!" With 3:43 left in the game, it happened. BAM! Jiri Hudler scored!!! Tie game 4-4! My boy came through! With 1:34 left, Dan Cleary of the Red Wings scored to give Detroit a 5-4 lead. Jiri Hudler got an assist on the goal. The crowd went nuts! Kris Draper scored an empty-netter and the Red Wings won the game 6-4. I went to the bathroom after the game. As I was going to the bathroom, I heard some guys yelling. One guy yelled, "HEY!" Another guy yelled, "DOUBLE STANDARD!" I didn't turn around to see what the fuss was. When I left the bathroom, my friend asked me, "Did you see that woman in the mens room?" Some 20-something woman tucked her hair under her hat and used a stall in the mens room. I missed that. Anyway, I had planned to drive back to Holland on Sunday afternoon, but I couldn't. Holland got another 12" of snow yesterday. Accidents were happening on all the freeways near here. All 3 freeways got closed down at some point. So I stayed in Ann Arbor last night. I drove home today. I left at 8:30 a.m. I stopped in Kalamazoo for lunch. It took 3hrs and 15min to get to Kalamazoo from Ann Arbor. That's usually a 1hr 45min drive! There were numerous slide-offs on I-94. It was a scary drive! I was doing 30 at times. The speed limit is 70! I had lunch at Hooters. I needed to calm my nerves. LOL! I got back to Holland at 2:15. All told, it took me about 4hrs and 45min to drive home. About 2 hours longer than normal. We have about 2ft of snow on the ground here. We are expecting more snow tomorrow! We WILL have a White Christmas!

Why I Love Pandas, Too!

Why I Love Monkeys!

'Tis The Season.

More Christmas musings. I am finally done with my Christmas shopping. I always try to spend equally on everyone. Sometimes, I do feel the need to buy a last minute gift or two. I did that yesterday. I did take advantage of free gift wrapping some stores had. One store had free gift wrapping with a $10 purchase. The other store, Barnes & Nobles had a table set up with with 2 women doing free gift wrapping. These women were from volunteers from Hospice of Holland. I gained enormous respect for Hospice after my Dad spent his last days at Hospice House of Holland this summer. They were accepting donations, so I gave them a donation. I know there are so many worthy charities out there, Hospice is just the one I had a personal experience with this year. I have finally started on my Christmas cards. I'm not sending out a lot, but ones to friends and family. In a funny story yesterday, I was leaving Circuit City and walking to my car. There was a Circuit City employee walking behind me. He was pushing a cart that had a surround sound entertainment system on it. I stopped at my car and he stopped behind me. Then another employee yelled to him, "Hey! That's going to my car!" I wasn't crazy, he WAS going to put that entertainment system in my car! I turned around and said to the other guy, "You just HAD to say something, didn't you?" We all got a laugh out of that. I also wrapped presents last night, although my Mom wrapped other presents for me last night as well. 11 more days til Christmas. Are you ready for it?

"That First Christmas" By Rahsaan Patterson

The December I remember
You were gone forever
Like the snow my tears fell
And before long my heart was frozen

That first Christmas without you
Was like a sunless sky
That first Christmas I miss you
The joy was hard to find
No morning kiss
No Christmas gift from you
Though it's sad but true
It's not really Christmas without you

The December I remember
You were gone forever

*These are the lyrics to the Rahsaan Patterson song "That First Christmas". It's on his holiday cd entitled "The Ultimate Gift". I believe it was probably written about his late Father, Herman. He has dedicated albums to "Herman". If you've experienced the loss of a loved one, I'm certain this song will make you think of them.*

"Nobody Told Me"

Eat Your Heart Out, Carly Simon!

The Top 10 Plaxico Burress Excuses For Shooting Himself.

#10. I just wanted to prove that WAS a gun in my pocket. I wasn't just happy to be there.
# 9. At least I wasn't drunk. I mean, I only had one shot!
# 8. I was just doing my Barney Fife impersonation!
# 7. In case any ladies are interested, I wasn't shooting blanks that night. Heh heh.
# 6. Once again, I must remind you...the gun was loaded that night, I wasn't!
# 5. You ever been to Applebee's at night? That place is dangerous! You need protection!
# 4. If I could pick one person to shoot me, it would be me.
# 3. It wasn't me! It was Harris Smith!
# 2. It takes a real man to shoot himself in the thigh with his own gun. A REAL STUPID MAN!
# 1. I shoot myself in the thigh and people think I should go to jail? I hear stories about guys shooting themselves in the foot all the time. Where's the outrage there?!

Classic Comedy.