In which I tell you about last weekend

Man, what a month March has been! I didn't get the chance to post last week. It's been a busy month at work. Our department is a couple of people short right now after one person got promoted and another one walked off the job in the middle of a workday, and everyone left behind is stressing over extra work to make up the slack. I've been too tired to do much of anything. I wanted to tell you about a couple of things that happened last weekend, though, so here I am!

We went to the Gladiators game on Saturday evening. It was St. Patrick's Day so I wore my special St. Patrick's hat that I got from Darlene's Uncle Ray. Unfortunately we didn't charge the camera before we went to the game so I don't have a photographic record of my seasonal haberdashery. I do still have it in the closet, though, so just holler sometime and you can see it.

We had a big Brady crowd at the game--13 of us went. The six of us in the Brady Bunch, my brother Bill, his wife Liz (who is 8 1/2 months pregnant, so I guess we had 14 people there if you count the internal Brady), their daughter Mia, my parents, Darlene's cousin Anthony "The Man" White (who came from Waynesville, NC just for the game), and Steven's friend Courtney. It was quite a group. The girls all had a lot of fun singing and dancing and screaming (Sage was the one who didn't even like hockey and didn't want to go to the game at all, and she wound up saying it was "her first fun hockey game!"), the boys chilled, and the grown-ups watched the game and chatted. Gwinnett won 5-1 to solidify first place in their division. The coolest thing of all was the fact that the ice was green. Pretty cool! In my opinion, the puck was easier to follow on the darker ice. It wasn't a shrill Irish green, more of a sort of pale pea-soup olive. It certainly made for an interesting experience at the game.

The next night after we dropped Sage off at her mom's house, the other five of the Bunch plus Courtney went to Chili's. The meal was great, but our waiter left a little to be desired. He was doing well until a female friend of his and her mom came in and sat at the table across from us. From then on, he was overattentive to that table and neglected the other tables in his area. The people next to us got a little cheesed off, but we pretty much kept it together until Courtney asked for a to-go cup for his milkshake. 15 minutes later the guy had been to his friend's table at least five times, squatted down to flirt with her and to look down her shirt for extended periods, but had not brought us our cup. Keep in mind that we had already paid, so unfortunately his tip was locked in. We just needed a cup so we could leave.

After a while it became a war of attrition between Darlene and the waiter. She was determined not to ask again for the cup. Courtney was taking copious, noisy swigs from his shake every time the guy walked by, hoping to draw his attention. No joy. Finally, Darlene grabbed the shake and headed for the door. One of the kids asked me, "Is she going to steal that cup?" I got up and followed, saying, "Looks like it." She didn't, though. She went to the hostess and proceeded to tell her exactly what had been going on at our table and the one across the aisle for the last 15 minutes. Then she told the story to the manager while the hostess got our cup. Needless to say, the manager was not pleased.

It was neat to see my wife cut up a little and "get ghetto" (as she calls it). She didn't raise her voice a whit, but she let them know that she was unhappy. It was a side of her I haven't seen before. Remind me to stay on her good side. I love you, baby! Your blog is better than mine and you're so sexy!

In which we lost, but it was ok

Augusta Lynx 7
Gwinnett Gladiators 4

On paper, it looks like a depressing night at Gwinnett Arena for the Brady Bunch and the other Glads fans. In reality, though, we had fun, even if the power play was inconsistent and the legendary Dan Turple had an off-night in goal for Gwinnett, giving up three goals in the second period alone, and six overall (Augusta scored an empty-netter in the final seconds to nail the coffin shut). To the good, our boy Vig had two assists, and Colton Fretter scored his 34th goal of season, a franchise record.

Our seats were magnificent. Just to the left of the goal, five rows off the ice, in the rowdy end of the arena. We knew it was going to be good and loud around us when the game started and the chant went up on our end--the opposing goalie's name three times, followed by a rousing chorus of "You SUCK!" Steven got a big kick out of yelling that one all night. Later, after we scored a goal, their goalie was informed, "It's ALL YOUR FAULT!!!" Ah, good times!

I loved that the pregame video presentation featured Denis Lemieux's television interview from the beginning of Slap Shot ("You do that, you go to the box. Two minutes by yourself, and you feel shame. And then you get free."), as well as the "My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius..." speech from Gladiator. A powerful moment from a movie I like quite a bit, and a good start to the pregame foofaraw.

Sandy from my office and her family we at the game as well, and they sat behind us, as it turns out. They've been coming to Gladiator games all year, so they knew the ins and outs of being a fan. They took the loss a little harder than we did, I think, but Turple is practically Sandy's son-in-law (or so her daughter wishes), so they were disconsolate at the loss.

We had a fantastic time. I was going to get a jersey, but they didn't have my size in stock. Maybe next time. We're definitely going to go back; the St. Patrick's Day game is going to be played on ice that has been painted green. No way we're missing that one. Hopefully the result will be more pleasing to the hockey fans in the house. Win or lose, though, we'll have fun, just like we did tonight, and we'll do it as a family, which makes it even better.

Chin up, Gladiators. You'll have your vengeance, in this life or the next.

In which we're Glad to be here

Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?

-Maximus Decimus Meridius-

The Brady Bunch is into hockey these days. We went to our first Thrashers game a couple of weeks ago, and now we're getting ready to go to our first Gwinnett Gladiators game on Sunday! The Glads (as the cognoscenti call them) are the AA affiliate of the Atlanta Thrashers. They play in the ECHL and are currently in second place in the Southern Division of the American Conference, one point behind the dastardly Texas Wildcatters, who are apparently a collection of hoodlums, if my friend Sandy is to be believed.

They're playing the Augusta Lynx on Sunday. Augusta is in fourth place in the Southern. All I know about them is that they were coached at one time by Atlanta Knights legend Stan Druuuuuuuuuuuliaaaaaaaa (that's Drulia, for those who never went to a Knights game). Ah...the Knights....I could write about some Knights memories. Maybe I will. (note to self: add "the time the Knights had that huge fight with Salt Lake" to the list of potential blog topics)

We got free tickets to the Gladiators game. Racetrac gas stations were sponsoring player appearances and we went to Cumming and met number 21, forward Mike Vigilante, who was a nice guy. I mean, he was great. He was friendly and congenial and seemed to have all his teeth. He signed autographs for all the kids and has one of the greatest names ever for a hockey player, in my opinion. We also got to meet Maximus the mascot, and got free tickets. We'll be in Section 111, right behind the goal, in Row E. Five rows off the ice (aw yeh come on)! We'll get to see some old-time hockey from there, I bet!

We're all looking forward to it, and I'm sure it's going to be a great time. I'll write about the game after, and let you know how it went. Go Gladiators!

In which I resolve and stuff

Happy New Year!

I realize that the last day of January is a little late to be saying that, but as usual I'm way behind in my writing, so here I am now.

Before I get to the meat of the entry, I want to report that the Brady Bunch attended their first hockey game the other night. We went and watched the Atlanta Thrashers lose to the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 at Phillips Arena. I was the only one who had been to a hockey game before. We all had a blast and fully intend to go back, either to the Thrashers or the Gwinnett Gladiators (an ECHL team that plays in Buford).

On the way to the Thrashers game


With the New Year comes resolution time. I'm already a little behind on one of them, as you'll soon see, but I wanted to put on the record what I intend to do with my life in 2007. Of course, this doesn't include the "common sense" stuff like being a better husband and father, working hard at the office, and perfecting my Irish accent--everyone has those aspirations, and renews them year after year. My resolutions are the things I intend to do differently this year--the things I want to change about myself.

• Write more often
  
  Every entry I've entered in this journal over the last few months has stated my intention to write more regularly. I've never followed through. I really want to make an effort, though, to write at lest once a week. It's hard for me to keep to a schedule--heck, I'm still two hours behind on 24--but I'm going to really buckle down and try to build the discipline it takes to write on a schedule. It's an outlet that I've always loved, and over the last few years I haven't indulged in it nearly as much as I would like. In 2007, that's going to change.
  
  
• Lose 15 pounds
  
  Even thinking of writing those words leaves one side of my brain saying to the other, "Yeah, ok. Let me know how that works out for you." The other side then responds, "I know you are, but what am I?" and pandemonium ensues. Next thing you know I've polished off a package of Sugar Wafers and gained another pound. I spent quite a while between 212-215 pounds and lately have gotten down to the 207-208 range. Darlene is on Weight Watchers so I'm going along for the ride and am trying to eat better; partly to support her, but also to achieve my own goals. I'd like to get down to 190-192 pounds. My cholesterol was a little high last year and my potbelly, no matter how sexy my wife thinks it is, is starting to bug a little. Both are areas that need improving. We'll see what happens. I'll post updates in my written-more-regularly entries.
  
  
• Socialize more
  
  Since I have been married, my family and friends haven't seen me nearly as much as they did before. They haven't seen much of my wife and kids, either. I want us to plan on getting together with my friends at least once a month, and my family as often as we can. We got off to a good start on this one a couple of weeks ago as Ben and Wanda, Walter and Merry, and Bill and Liz (and Mia) came over for a celebration of Steven's and Sage's birthdays. It was great seeing everyone again, and Walter took pictures out the wazola. I still need to get those from him. Walter: send me a clicky, you goobahed! To my friends--see you in February!

That's really all the big ones. Write more, eat better, and spend time with the people I love. That's the ingredients for a pretty good year, I think. Hopefully they will result in habits that will continue into 2008 and beyond and won't need to be resolutions any more. Common sense rocks.

See you next week!

(Don't you love my optimism?)