The 1960 throwbacks works as it takes 50 years, but it is a sweet 5-3 U.S.A win over Canada guaranteeing at least a 2 seed in the knockout portion of the tourney.

Canada will have to win 4 games in 4 days to win the Gold.

U.S.A. will have to win 3 games in 4 days to win the Gold.

Canada starts with Germany in a 6-11 match up.

USA will either play the winner of Slovakia / Belarus or a Swiss / Norway depending on the Finland / Sweden game.  Because of the 5-3 victory against Canada the US needs a Sweden victory or a Finland victory in overtime to gain the # 1 seed.  I’d rather see them play as the 2 seed and let Finland play the Slovakia / Belarus winner.  We’ve won against Swiss / Norway, and I’d rather play Norway.

Tonight’s game was a tale of 5 sections.

Section 1 : Quick US Score followed by Canada equalizer then the lead back for the US.

The US in the first period used counter attacking to a T and whenever Marty Brodeur decided to get away from the crease, he was punished with shots and two goals.

Section 2: Canada attacking with organized attacks as the US fell into the trap of defending a lead.  They gave up the equalizer and so many times Canada had open looks and Ryan Miller shut them down.

Section 3: The key of the game was here… ACTUALLY scoring on a Power Play.  The US can’t let the man advantage go away with bad passing and barely any shots with a man advantage.  Canada played inspired until the last PP.

Section 4: The Brick Wall of Miller.  You can’t see the Miller Time logo on the back of his helmet but Ryan was IMPRESSIVE! The Buffalo Sabre goalkeeper was everywhere in the crease and made several incredible stick and glove saves.  At any time Canada COULD HAVE tied it up, but every time they had a chance, Ryan just got enough of the puck to send it somewhere else.  By using the Brick Wall of Miller the US had enough counter attacking to change the tempo and momentum of the game.

Section 5: Empty Netter and celebration. Laying down to score a 5th goal may have seemed without value but that 5th goal could be the difference in seeding for the US team.  Now they sit back and get to ice down those injuries.

For the entire game I kept trying to explain penalties and players to Joanna.  All she wanted to talk about was pretty boy Sydney Crosby, and with the exception of the one goal was a  non entity in the game.

My three stars:

3. Chris Drury  Goal and overall attitude!

2. Ryan Miller 42 saves Nuff said.

1. Brian Rafalski 36 year old grandpa of the US team with 2 goals.

In other Olympic news, the US Curling team still sucks.  My favorite goat still found a way to blame everyone else but HIMSELF!  He even had the gall to challenge Brian Smith to make a tough shot and bet him $20 if he couldn’t make it.

Win consistently and then have fun with the side bets GOAT!

But then , that’s my opinion and I’m still waiting for the Goat fanclub to show up and tell me what kind of great guy he is.

AH here they are.

Say you were divorced and you’re getting remarried. (edited for kajagugu’s sake)

Now lets say you want your two kids to be in the wedding.

And that you have gotten permission from the kids principal to have them miss school for three days for the wedding and special bonding time. They will be given advanced school work in preparation for their departure. After all, the principal is divorced too and knows how hard it is to be a parent from far away.

But your ex says “It doesn’t matter if you get a call from the pope. I’m not sending the kids because I don’t want them to miss three days of school”

Does calling her a mean woman seem tame?

Going to finish a project tonight that colleagues messed up.

One didn’t do the project.

One didn’t want to do it, so put it aside so it couldn’t be done by the assigned date.

One decided to tell me to put the project under a rug. No one would notice.

But a friend of mine asked me to pick up the project and do it for the sake of who I am.

The fixer, the man who takes things and gets them done under impossible odds.

Hopefully this will be easy.

Spilling Poetry was actually born from the ashes of Bone Flower Elegy, another popular local band around the Lubbock music scene. When the bass player for Bone Flower Elegy quit in early 1994, the remaining members — Brian Enderson (vocals, guitar), Lynn Holdridge (drums), and Jamie Sanders (guitar) — joined up with Ryan Muff (bass) and changed their name to Spilling Poetry. The new band quickly set about playing around town and soon recorded their debut album, Invisible, which came out later in the spring of 1994. While Invisible went on to sell out the initial 1,000 copies the band had made, they continued to play regionally and build themselves a strong following over the next two years. By the mid-’90s, Spilling Poetry had become known as the band to see in West Texas and were widely heralded as the ones most likely to break into the big time…Luckily, though the band may have called it quits and their first two releases — Invisible and Microphonic  — have gone out of print, all Spilling Poetry’s previous music is still available on their website in one form or another, and the band has continued to release new songs off their unfinished last album from time to time – Matthias Sheaks, All Music Guide

I actually have a couple copies of Invisible… and I never got a copy of Microphonic.

But I was part of the band.  I was the manager.  I managed them for a year and a half and each moment was a joy.  We split apart, them heading to the future and me heading to the radio career that I still have today.  While the band broke up in 2001 and underwent many changes, I know the four original members.

Brian was the brooding artist.  Lynn was the quiet storm, Ryan was the thinker and Jamie, oh Jamie was my friend.

When the band changed and Jamie and I were out, we formed a talent agency that went nowhere due to the disintegration of the Lubbock music scene. The clubs started to close and the talent all went to Dallas and Austin following their dream.

Jamie and I spent many an evening after the band finished practicing just talking about my frustrations, his get rich quick schemes and relationships , his with Amy and mine with Angie.  There was something nice, sitting in the office of the warehouse as he smoked and we chatted, sometimes until 3 in the morning. It was peaceful, sometimes sitting there watching the cars pass and wonder if we were going to get mugged.  I miss those moments we had together.

I had let him leave to do what he thought was best, moving to Dallas so he could be closer to his ex and his daughter.  I didn’t push when he came in town to meet, but it was on both of our minds.  We needed that chance to blow off steam.  I knew he had flaked out on having lunch when he came in town a couple of times, but hell I had to cancel a couple meetings too.

We knew that we would eventually catch up with each other and reminisce about J. Gilligans in Arlington or the time we were offered crack at the bar in Amarillo.  We had a million stories and we loved telling ‘em again and again.

I even talked about it in a post April 1st 2007:

Jamie Sanders – Ex guitar player for Spilling Poetry, the band I managed when I first moved to Lubbock. Had heard he had gotten divorced and was looking forward to catching up with him, but he disappearred.

And in 2008:

Craig Wharton,
Spilling Poetry,
Jamie Sanders,
Friends I can talk to for hours to on the phone,
Randy Bush,
Mitchell Ivey,and all the moments that I wish I had cherished instead of throwing them away

I’m still thinking of the band gathering before each concert, interlocking their hands and praying coming out with my favorites.

Red ,  Fry and  The All Down Hill

Angie’s Favorite: Stealing Flowers

And in June of 08  I talked with him.  He wasn’t much into talking, just wanted to let me know that he was ok and that we would get together.

But I won’t have that opportunity to catch up anymore. You see Jamie had his own demons and he fought them until Tuesday evening when he passed. I can’t tell you how or why, cause I don’t know the facts just third person knowledge.

He was like my younger brother… and he is now gone.

I found out Thursday afternoon and my heart sank.

I did my show in a trance today and dreaded each tick of the clock as it got closer to the viewing.

I went in, saw Brian, Tiffany, Amy and then I walked a path that I dreaded.

And I saw the coffin. I saw him as he last walked the earth.

But as I walked away, I remembered the Jamie I knew.  I remembered the moments we had and I cried.

Vaya Con Dios Mi Amigo.  We will have that lunch someday. I’ll pick up the check.

I give up on this school. They succeeded like no other team in Texas Tech Football history and how do you thank the coach?

You add restrictions that are so severe its as if you are TRYING TO PUSH HIM AWAY!

GERALD MYERS STATEMENT REGARDING IMG’S PROPOSAL: “This ‘so called’ proposal is simply an offer for us to guarantee that Coach Leach could never be fired. It would cost us a maximum of $4.4 MILLION if we wanted to change coaches in the first year. It would cost Texas Tech millions in subsequent years of his five year contract. “If Leach left Tech he would only pay Tech $500,000. Our proposal is a fair offer of $12.7 million for five years. Both Leach and Texas Tech would pay the same annually decreasing buyout figures. Leach’s agents’ proposal is not fair. We will not even respond to such a proposal.”

Say hello to Coach Art Briles.

Leach doesn’t play the Gerald Myers game. Thus he is punished.

Screw you Gerald! Retire and stop screwing up our sports teams!

Its amazing how much energy these kids have, because no matter what we do, they continue on and on like some energizer bunny.

They are finally asleep.

We went to go see a movie and had dinner at the Outback.

When I got home, I got sick.  Must have been something with the Medium RARE steak I got rather than the Medium WELL steak I wanted.

Now before some of you mention that I should have noticed the difference in the steak before I took the 5 bites and then sent it back…

well, you try to focus on food while you have two kids fighting in a restaraunt.

Now I solved the problem, which was Ryan got a special Outback coloring contest in his menu.  Shelby did not.  So to Shelby’s dispair Ryan teased her about it, which caused Shelby to take the contest form from Ryan.

“It’s ok, I’ll let you color and when you are done I’ll put MY name on it,” was Ryan’s solution. I took Ryan aside and told him the letting someone else do his work was only acceptable if he was to grow up to be a football player (JUST JOKING), and he stomped back to his seat mumbling how I liked Shelby more.

I then went up , got the woman at the front to give me another contest entry and let Ryan color it in.  Shelby turned in her entry to the waiter and she was beaming because “I know I’m going to win, I hope. I’d like to win really I would.”

At the end of the night when I had my steak recooked and brought back by the manager, Ryan was done and he turned in his drawing.

“So mister, is my picture as good as my sissy’s?” Ryan asked.

The manager turned to him and said, “It’s going to be a hard decision to pick between the two of you.”

Shelby asked him, “When will you pick a winner?”

He looked at her and said, “Next week, and I have a feeling that someone at his table might win.”

In my sarcastic mind, it felt like Shelby and Ryan were the only entries, but in my proud daddy mind, it was because they stayed in between the lines.

Between stress from Fredicksburg and Corydon, I brought the kids home and immediately threw up.

That rare steak just didn’t agree with me.

I’m feeling better and going to crash.

After I take a couple of pictures of the kids sleeping. Their cousins are sleeping over.

Very +EV evening beside the illness.

The last three days have been the closest to hell that one man can experience.

On second thought that is incorrect.  I could still be with my ex-wife. Hah, I still got it.

I’ve had to visit and get turned away from the emergency room twice.  Yup twice, the first time I had planned to go and see the emergency room again, because since they ad put the stitches in, the follow up would be at no charge.  I was going to do anything that was going to keep me from having to pay even more when I had a chance to get it done for free.  So I went up there on Monday night after dropping “HIM” at his hotel room. 

But when I got there I knew there was going to be a challenge.  You see, I’m not patient,especially when I have to wait.  But as I drove up I knew that there would be no room at the inn.

Why and how do you ask did I know that?  Because the entire waiting area was full and they had broken into the “pull up the folding chairs from storage mode.”  Not going to be my night.  The stitches were bothering me and I wanted to get them out before they would get infected. 

So Tuesday night I tried again.  I thought I had a better shot but after an hour of waiting I couldn’t wait any more.  I was too tired and had to wake up at six thirty to pick up the vice president.

What vice president?  Why, “HIM” the big boss is in town. 

I’ve had a ton of things on my mind lately.  I’ve been thinking about choices that I have made and the ones that I have needed to make in the future.

But there was no time or writing, reading, thinking, for when the boss is in town, it’s Boss Distraction Mode.  I’m the most dependable guy at the station for me to keep my boss busy.  Keep him talking and entertain him and leave my immediate bosses to glory. 

They deserve the time away from the VP, while I am still “earning my wings”.  One day I will have a subordinate that I can dispatch to take ‘the heat’ while I am with my family.

So I entertained the boss and had him buy dinner at the local bosses favorite steakhouse.  Why not?  To the workers sometimes go the spoils.

I entertained him and got a lot accomplished for my station.  I even stirred it up in the local community.

Recently the City of Lubbock decided not to allow the Texas Tech Club Hockey team to use the Lubbock Municipal Coliseum anymore because in the “new administration’s” thought that they would rather keep the place dark than to actually have entertainment including Club hockey, family skating night etc.  The city ran a $3,800 loss from the last year of operation.

The city decided in a 5-2 decision to not accept a new contract for Texas Tech Club Team to play, and to turn the ice off.  Yup, they were cold hearted and decided to quit as the team was about ready to start their 2008-2009 season.  Oh, and I might have forgotten to mention that the Big 12 Championships for Ice Hockey was supposed to be held in Lubbock.

I didn’t like what I was hearing.  After limited consultation with others, I put a plan in motion.

“Save Tech Hockey: Call the Lubbock City Council NOW”.  It was a call to action, I called out all the councilman who voted against the plan and asked them if we raised the $3,800 shortfall could we please have hockey.

Two councilpeople called me back and I interviewed them.

The other 5, well um, I think I won’t be expecting Christmas cards from them.

It was so huge that we got local TV exposure on Newschannel 11. And the VP was happy.  I got exposure during a crucial part of the year and made the station look like a hero.

Mission accomplished.

But then, as I was celebrating victory in my mind, my foot started to ache.  An unhealthy ache.

Yup, the toe was infected and it was WAY to late for me to get anything done on it yesterday.

The plan was to hand off the boss to others so I could sneak off to at best the ER so the foot could get looked at or at worst my family doc, who would charge me, snip and shoot me up with meds.

Oh, did I mention I was doing all this without pain meds the last week?

Forgot to mention that huh?  Well the pain meds I was on made me completely goofy and caused me to have nice little memory blackouts.  I wasn’t willing to have the blackouts in exchange for the cessation of pain, so I just went with the pain.

SO… I finally got a friend who beat me up without mercy the other night when she saw my foot in stitches. “Why did you go to the emergency room?  All you had to do is call me up and I would have had my husband the ER nurse fix you right up!”

Well hell.  So tonight she hooked me up with his number and tomorrow night he is going to snip and anti-biotic me up.

So BOoooooooooooooooom!

I’ve been reading all the trip reports from the Bash with Alcanthang, Evy, Bam-Bam and friends most excellent time.  I am intrigued by some of the stories by The Wife, Doc Chako and the missing glasses from Kat.  Take it from someone who almost lost their glasses in Oklahoma at Okie-Vegas.  I can feel the panic that she had.

I really wish I could have been there. It would have been a blast, but my priority is to get the kids bedroom finished up this weekend and at least make a good start on the bathroom.  I’m not kidding myself when I try and say it will be all done when Liam and Ally make their appearance for the Nebraska game on the 11th.  I was set back a week with my little foot injury and I hope that I can make the house presentable for them when they do arrive.

(This evening Joanna asked me if I had been thinking of Patrick when I wrote the above paragraph.  I had put Pat and Ally instead of Liam and Ally.  Sorry Liam, I had our brother on my mind.)

My kids are so excited that their room is painted and has new floors and Ryan told me today that he wants to have a “racecar poster” on his side of the room.  Shelby has asked that we paint flowers on her side of the room.

Me I’d be happy if the room was totally finished.

Joanna and I traded taking care of each other this week.  She took care of me on Saturday, Sunday and Monday and I’ve taken care of her Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Hopefully we will be done with this crap by Friday so we can REALLY focus on the house.

I’ve been hiding, unintentionally, from my blog and from my poker playing brethren.  It was not an oversight I wanted to make.  Hell, I have two Heroes and a Chuck episode to catch up on.  I’ve been behind in life.

But I think that sometimes the choices you make, may hurt people in the short term, but may be the best choices fro you in the long term.

This recent break, due to illness and work has caused me to reevaluate what’s important in my life.

And when I told Joanna to “Honey, I love you, but go away, I really need to get some things written down that I have been thinking of.” I wasn’t surprised at all when she told me to “Get it done.”

Because that is our relationship, we both push each other to be better and she knows that when things are bottled up inside me that nothing good will come of it.

Something was bottled up inside me and I had to get out tonight.

It is with great sadness that we have to report the passing of Mailani Martin. Her long and valiant struggle with cancer came to an end Monday night, the 29th. For you new members who did not know her, you missed a wonderful lady. Both she and Nelson were long time officers and friends to our club. Whenever there was work to be done, or somebody needed help, they were there. Nelson, our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Mailani, we will miss your smile, that little sparkle in your eye and the way you thought of others first. You leave us in sadness, but so very glad we got to know you. Rest in peace. As you all know, fighting a disease like this is very expensive and can ravage a family. A fund for Nelson and family has been set up by our sponsor AimBank at both Lubbock locations. The funeral will be Friday, Oct. 3rd, at 11:00 am, Agape Funeral Home, 6825 West 19th St., Lubbock

Mailani Martin was a friend of mine who I worked with in the Lubbock Mustang Club and fought cancer and had beat it twice.  The third time was not the charm as she finally left this earth to be with the Big Guy and not to suffer pain anymore.

I got to see Mailani at the supermarket last week.  She had gained weight, because of the medication, and yet I could still see a smile and a fighting spirit.  I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek and in my mind when I said goodbye I knew it might be the last time to see her.  We talked about my kids and her not giving up.

And in my mind she did not give up.  Her body was just too hurt to continue. So the Big Guy lifted her worries up and brought her to his caring arms.

When I first met her close to 10 years ago Mailani and I teased and laughed.  Nelson was a saint then as he is now.  Always sitting back as we laughed, joining in at just the right moment to laugh with his wife.

I will miss her a bunch.

And that brings me to the point of my post.  I have let people get the better of me, they have lied to me, they have hurt me, and I have let them.

But to you, and you know who you are.  I know the lies, I know your two faceness.  I have seen the innocent look on your face as you press the knife in my back.

I don’t care.

Yes, that’s right… for karma will take you and punish you in a way that I can’t even seem to imagine.

I had cared what you thought, what you wanted to tell me, and what was “important to you.”

But recently I have determined that the only people I have to matter to is my kids, my family and the one woman in my life.

Everyone else has to earn that care.

I gave care to people who didn’t deserve it and yet did it anyway.  That’s who I am, and I anticipate that no matter how much I say I won’t care, I will.

But in this journey, these last couple of days since my eyes were opened…

I have to care about what I want to say here.  I have to and have written things that will never see the light of day for the people who they are written about have skin so thin that the anger would melt them.  I have written such words of passion and love that will only be shared with my kids , family and Joanna.  Because some things are meant to be treasured by a select few.

And I haven’t been seeing what really matters.

I saw a sunrise this morning and the majesty of it took my breath away.

Then I got news that took my breath away. 

No money crisis, job crisis or life crisis can compare.

A friend of mine who was just 40 is now gone. And I don’t know what life has in store for me.

Maybe it’s playing poker, maybe it’s finishing a novel. 

Maybe it’s just living life.

Love to my family, Luck to my friends, and lollipops to my kids cause I’m always thinking of you.

Sean

If you are squeemish, move over this post.  I’ll tell the story again some day when I am not on Rush Limbaugh Pez!

(more…)

That’s what I had last night/this morning as I left Oklahoma City and headed home.

Six hours of re-evaluation.

Where I am as a friend, who I am and what I need.

I needed something to do that didn’t think how my nose itched and my chest heaved. Until I hit the Texas state line and it started to pour.  Then I kept my mind on just trying to stay on the road while its pouring cats and dogs.

I like driving for self examination.  I look at the mistakes I have made and the choices I will make in the future.

I made one last chance with someone mean ever so much to me.

I gave her a last chance to see me who I am. And she told me that we would never be together ever again.

I was sad and I tried not to cry as I hung up the phone.

I pulled over and was thinking about the power of the 12th of July.  It would have been my sisters 37th birthday.  What would she have done?  Would she have married Trent?  Would she live in Bedford?  Would she still become a pharmacist?

Those thought were heavy like the rain as I pulled back onto the road.

As I walked into the house and into her arms I knew I would never love her again. And it was sad.

The past is such a fickle thing.  It gives you hope for the future and yet reminds you not to forget it or you’ll be doomed to repeat it.

She told me tonight that her next relationship would be not even with a male. Perhaps a female.

It didn’t matter what she said.  All I heard was just not you.

We have a limited time on this earth and now I am not chasing, but grasping for experiences and those I would have never chased before.  Last year, at this time, I took a gamble, which made me into such a better rounded person.  I found new friends, new acquaintances and new people who hate me. Lucky me.  For the changes that I have made have opened my eyes to a new world, a new life. For it are the experiences that are priceless, not anything that we can buy or sell.

I can count on my finger the chances that I have taken in the past because I never took them. I never stuck my head out of the shell to see what the world has to offer. And that’s a crying shame.

I’ve forgiven those who have thought that I have hurt them and hurt me back. I can’t wait to visit Stacy when she is back in Phoenix. We have put aside our differences and tried to work out a friendship that at one time was so damaged we couldn’t even mention the others name without the venom of hate corrupting our soul.

I’ve pardoned those who have sinned, lied and cheated against me. You will not have my trust anymore, but my sympathy. For your lost soul will continue haunting this earth long after your mortal body leaves it.

I’ve continued to understand those who have seen that their lives have changed beyond their control and accepted the differences of them. For I see not only who they are, but who they were.

I had a special moment in the car driving from the lake house to Gary’s house in Oklahoma City. Three divorced men sitting in the car, talking about things that make them weak, make them strong and how wonderful the people they have surrounded themselves have been.

And that moment will be a part of my heart. As the moment, I had to pull a friend away from a game, to tell him I had to leave because I couldn’t breathe. So frustrated I was, because of all the things going on in my head, that I didn’t want to spoil his day.

I used to cause fights with my dad and mom when I had to leave for Texas Tech after a visit so I could just go away. I hate saying goodbye. It’s the one thing I will never do.

It is until we meet again, tomorrow, the next day or in the arms of the Big Guy.

My heart is aching tonight, not because of the experiences that I missed by leaving earlier than I planned, for it worked out better for me. I got laundry done, work stuff prepared and I will rest more than I usually do before I go into work. Nay, my heart aches for my family, who mourns once again my sister’s absence from this earth. I mourn too, knowing that mom but yellow roses on her grave from her big brother.

As the grey clouds continue to circle my heart, I hope to find the sunshine that will continue to shine upon me.

Then the phone rings…

“Daddy, it’s me Shelby, can we talk?”

Can you feel the sunshine my friends?