Patrick Could You Pass Me The Broom? Thanks Man...

This has so far been a lazy weekend here at the Leprechaun Inn. The Lovely One has been very much under the weather last couple days. In fact she has missed the last two days of work. Today I am feeling like I may also be getting sick. I actually went back to bed at noon and slept until almost 230. I woke up just in time to see the Devils complete the sweep of the much hated New York Rangers. The Devs have been on quite a tear latly. Winning 15 straight. They won the last 11 of the regualr season and the first four games of the play-offs. I put in a pic of superstar Patrick Elias. He's leading the team in playoff points and had a total of 45 points in 38 games this year. Big deal say you? Well consider he had missed the first 44 games this year with Hep-A. He got that while playing in Russia during the strike last year. The rest of the guys are on really on their games and I anxiously await their next round opponents. Things are getting interesting in Philly and holy crap on a stick , the Edmonton Oilers look like they are going to be giving the big boot in the arse to the red-hot Detroit Red Wings and, I have to be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing that. I kinda like Edmonton.
I grew up in New England and always cheered for the Bruins but over the years, bad management and horrible trades ( Joe Juneau for Al fucking Iafrate?)have turned me away. The day they traded Ray Bourque was the final straw. But hey, this is the team that traded Bobby Orr. Hmm..maybe they just don't want to win the Stanley Cup again....Anyways, Herself has always been a huge Devs fan and her enthusiasm was contagious. After my frist season in Jersey I could see why. Great players, topnotch management and superb coaching. Lou was actually running the hockey program and Providence College during the late 70's and early 80's. So there's my little Rhode Island connection to the Devils..lol.
Hopefully this year the boys will bring the Cup back to Jersey.

I Hurt My Back Twenty Years Ago..Who Can I Sue?

I came home today form work and immediately fired up the grill. Herself had prepared patties and I partook in my almost favorite summertime activity, grillin'! I enjoyed the springlike evening with Duffy running in circles around my ankles in his attempt to herd me. He is a sheepdog after all.
Anyways, over dinner, Herself tells me she was listening to the two braindead twits on our local talk-radio station. I mean these guys are dopes...they are rude, crude and offensive. They make fun of everyone though, so at least they don't discriminate...and the knuckleheads are talking about a young lady, well she is about 20 now..she was playing high-school basketball..about 6 years ago and she ran to the end of the court and fell into those pads that hang on the walls? Like the big cushions?? Coach ran over, helped her up and asked her if she was okay. She said yes and like a responsible adult, he told her to sit down and relax. She shook him off and said the following "No. I'm fine. I want to play." "I want to play. I'm fine." Okay say it aloud a few times. She told coach she's fine. So the guy's like "Okay get back in there sporto" Probably all proud because he's got such a tough cookie on his side. Yeah? Well guess what? The girl is 20 now and she is suing the fucking coach. Five years later. Yes. I got so mad but then I figured, well there's always some dirt-bag lawyer out there looking for his next peep-show who will take a case like this.

How do people get away with this crap? Hopefully it will never even reach a court-room and it will go the way of the lawsuit brought to Mickey D's doorstep by the two steamers in New York who ate twenty pounds of fast food a day and were mad because MacDonalds didn't tell them ground meal worms fried in animal lard were bad for them. Duh! Come on people...but ya' know what? There was a lawyer waiting to take that case. His punishment should be having to take the girls to MCD's for a week. Ouchy...
Hopefully the slag suing her coach gets her just deserts...like maybe she'll have to go golfing with O.J....

My Week to This Point

Monday at work I started two fires on the Scitex (our hi-speed ink-jet printer) withing three minutes of each other. See, our printed materials pass via speedy conveyer belt, under a heater. The heater gets hot. Super hot. Red hot. As it has to dry a blob of printed ink in the approximately .4 seconds time in which it passes under the heater. Sometimes the piece gets hung up. And when the piece gets hung up, especially these nice high-gloss invites I'm printing, they go up quick. Very quick. So naturally, I reached under the heater, pulled the flaming cards out and dropped them into the 'fire bucket'.
After my second fire, one of our supers, an Indian gentleman looked over and laughed saying, "Too early for Bar-B-Q buddy.." I guess it's funny to hear it in person...
I'm now currently a month ahead of schedule. Which is good.
Tuesday night I walked outside to lock up my truck and I saw a tiny cat nosing around near the sidewalk. I figured him to be a 'sewercat', one of the many strays we have in our developement that lives in the storm drains. I made a little noise and he/she/it came charging over and rubbed all over me purring madly. I scooped the wee beasty into my left hand swung open our front door and held him up for Herself to see "Can we keep him?" I asked jokingly. She came out and even though she doesn't like cats (eyeroll) she came out with a little bowl of dry food for him/her/it, which was eaten rather quickly. Later in the evening when I was putting out the trash I went out to look for him/her/it and didn't see it. I made that little sound and I see this little head poke out of the storm drain across the street and here he/she/it comes charging across the road, meowing like he/she/it's being poked with a cattle prod. I scooped it up for a little more attention and noticed that the ears are roughed up,and there's a scratch across it's nose. I'd hate to see the other guy. The wee beastie is apparently a scrapper. Maybe not by choice. When you're a wild cat you gotta do what you gotta do. You want that mole for lunch, you gotta duke it out man...anyways...I haven't seen the wee one lately but I hope he/she/it is okay.
Last night we wrapped up the darts season. We took 7 gamnes but needed 9 to move up to 3rd from 5th. Oh well. Next year.
Tonight I decided to mow the lawn. Last and this year we have had a mice problem in the shed. And last year the little fuckers built a nest in the tube of my leaf blower. Tonight I try to start the mower and three adult mice shoot out of the engine compartment. It was kinda funny, I mean I didn't chop them up or anything.They ran for the cover of the tall grass. So after I mow I take the leaf blower out behind the shed and hold the tube upside down and bang it on the ground. To my chagrin a nest falls out and in the nest are two baby mice. I mean, days old. Now I feel like a dick. However, when I start the leafblower I feel worse. The rest of the nest and the mother shoot out of the tube like they are being shot out of a cannon. Great. I scoop up the babies in their nest, place them in an old container and bring them deep into the woods. I make sure they are beneath a thick cover ofgrass clippings and pricker bushes. Hopefully protecting them from any predators that may be lurking. And I'm hoping momma mouse finds them.
Now here I sit, relaxing, listening to some tunes...Hopefully the weekend is less eventful....

Cancer Blows

Today was the usual Monday. Blahhh. I did not-so-much at work and when I came home, the Lovely One was at her computer. I gave her a small kiss on the top of her head and she spoke quietly. "Guess what?" I asked what. She then told me Pam had died. Pam was a woman Herself had gotten to know through her journal. Pam had cancer and fought a good fight. She posted when she could on her journal and many people followed her story. She sadly lost her battle today. She was at home with her son who had come home from college to care for her. I'm glad she was at home. Home is where the heart is after all.
Herself had put a little car package together for her. Pam was very pleased with the little token of love and friendship Herself had passed along and posted a pic on her journal.
It hurts me when I hear of good people dying so young. Pam had just celebrated birthday number 50 last week. I remember my dad who has, amazingly been gone 6 years now. I say amazingly because it seems like only yesterday we lost him. And if you read this rag you know I lost my good bud Marc to cancer last year. He had just turned 25. 25. I am 37 and when I think about where I was 12 years ago and to think about 'going' then...
Herself had her bout with cancer when she was in her 20's. I have trouble thinking about that. But she is tough as nails and she beat it. Her son the Tominator also had cancer. Luekemia. He beat it and he's now as big as a house and strong like bull. I'm certainly happy for that. It seems cancer finds all the best people and triesd to kill them. Proving my point that cancer is evil. It isn't fair. Sometimes life sucks like a 4 dollar whore.
I can grouse about it but it will do me no good. I sometimes sit and think of Dad and Marc. How they both died so very young. Each one would give you their last dollar or the shirts off their backs. When I start to get down I take comfort in the fact that I have a really good life. I have a wonderful little home, two (most of the time) great pets and the best wife in the known universe. My in-laws are very good to me, and I have a decent job. And aside from my back being a bit wonky now and then, good health. And I take comfort in the fact that they were both a good and happy part of my life.
I hope Pam is at peace now. Her suffering is over and that is a good thing. Her family will miss her as will everyone who knew her. Please keep Pam and her kids in your prayers.

Has Anyone Seen My Bunny?

Happy Easter all. Or passover, or whatever itis you celebrate today.
We got up this morning and went ot church for Easter. Although we had a bit of a todo when Herself couldn't find an outfit to wear. Well ,she did have one together but apparently the shirt she wanted to wear had an unnoticed stain on it and this created a small problem as she had no back-up plan. She tried on several outfits and what she finally chose did look very good on her. She is a cutie and she looks good no matter what she wears.
I picked up a couple of new shirts yesterday. I think they are called linen shirts?...They are sooo comfortable. I let Herself pick the colors. Yes, my wife is my fashion consultant. For two very good reasons. A: I'm color-blind and B: She has great taste and knows what looks good on me. She would never steer me wrong. So I think I looked good today.
Work is still somewhat slow but that's good. Let's me get ahead on a job we are doing for one of our biggest customers. Maybe we'll pick up this week.
I got a lovely gift of chocolate and an iTunes gift card for Easter so now I must decide what songs to purchase. I've got a few already.
The weather is really nice. A bit cooler today that yesterday but I'll take it. I fertilized the lawn last weekend and the other day Herself noticed I have two huge bright green stripes in our front lawn. Apparently the fertilizer took better to these spots than the rest of the lawn. It looks silly so I applied some fertilizer to the 'lighter' spots and I'm hoping that does the trick.
That's all. Happy Easter.

Here we are. Thursday.
Last night was, what I thought, our last night of darts. It is, in fact, next week. We are still wallowing in 5th place. We're not a bad bunch of shooters, we just have a hard time hitting all at the same time.
After next week we'll have our banquet and then a 'Cricket' tournament and that will be it until September. I'm hoping I'll be throwing better next year. I almost feel like I'm getting some of my old form back. I had a good night last night. Winning both of my singles 301 matches. I'm tough to beat in 301.

I came in and dropped into bed at around 11. Unfortunately, I awoke at around 2
with pain. I flipped about for a minute and of course, woke up Herself. She wasn't to thrilled so I got up and went downstairs for a drink. I sat in the throne for about an hour and when I felt like I might be able to sleep I went back up to bed. Herself was still awake and her moon was entering the house of cranky. She asked what was wrong and I told her. She asked if I took anything and I said yes, just waiting for it to kick in. So, now, the cat is in the room. Why she lets the wee beastie in the room at night is anyones guess. She feels badly for him. That's all. But he doesn't sleep in the bedroom because he wakes us up all night. Now, it's after 3 and he starts making a ruckus and I get out of bed to cat-apult him from the room and Herself says' Let him stay. He'll get on the bed and go to sleep.' Well he got on the bed alright. But he starts purring. And when he purrs it's like being next to a bulldozer. He has the loudest puurr. Now herself shoots out of bed and goes into the guest room. She slams the door and the cat bolts upright, looks at me and then hops off the bed to follow her. I follow him closely and when he is out of our room I shut the door.
The guest room bed has a loose headboard and while Herself is flopping sround, trying to find the position that will bring slumber, the headboard is crashing against the wall. I told her tongith it sounded like she had company in there..hahah..she laughed and said who would I have in there? and at the same time we both said 'Spiderman'...meaning he'd have to have climbed up the side of the house to get in there...oh well..
Tonight I'll take something before bedtime to knock my little arse out. So hopefully we can both sleep more than 4 hours tonight.
Work has been unusually slow. I took half a day today. Came home, mowed the inside of the yard where the Duffster hangs out, did laundry and got dinner together. Well, it was together, in the crock-pot, I just added the last ingredient to it. I think something in there wasn't right because I now feel a bit squeezy. I hate this feeling. I hope it passes.

I was kinda surprised with Idol this week. I thought for sure Kelly would mangle any Queen song she tried but I was kinda impressed. It was weird hearing her squeeky, southern twang doing Bohemian Rhapsody but it wasn't bad.

How Many Irish Guys Could There Be in Cambodia?

I work with several temps. Many Hispanics, some Vietnamese and a few Cambodians. One day last week I was on one of our hi-speed ink-jet printers and I had a Cambodian woman 'feeding' the machine. Another young lad was with us, opening the boxes the material was in and settign up the feeder. She was looking at me smiling and prattling on in Cambodian. They went back and forth for about twenty minutes before my curiousity got the better of me. I looked at 'dave' and asked him what hell was going on. He said something to her and she came over and put her hand on my shoulder and motioned to my face. And laughed. Dave finally told me she says I remind her of her brother. I'm just like him apparently. Interesting. How many pasty white Irish guys could there be living on the equator? Interesting. Now she greets me with 'hello brother.' Better than 'hello ass-monkey' I guess.
So I'm sitting here listening to some tunes I got from iTunes. A little old Santana, some Soulive, Ray Lamontagne, SteelyDan, David Grey..etc..
It's been a long day.I did nothing today. This morning when she woke up, the Lovely One felt really crapola so I took a sick day and hung out with her here at home. Thankfully she had a nice long nap this afternoon. As for myself I divided my day with playing GTA3 and watching the RedSox open the season against the Texas Rangers. Thankfully, they won! Yeah!We're one and oh. A nice way to start the season.

The weather here is nasty. It's cold and rainy. Miserable. The kind of weather that aggravates my back. It's supposed to be really bad tonight. High winds, thunder hail..yikes...

I took the Duffster for a nice long walk after dinner. He's getting really good about the leash. Cars still spook him and when the freight train rolls by, look out! He does not like that.

The darts season is wrapping up. Thankfully. We are wallowing in 4th place and to me the season can't end soon enough. Don't get me wrong, I love to play and the guys are great. I just feel that the night runs too late. I usually get home near midnight and I hate to sound like an old man, but good Lord, that is just too much for me anymore. There is a meeting at the begining of the new season and I'm going to run some ideas by Freddy who is running the leauge, to shorten the night. Fewer games. Shorter night. I hope.

That's all for now. Stay warm.

Saturday is finally here.
Today I raked. I know, do it in the fall dumbass....yes. Well, I did do it in the fall. The problem is the slag next door did not. and her crap, includiong feathers from her two ducks, made its way into my yard. I have been saying I'm going to do it and today was the day. I even put down some fertilizer and later, before the rain, I'll throw some seed down.
It is simply beautiful out there. It's warm. 60ish, and a killer breeze. it's a 'high' wind. meaning, the tops of the trees are really swaying and on ground level, the breeze is just enough to keep me cool as I work and to sound the bamboo wind chimes in Herselfs Zen Garden. Enjoyable. I, of course, overdid it again, and now I need a hot shower and something for my back. joy.
Herself is hard at work at the moment and I'm enjoying some quiet time meself. The dog is napping.
Hope you all have a great weekend.
Oh and btw, check out waiterrant.net. Great blog.