No Mas Lluvia Por Favor

Good evening everyone. Another week in the books. A rather disappointing week unfortunately so this won't take long. We had yet another spell of crap weather unfortunately which cancelled our soccer practice. I felt bad because we probably should have had it, but I'm sure the parents didn't mind chilling inside a warm house. Mia ended up reuniting and playing with her friend Noelle after school for a few hours, which was nice. The two always can pick up where they left off and play after several weeks apart. 

Saturday, we were supposed to play, but Friday night, we got an email cancelling the match. 4 out of the 7 fields still had standing water. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Mia was super disappointed because her fav Milwaukee Torrent Women's Player Mariah Downs had planned to attend the game. Mia was going to play against her preschool BFF Olivia as well. Her BFF Cecilia misses playing as well. She was stoked because Adalyn's Mom was going to make hot chocolate for everyone too.  The only good thing about our game getting cancelled was that we were going to be short two players. Ainslee was out of town as well as Charley was ill and be out for the game, leaving us short on the bench. Mia still felt confident she'd score, but sadly we didn't get to play. The Cheetahs just can't catch a break this season. There's even a chance the game won't even get a make up because the season should be wrapping up at the end of October. So disappointing. We spent the Saturday running some errands, a little yard work, relaxing, and some Dominos/Sushi for dinner. We even watching the Brewers game. Mia for some reason, was booing them. Later, we went to my brother's beer league hockey game. They unfortunately lost, but Mia enjoyed watching her uncle. He even hooked her up with a game-used puck which she was pretty stoked about. 

Today, not much going on. Laundry then work. This week, hopefully we can practice and we have one make-up game as well. Mia takes on her friends Tenley and Charlie. We should have a full roster if my kids can stay healthy. My car should also be finished getting fixed. I definitely didn't mind driving in this SUV, but it'll be interesting to see my Corolla fixed. I'm honestly surprised they didn't total it, but it's still got plenty of life left in it. I'll miss push starting my car, and how incredibly smooth the Rogue drove. Chelsea is back in action this weekend as well, so hopefully they can pull off a win against Man U. That's all for now, thanks for reading! 

Little Ears

Good Morning everyone. Another busy weekend came and went here but we sure enjoyed the above-freezing and mostly pleasant weather! Last Wednesday, Mia and I watched the Chelsea vs West Ham game on my day off. Not the best performance, but we got the win, the three points and the weekend off to prepare for the 2nd leg of the Champions League match against PSG. Loved Hazard's goal he scored. A rare header, but awesome nonetheless. Friday Mia had school. She woke up surprisingly in a pretty good mood. When it was time to go, she ran to the car and was singing the whole way there. When we got to the class room, I discovered that her teacher wasn't there and that she had a sub. This made me a tad nervous because she's never had a substitute before. I said my goodbyes and reminded her that I'd be back earlier to read to the class, and when I'm done reading, we'll head home. For the last two weeks, the 3k classes have been reading and researching about authors and illustrators such as Dr Seuss. Parents were invited to come and read, so I came in on their last day on the unit and read to her class. When I came in, Mia was playing "librarian" and checking out books for her pal Alexa. So, I read to her class and they all clapped and enjoy it. On our way home, she told me how much she enjoyed her sub teacher and made a little fish.

Saturday, we went to my friend Nicole's boy Benny's 4th birthday party. It was nice hanging out and playing with the birthday boy. Later, we went to a 30th birthday party for my friend Stacy at a bar. It was like a Carroll College reunion. Lots of fun and a rare evening for us to hang with some friends we never get to see. Sunday, we cleaned and worked on laundry before I worked a very busy 2-10 shift.  Jill and Mia went to the zoo and later my brother Andy's last pre-playoff hockey game. When I came home, they weren't home yet, but later they told me his team lost 1-0.
Soon, I'm gonna build Jill a new website for her wearable art she's got on Easy. All of her listings expired and instead of having to pay the little $ to keep them up, I'm gonna put together a new website that she can sell from so that should be fun.
That's all for now. Thanks for reading :)

The Good, The Bad, and the Depressing

Greetings. I'm just going to dive into the recent happenings and events, alright? Okay then. Last Friday evening post-work, we packed the car and headed down to Illinois for a weekend with the in-laws (and Jill's pals) Mia was super excited, in fact she was so excited, she crashed before we even got to Lake Geneva. Good. A nice quiet drive is always preferred when we're making the late-night road trip. Arrived at 1:15am, and got right to sleep since Jill had to be up early for her plans with her friends in the morning. Saturday, she met up with her longtime friends to celebrate one of the friends' birthday, so we didn't see her the rest of the day. Mia and I enjoyed our time with Jill's parents. We even got to watch the Penguins/Blue Jackets game. It was a great win for the Pens. Sunday, I got up at 8am to watch the big Chelsea vs Liverpool game. It was quite enjoyable to see our team, with most of our usual starting men out and injured, beat an otherwise healthy Liverpool. Even during breakfast, Mia quietly asked me in my ear "Daddy, I'm done eating, can I go watch the Chelsea game now?" Love it.

This week's game against Atletico Madrid was far more nerve wrecking. The anticipation to today, was intense and with last week's leg drawing at 0-0, anything could happen today. We had a few of the injured playing with high hopes of going on to the final against Real Madrid. Fernando Torres had a great goal that had me thinking "Okay, maybe we can pull this off, just need a few more
goals to finish the game" but Atletico responded with an equalizer. Bummer.

2nd half, the game only got more intense with Atletico getting stronger in the back, and muscling our forwards to ground. I can't remember a time when Eden Hazard wasn't getting shoved. I still don't get how they didn't call a foul on the heavy shove to Andres Schurrle. However, Eto'o's challenge in the box gave our possible new striker come Summer time (it's still in the talks of course) Diego Costa a PK. The turkey did get yellow carded for taking way too long to set up for his strike, but when we finally settled on his ball placement, he fired in the 2nd goal for AM. Crap...

A lazy move by Hazard let them finish us off with their 3rd goal. It was a tough match, especially at the end. Perhaps we shouldn't have been playing some of our injured guys, or maybe we were just making too many mistakes, regardless, it wasn't enjoyable. Mia even said "Daddy, I'm sad Chelsea lost too"

The week has been quite overcast and rainy, so me and Miss Mia have not been able to do anything outside. I did however see some sun this morning on my daily early walk with the dog. New art coming hopefully soon. Not sure what we're doing this weekend. Jill's got to work Saturday, and I've got a 7-3pm shift. That's all for now. Thanks for reading!

Busy as Bees

Good morning everyone! Lots of cool stuff to discuss. Friday, Mia got an invite to her friend Gracie's birthday party. She's super stoked, so we went out and got her friend a gift. Her friends are excited to meet Jill too. Over the weekend, I watched the Chelsea vs FFC game as we had delicious pancakes. It was a great game. Schurrle got an awesome hat trick. Looking forward to watching the Blues take on the Spurs on Saturday with my older brother.  Jill and I had lunch at the coolest place on the East Side of Milwaukee. The Melthouse Bistro has the most excellent gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. We had a tough time deciding which to order, because everything looked amazing. I had the Sargent Pepper, which was pepper jack cheese, caramelized onions and small pieces of lightly buttered cauliflower. Fantastic. Jill had some pulled pork one. So if you're up for some great sandwiches, check out the place. Totally worth it, plus we had found a groupon deal, so it split the bill in half :)

Later for dinner, we made tacos and got to watch the Blackhawks take on my Penguins. It was one of the worst games I've seen in a while. Almost as bad as the Flyers/Pens series. The Penguins just couldn't get any shots off, Carpenter in goal was great, stopping everything but an own goal. Jill said "it  was a pity puck. You're welcome" It was actually a lot of fun rooting against each other, and Mia was even watching some of the game. After the lousy loss, we worked on getting our Etsy page: ColorfulNoise launched and out to the masses. It's picking up traffic and getting sales now, which is fantastic. Jill's worked hard on everything that's on there, and it all looks awesome. Last night, she added more items too. I have yet to be able to get some art rolling on it, mainly because I need to start the Mike's Hard Lemonade contest stuff. Not easy when Mia's constantly on my lap distracting me. Last night Mia decided she needed a haircut, so we gave her a little trim. She has nevetwanted one before and with her hair being quite pretty, we left it as it is. Now it's nice and the dead ends are gone.

This weekend: We're going to Madison to visit with my older brother and his family, followed by Gracie's birthday party. Should be a busy busy Saturday. Sunday I work 2-10 so I don't know if we've got anything going on in the morning.

Not The Same

Hey all! As I type this, I've got my little girl sitting on my lap watching an episode of Hello Kitty on Youtube. She's like a teenager, I swear. Anyways, before I get into this week, I'd like to share a first for her and I. Friday, Mia and I went to a Friday Morning Play Group at the local library. There were a good amount of kids in this little room filled with toys. The kids get an hour to play and interact with other ones. Mia was a bit timid at first. But soon relaxed and was playing with some girls. Some were older then her. As soon as her and I sat down in the room, this little girl came right up to me, sat on my lap and complimented Mia on her princess shirt. Throughout the hour, Mia became friends with her. Her name was Grace and Mia really enjoyed playing with her, and her sister Hannah (which may actually be closer to age with Mia) Mia didn't want the playgroup to end, but we'll deffinatly be coming back this Friday. Over the weekend, we were in Illinois for my brother in law's birthday. It was a good visit, and he loved Mia's one-of-a-kind painting (including her key explaining what all of the obscure shapes and colours were). Mia has proven to be a hell of a lot easier with the 2 1/2 hour drive to and from Illinois, which is fantastic.

Today, Mia and I visited one of my best friends Jay, his wife Erin and their brand new baby Caleb. Mia didn't feel like talking, but it was good catching up and seeing their new little addition. Mia seemed more impressed with the wild turkeys wondering his back yard. She also liked Caleb's jungle nursery.  Other then a visit to Grandma and work and Grandpa at home, nothing too exciting to report. This weekend, my sister is having her bridal shower. Lots of family coming in, so it should be a lot of fun. Lastly, Chelsea FC's doing great (which is always wonderful) and the hockey season just started. That's all for now! I've got some NEW interesting freelance art I'm working on, but more on that later Thanks for reading.

Jump Around

Greetings! Keeping this one sort. Gotta get up very early to get Jill up for an early day at work for her. Not fun, but it's that busy time of the year at her studio. Friday I was off, which was great so my Dad, Mia and I watched my lil bro play some beer league hockey. Great time. Especially when Mia would yell "ANDY I CANT BELIEVE YOU KEEP DOING THAT!" in regards to him falling/not getting a goal. Saturday, we watched Chelsea beat Fullam. AWESOME :) Today, Mia had a check up. This was the very very first time I had to take her to the doctor solo without Jill. Ever since Mia was born, we've gone to the doc together, but today she had too much work to do. I was not stoked to have to wake her up. Luckily, she wasn't upset or anything. We had a very
lengthy discussion on our doctor appt and how there will be NO shots. Today, when I got her up, I reminded her that the appt will be fine. At first, she didn't wanna leave, but I said I'd hold her hand. She was talkative to the nurses, and sat through the basic check up like a champ. Wasn't a fan at first of the blood pressure test device, but noticed that she had the same contraption in her doctor kid at home. So, I was quite happy that everything went well.

Later, we FINALLY got to the Helium Trampoline Park. Once again, at first she was a bit timid. Sorta confused that we were not at the back up hangout AKA the library. So she gets on the trampoline "Dadda I don't know about this" but when she realized that these are for jumping she got SO excited. Jumped and jumped and jumped. Finally 35 minutes in, "Daddy, I'm thirsty! Later after a little water, I wanted to jump in the foam pit. Well of course Miss Mia wanted to as well. The pit was pretty deep and difficult to get out of. But, she didn't care and wanted to get in. So I held her hand, and she crawled INTO the pit, instead of jumping. After I got her out of the pit, I got back on the trampoline and did a 360 into it. So much fun. Earlier on a 360 spin that I was trying to rotate to a 540, I landed my knee straight into my wrist head on, so it's been hurting the rest of the night. Looks a bit swollen. Hopefully it'll go down. This weekend, we're off to Illinois for some family time with Jill's group. Her brother's birthday is coming up so we've got to spend some time with him :) Should be a good time. If you notice the picture way way in the background, you can see Mia waiting for me to kick the ball to her. :) That's all for now, thanks for reading!

I, Pessimist

GREETINGS! Hey, what a surprise, more snow on TUESDAY again! This winter thing is getting old eh? Mother nature can turn the winter down anytime. Sooner then later would be better. Mia still enjoys the white obnoxious frozen stuff, yet can't wait for warm sunshine, grassy hills and frequent bike rides. Did a little sketch over the weekend, this little hammerhead shark with a hipster stache. I dunno why, but I really liked how it turned out. Cute, simple and unique. Could do a colour version some day, we'll see. Over the weekend, I got to hold my adorable little nephew Easton Saturday. he's so cute.

Today, she had her 2-year doc check up. Normally, every doc visit doesn't end well. Especially when there are shots involved. We didn't think she was getting any today, but she ended up getting one for Hep A plus some blood taken to test for lead paint. First shot, she took it like a total champ. She didn't even get upset in the slightest bit. We were pleasantly shocked and quite stoked. Then they escorted us to the lab for the blood test. This one, a little tricky. They wanted one of us to hold her quite tight and they had to take blood right out of her arm. As uncomfortable as she was/looked, she took it like a champ too. I did my very best to distract her. It actually reminded me of the time, my little brother got a staple or two put in his head after falling on his noodle in my parent's kitchen many many years ago. I knew he was hating getting the staple put in, so I distracted him. Man, Mia surprised all of us. The nurses said "Wow, that was unbelievable!" She didn't care for the band aid afterword, but it was defiantly a great doctor visit. She told everyone she saw today about it in great detail. Looks like she's pretty average for height and weight. Awesome.

In other news, our computer is back to normal and fully updated. New memory sticks in and a fan were installed to keep the inside from overheating. Can finally do some photo editing and such. Next up will be my laptop, which isn't a major priority.  Thursday, Chelsea's playing. Hoping for another win. Pens had a great victory over my Dad's Bolts. Gotta keep the momentum going Penguins! :) That's all for now. Thanks for reading :)

Boarders and Boundaries

Ever have one of those days, that just everything goes wrong, whether it be something small, or something quite large? Like, the entire day is full of mini catastrophes? Today, was one of those days. Surprisingly, on a day that we were off together. Weird, right? The night before, Mia was having issues staying asleep. Actually throughout the week she hasn't been going to sleep at a reasonable time. Last night, she fell asleep around 1:30am, and got up around 8am. Throughout the night she would still wake up. It's almost like she's an infant again. We have no idea what the problem is, but we're partially blaming the day on her wacky sleep schedule. It's almost like we have to cut out naps to get her to sleep earlier then 12am, but then she's cranky for my Mom who babysits from 1:40pm-5:30pm.

Took Remi to the dog park. First time in two years, I think. Temperature-wise, it wasn't too bad out, but the entire park was pretty covered in gnarly bumpy ice. Not easy going downhill on ice. Luckily, no one fell, especially Jill. Most importantly, Remi had a good time. Mia really liked the other dogs. She didn't really wanna leave, but I just couldn't walk up and down the icy hills anymore. Later, I took Mia over the Eble Ice Arena to watch my bro play some pick up hockey. She loved it. She also got to see Easton and her auntie Ashley. Also great.

The worst issue came after Mia woke up from her nap. Jill was working on Mia's photo album in Photoshop, and after I pulled something up on the computer, it started to grind. You NEVER wanna hear grinding coming from your hard drive. Ever. The computer is old, and we sorta expected this thing to die soon, but we also didn't back a lot of folders off her computer onto an external drive. So hopefully Jill's coworker can get the files off before the machine becomes a very expensive paperweight. My laptop (which I'm currently typing this on) isn't in the best shape either, and needs the discs reinstalled again too. So unfortunatley we're gonna need a new computer. And yes, it should be an Apple again. Why? because we use every aspect of the machine an Apple user should use. We've used photoshop, illustrator, the movie editing, the music editing, EVERYTHING. Macs were built to power the heavy duty Adobe programs that PC just can't handle. So we'll see what happens, if we can pick one up.

Other then that, Valentines Day is tomorrow. We agreed not to get each other anything (but hey, Mia and I made her something cute...shhhh!!) We're going to try to go to Cafe Manna again this weekend. Man, that place had some tasty vegetarian food :)

Okay that's it for now. Have a good evening. Sorry no pictures to post tonight :(

Love They Say

Hello people. Going to try to knock this one out quickly. Getting quite sleepy, so bare with me. Last Friday, I got an email from a gentleman who runs the different pick up futsal games in Brookfield. Looks like they do games Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. Well, they needed TWO subs for last Sunday's game so guess who FINALLY got to play? :) Jill gave me the okay to go check it out, so after work, I contemplated going (weather was crap) but the roads ended up being pretty good. We quickly headed down to the BSA training facility where they have the games. Actually, we later figured out that it wasn't too far from our old apartment and within walking distance of my old advertising/marketing job. I was super stoked to play when I got there. Futsal is totally different then outdoor and indoor turf soccer. I've never played futsal so it was an interesting experience. It's 4 on 4 plus a keeper. No throw ins, you kick it in when it goes out. No offsides either and the ball moves quite quickly. With this group, every 10 minutes they rotated who'd play keeper, so everyone would get to play on the court. I ended up volunteering for the 1st rotation after kick off. Never played keeper before, but it wasn't too bad. Got two goals scored on me. One off a cheap bank shot but it was still pretty fun. Glad to switch it up when I could :) I didn't get any goals, but took some good shots and hit the cross bar (totally thought It was going in) Didn't play the 2nd half sadly. I could hear Mia throwing a huge fit towards the end of the 1st half, and could see Jill struggling to keep her happy. Oh well. I really wanted her to enjoy watching me like the first time I played back in October. She was hungry and pissy so it just wasn't happening. Jill said she said "go Daddy" every once in a while. Totally worth coming out to play. Because it's $10 to play, I won't be playing every weekend. Just two times a month I think. I ended up hurting my foot, when  defender stomped accidentally on it. Still sore.

Saturday,  I played a little hockey with my older bro. We walked down to the rink near his apartment and skated around passing the puck. We avoided the rink with the boards because there was some high school kids playing a pick up game. We didn't wanna be recruited. Hahaha! All in all, it was a fun time skating and discussing Chelsea, the Penguins and everything in between. So last weekend was full of sports for me. For lunch in Madison, we ate at Monty's which is one of the best restaurants in the area. 

Today, Mia and I shoveled the 3-4 inches of snow we got. She even wore her MITTENS! It may not sound like a big deal, but she never ever willingly wears mittens or gloves. Next, maybe she'll wear a hat. My friend Nicole, her kiddo B and myself with Mia hung out at Kids in Motion down the street today. Mia had a lot of fun climbing through the tubes and playing with the giant Lite Brite. I also enjoyed catching up with Nicole. 

That's it for now. Thanks for reading. 

Drop the puck

Greetings everyone. Today was rather a weird day. First off, Jill was off from work. During the Winter, she has to take one weekday off, so why not take a day off on MY off day right? Well after a late night with Mia Tuesday, she ended up sleeping in till 11:40am today. Jill woke up first around 11 something and said to me "what time is it? I hear the mail truck outside". I knew it was later then usual. So we started the day late, and ended up heading over by my brother Andy, picked him up and headed over to the Delafield pond. He repeatedly asked for myself or Jill to shoot some updated photos of him playing hockey. It was a great time. Jill got behind the lense and took some fantastic photographs. I love watching her work hard with the camera. I'm quite used to seeing her shoot pictures of Mia just about every week, but today seeing her get creative with the elements & shooting some action shots of my brother was a little treat for me. Mia loved watching her uncle play. She would keep yelling "MISS IT MISS IT!"  when he'd shoot at the dilapidated net. All in all, fun time. While walking with Mia on the ice today, I imagined in the next few years seeing her playing hockey on her own. Skating circles around me, stick in hand. I won't be disappointed if she decides not to play hockey, but it'd be rad if she had interest in it. Hopefully the next time, I'll get to hit the ice and play some with Andy.

In other news, the NHL and the big wig owners finally reaching a deal means hockey season is in full swing. As a major fan, I'm super stoked to get to see my beloved Pens play again. Today in Pittsburgh, they had a free scrimmage for the fans, and it packed about 18,000. Needless to say, NHL hockey was quite missed and every one's stoked. It's great timing for the casual fans because football is drawing near, which will possibly draw some people towards professional hockey. It's still a pity the Winter Classic fell through, but what can you do? So now I'll be avidly following all things Penguins and of course, Chelsea FC.

Speaking of Chelsea, bummed they drew today. 2-0 up in the first half, then they ended up tieing in the end? They need these points to catch up to Manchester United. Let's do this Blues!

All in all, great day off. Mia was pretty silly most of the day. Later in the evening when she hurt her head, Jill said "Mia would you like some ice cream?" Mia quickly perked up and said "With candy on top!" We have no clue where she got that from. Still adorable, as always.

That's all for now.

Why, hello 2013!

Greetings readers both casual and loyal! Hope everyone had a delightful and safe New Years Eve. In the morning, I packed up my bag and Remi and I headed off to see my Jill & Mia back at Jill's parent's house. They were there all week and in the time I was solo, I tried to use my time wisely to accomplish some things. Sadly, didn't make the most of my time. Worked on an art project, did a little drumming, and cleaned the house some. I really wanted to visit with some friends but things sort of fell apart. I did however, get to hang my with bro and watch the Dark Knight Rises. Not as good as the Dark Knight but it wrapped up well in the end. there were some plot issues here and there but overall it was pretty great. So on my drive to Illinois I was super excited to see the girls. The closer I got to their house, the more I thought how Mia would react when I walked in the door. Would she be ecstatic? Would she be sleeping?? Well when Remi and I pulled in with Jill's Dad's car, we noticed that the entire driveway was empty. No one was home :( Turned out her Dad and bro worked, and Jill and her Mom (with Mia) went out to some stores. Remi and I were pretty bummed they weren't home. Shortly, her bro pulled in so at least he could get us into the house. Remi searching the place for Jill but they weren't home. A little later they pulled in. I could barely contain my excitement. Mia was super happy to see me and wouldn't let go of my neck for quite a while. When I was sitting on the floor with Jill, Mia did something quite cute: She got in between us and put both arms around our necks and said "Picture Daddy, GET YOUR PHONE!" So I did! Felt great to be reunited with my beloved familia.

So here we are in the new year. Every one's making resolutions and goals to try to accomplish. Today on my day off, I thought about the different things I want to accomplish this year. Last year, I didn't put together a Thrill Factory site or design a successful shirt design for Threadless. Those were the big things I didn't accomplish. They'll come together hopefully in the near future. Who knows. :) THIS year, I want to:
Play in an adult soccer league (either indoor or outdoor)
Possibly find a 2nd job
Play pond hockey before the end of Winter with my brothers
Try to complete a killer water colour picture
Maybe do a series of some really nice photographs
And of course, continue being a positive and loving father to my Mia.

This afternoon, Mia and I went by my Dad's to watch the Chelsea FC Vs QPR game. Mia was so excited for the game, she ended up sleeping through the first half. Luckily, she didn't miss much. :P

Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for sticking with me through the year peeps :)

Luciferian Blues

Hey friends. Man, today flew by. Mia and I headed out to Eble Ice Arena to watch Uncle Andy play some pick up hockey. Now, she's been there a few times, but I swear, today she REALLY loved watching today. She saw the rink when we got in the arena and said "HOCCCKKKKEYYY!" She pounded on the glass, waved to the goalie, cheered on the few goals that were made. It was awesome. Best part is that she even wore one of my toques winter hat) on her head. She hates wearing hats these days. Every one of them. But I told her today "you have to wear the hat if you want to watch hockey" so she put up with it. After the pick up game, and Andy came out of the locker room, she gave him a big ol' hug. Awww...

We drove around visiting Jill, Auntie Ashley, had some lunch with Grandpa and stopped by Grandma. On the way to Grandpa's, she napped for about 15 minutes. When I brought her into the house, she didn't wanna sleep anymore, and just played with us. Later, Jill and I were able to watch both episodes of Modern Family. The one had the oldest daughter going off to college. It was pretty sad sorta too. Jill and I both don't know how we'll be able to contain ourselves when Mia goes off to college many years down the road. I don't know what I'll do...

The other day we had a great time on a rather windy bike ride, followed by some soccer training. Mia would say "go get the ball Daddy" when I'd boot it across our large back yard. Super fun. Can't wait to boot it into a goal on a team some day hopefully sooner then later..

Been tough feeding Riley (the last guinea pig) and not seeing Devany. We really miss her. Mia even too!

Last but certainly not least, I've been putting in some late hours trying to knock out three solid soccer logo concepts for my MLS Milwaukee FC project. Posted today the three to see which one would be the logo my friends would like the most and make it on the jersey. Now that it's figured out, I can work on the 2nd part in the near future. PLUS I need to start my Dad's birthday gift PLUS a tattoo for a coworker PLUS PLUS that Lil Wayne portrait for a girl too. SUPER busy here. I will prevail and pull it off.

That's it for now. Can barely keep my eyes open. Thanks for reading!

HOCKEY NIGHT IN MILWAUKEE

Let's talk about Hockey. Easily my favourite sport of all time, right next to soccer. I've never been a fan of football and basketball is more fun to play, then to watch (barely). Baseball is fine for the most part. I'll cheer on the Brewers and White Sox when I can. I've always looked at hockey players as knights. Armed with a stick that is also their tool to score goals. When they get on the ice, they're going to battle and will do anything to win the game. Soccer probably seems boring to some because the halves are longer then short 20 min quarters in football and the scoring isn't crazy high..but it takes patience and skill to be able to hit your mark from a good distance. It takes a hell of a lot of skill to kick a ball as far as they do, as apposed to throwing it.

My love of hockey started young in grade school. When we'd get some hardcore raining back in the house I grew up in, part of our backyard would flood some...and if we were lucky in the winter, it'd freeze and we'd get our own personal pond. Sure the ice was choppy and crappy at times, but it worked. We could walk out our backdoor and play hockey with the neighbor kids. And if we didn't get a good rain one year, we'd pack up our skates and sticks and head to a pond down a few blocks. I've never been the best ice skater but I've always loved hockey in it's entirety. In the spring/summer, we'd play street hockey. My oldest bro would DIY make me some goalie pads out of cardboard, some used shin guards and whatever else we had. It was a BLAST. I love playing goalie despite not being the biggest guy out there, but being quick and agile helped. :) I remember one or two nights playing at night in the driveway of this storage facility. We played real late into the night and it was so much fun. My brothers are pretty great and in January of 2011, we all got to play hockey again on an outdoor rink in -2 degrees weather. It was cold as hell but So worth it. I had purchased some used skates for 30 some bucks earlier and it proved to have been a wise investment. Last winter I didn't get to play with the guys sadly, but I know we will skate again.

Today, my little bro stopped over and we exchanged thoughts on our beloved Penguins against the filthy Flyers. Both quite nervous about tonight's game. Because I don't have cable, he kept me updated tonight throughout the game. a 10-3 win for the Pens couldn't have made me happier. Still in it, and I'm STILL smiling.

"Get in the fast lane grandma, the Bingo game is ready to roll."

That's all for now people. Thanks for reading :)