"Waited For The Day When, You Came Out From Beneath All That Weight...

...I tried to lift it, but it seems I got there too late."

- from Buffalo Tom's "I'm Allowed." Very good, very underrated, and slightly old (10+ years ago) song.

So I managed to make it though my weekend from hell. This was my day shift weekend. I know everyone's heard me bitching before about how much I don't like working the day shift. Yeah, nothing's changed. I still dread getting up at 3:30 in the morning to go to work. Three days in a row of it damn near kills me. But I've only got to do it again on Wednesday and Thursday and then I get a break from it for a few weeks. Now I'm enjoying a couple nice days off with little to do (well, except for tonight when I'm working an off-duty security gig for a few hours). I'll probably spend the better part of tomorrow getting things cleaned up around the house. It's amazing how quickly this place seems to fall into shambles. You think Murphy would lift a paw or two to help out, but noooooooooo. Thanks buddy. Good looking out.

Lisa, I'm right there with you. I was at the home opener when the Caps blanked the Hurricanes and then it started to go downhill. Some sloppy play going on, and I'm not digging it. But, if they have to play shitty, I'd rather they just go ahead and get it out of their systems now and have their acts together by the end of the year. Blow a couple games early on in the season and go on a tear. That would work for me. Of course, if we were working with a roster that was 100%, that might help. Between Semin being out in the begining, then Poti, now Clark. Ugh. I'm hoping that Clark won't be out too long, but that was a vicious one-timer he took to the melon. If I were on the receiving end of an AO slap shot, I'd probably be six feet under right about now. So, anyway, get it together guys.

I'm really not sure when the next game I'm going to is. I might look into going to the Caps/Flyers game on the 2nd. I'm off work that day, so I might be able to drag myself down there.

OK, I have a vote in favor of me launching "protectandsmirk.com." I'll continue to look into how/when that might happen. Right now, I think I'll geek around with the software I've got here on my Mac that's supposed to be good for building web pages and see what it looks like. If I think I can put something halfway decent together, I'll go for it. But I don't want to do anything half-assed. Anyone who knows me knows that I like to do things full-on-assed.

That's it for today kids. I need to go grab a quick lunch and play with Murphy for a bit to wear his wound-up ass down. See you on the flip side.

"Something's In The Air Tonight...

....the sky's alive with a burning light. You can mark my words, somthing's 'bout to break."

From Mat Kearney's "Nothing Left To Lose"

I think I may have set a new record. And one that I'm not particularly proud of. Not only have I not posted in almost 2 months, but I haven't so much as looked at this, or any other blog that I used to with any degree of frequency.

Wow, what the hell have I been doing with my time? Well, a few things actually. First, I resolved that I didn't want to spend the kind of time behind that computer that I had been. Nothing makes my ass grow wide like sitting here for hours, slugging back coffee and whatever kind of snack I can muster. So my time in at the computer isn't what it used to be. And my ass looks great, thanks. Second, I've been toying around with the idea of getting away from this blogspot nonsense and actually establishing my own joint, a la protectandsmirk.com. I had already been inspired to have my own site by others I know that maintain their blogs on their own space (winks at Lisa). And speaking of Lisa, I just looked at your site for the first time in awhile, and I have to tell you that I totally dig the new look. Very bad ass, my friend. In addition to the computer-related nonsense, I've just been working a lot. I want to buy a house and since property here in Montgomery County is ridiculously expensive, I need to get some more greenbacks together.

Anyhow, I don't know if I'm going to go through with making up my own website, but the idea isn't totally dead in the water. I'm tinkering around with some things on my new Mac here (which, BTW, is excellent for that kind of thing), and I'll see what I might be able to work up.

Switching gears, what's going on with my Capitals? I went to the home opener and had a great time watching the Hurricanes get shut out. They were playing great in the first three games, then something went horribly, horribly wrong. Snap out of the funk, guys. And that's all I'm going to say on that topic.

This past Friday marked the six month anniversary of when I brought Murphy home. It's only been 6 months? Wow, it feels like I've had him forever. He's simply the coolest. We're gearing up for his third birthday next month. I guess I can let him celebrate his doggie milestone with a sip of lager. Since, you know, a 3 year old dog = a 21 year old human. Actually, I'll have the lager for him. If you saw him drink, you'd understand. I love you buddy, but would it kill you to get at least 50% of the liquid in your mouth instead of 80% of it on the floor?

Well, that will be it for today folks. It's around 4:30 AM and I'm heading back to bed for awhile. I don't know what possessed me to get up in the middle of the night to begin with, but at least I seized the opportunity to write a little sumthin' sumthin' on this thing.

And I'd be remiss if I didn't say "Nice Job!" to Hockey Kim for her standing in on Lisa's blog. Well done, amigo.