Ahhhhh, I think I might have come up with a good idea now. Maybe at the end of every month I'll write about what happened this past month. Actually I'm going to start that next month. This month was wayyyy to depressing(except for Notre Dame looking pretty good this season) so I decided I'd give Shea it's fair fairwell. I'll miss the stadium, even if people think it's a dump. (Before I start, does anyone know what happened to cowbellman? I watched a bunch of Mets games on tv this year and I don't think I heard him at any of the games? He's just as much part of Shea Stadium as Mr. Met, Mrs. Met, and losing heartwrenchingly.) I decided to talk about the 5 best games that I went to at Shea. Here we go kids!
#1. Game 1 NLCS 2006. I went to this game with Malone, his dad and Malone's gf. That was probably the greatest season that I remember of the Mets. Sooo many clutch games, sooo many amazing wins, Wright, Reyes, Beltran, Delgado all going insane during the season. So, the day before the NLCS started I was at work and Malone and I found out that there were plenty of leftover tickets that TicketNetwork was trying to sell. Well, as usual there were tickets left over so Malone and I talked to Jeff, one of the upper management guys and he said that he'd sell us the tickets around face price. We were happy, but I had to see if I could get a half day so we could leave on time. Well, then Don the owner came by, and he knew we were both Mets fans and said instead of around face price, he'd give them to us at half price. Can you really beat that? Game 1 NLCS for half price? Well, I quickly called my boss and was able to have him give me a half day so I could go to the game. It was actually a pretty good pitching duel. I can't for the life of me remember who pitched for the Cardinals, I think maybe it was Jeff Weaver(remember him Yankee fans?) against Tom Glavine(before I knew him as Benedict Arnold). Tied at 0-0 going into the bottom of the 6th and one man on, Beltran crushed a pitch for a 2 run homer and the Mets ended up winning 2-0. What an amazing game. I think that season I went to 8 games and the Mets ended up going 7-1 in those game. By far the most games I've been to in one season.
2. Mets-Gaints 2007 - This one just gets into the #2 spot over #3 & 4. There were a bunch of us who went. Me, Malone, his dad, koho, perrotti, my gf, and 3 of her friends. I took the day off from work(and I think I bought Madden that day, too) and we made it down so we could tailgate. It was a great day out. We played home run derby with the wiffleball(Koho finished last of course) and then we went in for a great game. Timmy L was pitching for the Giants, he was a rookie that was suppose to be amazing but we didn't really know too much about him. He was pitching against Oliver Perez, who was streaky like he's always been. Randy Win lead off the game with a hr and they added another hr in the first to take a 2-0 lead. That didn't last too long as Delgado hit a 2 run homer to tie it. Then later Beltran smacked a double to drive in Reyes to take a 3-2 lead. As usual the Mets gave that lead up with a solo shot to tie the game. Into the 12th it went and Joe Smith ended up giving up a run so the Giants took a 4-3 lead. In the bottom of the 12th though, Armando Benitez came in to "save" the game. Reyes ended up walking to lead off the inning, was balked to second, took third on a grounder and then was balked home to tie the game. Delgado followed that with his second home run to win the game. Just amazing. Sadly the last win I ever saw at Shea.
#3. Yankees-Mets May 2006 - This was a weird weekend Subway Series at Shea. In game 1 the Mets won 7-6 with a David Wright walk off single off of Mo Rivera. Game 2 the Mets were up big but blew it when Wagner had a melt down going into a non save situation. I went to game 3. Sunday night on ESPN. I actually had Mono at this time. I had also just graduated from college with a second BA. Much fun. As a birthday present to my little sis I bought 4 tickets to this game so I went with both of my sisters and my younger sister's friend, who is a die hard yankee's fan. I had to look this up because I couldn't remember who pitched for the Yankees but it was Aaron "You're killing me" Smalls. The Yankees had taken a 2-0 lead into the 5th when Smalls went to work. With two on and Delgado up he gave up a huge shot to Delgado for the Mets to take a 3-2 lead and gave up a second hr to Wright, the next batter. Glavine pitched that game and go the win. Funny, I went to a Mets Yanks game the year before and Glavine pitched and won that one. Well, the Mets hung on the win that game and the best part about it, besides thew in, was the fact that Arod went 0-4 in the game, each at bat being critical and leaving 7 on base. At the end of the game my sis's friend realized that Yes, Arod is not clutch.
#4. Cardinals-Mets August 2006 - By far the best seats I've ever had. I sat in the Metropolitan section where you had a waiter come over and take your order for food and drinks. I went to the game, once again, with Malone, his dad, Koho, and Perrotti. This was the craziest game I've ever been to. Delgado had just hit his 400th home run the day before. The Mets took an early 1-0 lead before Pujols decided to put on a show hitting 2 home runs, a three run bomb and then a grand slam as the Cardinals took a 7-1 lead off of John Maine after 4 1/2 innings. Well, that didn't stop the Mets. Delgado hit a grand slam of his own and the Mets were able to cut it to 7-6 going into the bottom of the ninth. Issy was pitching and with Lo Duca on Beltran hit a game winning 2 run bomb for the 8-7 Mets win. Just an awesome game. It's just one of the best feelings leaving Shea after a win and they're blasting "Taking care of business everyday!" as you leave the ballpark.
#5. Phillies - Mets August 2006 - I went to this game in the beginning of the Month. The woman was doing a rotation in NYC so I went down on the first weekend to hang out with her. On Saturday we decided to go to the Mets game and look for a scalper... broker and buy two tickets. We got pretty decent seats and made it just in time. In the first inning Ryan Howard hit an oppo shot to give the Phils a 3-0 lead, but in the bottom of the first Lastings drove in Reyes to get the Mets on board. In the bottom of the sixth Wright hit a single to drive in Beltran to cut the lead to 1 and then Endy followed with a double into the gap to drive in Delgado and Wright to give the Mets the lead. In the top of the ninth with runners on the corner Wright made a diving catch with two outs to preserve the win. Just an amazing game. Sadly most of these games came in 2006. Sad because of how the season ended. Oh well. I'll see you guys soon back in CT. Malone, I want my money for the Home Run league and if I get any money for the other TND league(see Rob you can't make fun of my fantasy baseball teams).
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
R.I.P. Shea Stadium
So, here's the weekend recap, uggghhhh. So, Friday sucked. The Mets lost, the brewers won, the Phillies won and clinched a playoff spot. Then came Saturday. I was at work so I didn't get to see the Mets game but when I got back home I got a call from Malone letting me know that Santana is the best pitcher in baseball. Well, it's either him or C.C. Mike, you sure you still don't want him on the Spankees? Yeah, I'm gonna go with I'd like him on my team. Anywho, Santana was awesome, complete game shutout and somehow the Mets offense was able to score 2 runs and we won the game. I was able to watch the end of the Cubs - Brewers game and watched the Cubs pull it out. Even though they didn't play any of their starters. Sadly once again I had hope. Hope that maybe Oliver Perez could come through with another big game, come through in the clutch like he has in the past, like he was playing the Yankees. I'm not asking for too much, am I? I wasn't. Perez had a good game. Only two runs given up, that should have been enough to win the game. I was only able to watch the 7th inning and on. And of course, that's when the Marlins took over and quickly closed their hands around the Mets throat or was that the Mets putting their own hands around their throat? Who knows. Nothing better than our achillies heel, our bullpen and watching them give up back to back home runs for the Mets to lose. Joy.
Here's my question. You're Omar, you've just signed a four year extension and you've watched your team blow a lead in the last games of the division, both times being eliminated by the Marlins. What do you do this offseason? We've cleared up some cap room(well, like there really is a salary cap) with Pedro gone, Alou gone, El Duke gone. We'll probably re-sign Delgado & Oliver Perez. We have no idea what's going to happen with John Maine since he's going to have surgery this offseason. The bullpen is crap. Wagner will never be a Met again so there's no closer. The offense is set. We don't need to go after anyone. I don't want Dunn on this team. There's no need to go after Teixera in the offseason. We just need to focus on pitching. Now, I can't yell this loud enough to Omar, Do Not Go After Ben Sheets! If you thought Pedro was always injured, just wait to see what happens if you sign Sheets! It'll make Pedro look like Cal Ripken, Jr. I'd say take a shot at C.C. Offer him Santana type money(I'm pretty sure that would cover Pedro, Alou, & El Duke's salaries). He's said that he would like to stay in the NL. He likes to hit. He's also pitched amazingly so far in the NL. I'd love to have a 1-2-3-4-5 of Santana, CC, Maine, Perez, Pelfrey. That's a rotation the Mets can have for at least 4-5 years and would be the best in baseball. Will it happen? Probably not, but I can always dream. Secondly, we need a closer. And more help in the bullpen. Call the Padres up. See if we can get Heath Bell back. Go ahead and sign either K-Rod or Fuentes to close. Trade Heilman to some team who's looking for a starter(he'd like to start and might be better at that) for some more bullpen help and also make sure they're not 35 and about to break down. Please. Then trade the rest of the bullpen for a bunch of baseball and a welcome mat for citifield. Then we can call up guys from the minors to replace them. So, we'll see what happens.
On a good note I was really really impressed with Notre Dame on Saturday. By far their most complete game of the season. I'm not sure if it means much because we beat Purdue, but it was nice to see Jimmy Clausen have by far his best game at ND. We could also by far have the best young receiver core in college football. Golden Tate is amazing and so is Michael Floyd. I like Duval Kamara even though they don't throw to him much. He's just a big dude and he's hard to cover. Kyle Rudolph will be a great TE for the Irish. And the best part about this? They're all Freshman and Sophmores. Can't go wrong with that. I knew Golden Tate was going to be great, but I'm really surprised the most with Michael Floyd. Lets just hope they keep it up.
Lastly, has anyone watched the new Knight Rider tv show? I watched the tv movie and it was pretty decent but I missed the first episode and I don't know if I want to get into another tv show. Time will tell.
Here's my question. You're Omar, you've just signed a four year extension and you've watched your team blow a lead in the last games of the division, both times being eliminated by the Marlins. What do you do this offseason? We've cleared up some cap room(well, like there really is a salary cap) with Pedro gone, Alou gone, El Duke gone. We'll probably re-sign Delgado & Oliver Perez. We have no idea what's going to happen with John Maine since he's going to have surgery this offseason. The bullpen is crap. Wagner will never be a Met again so there's no closer. The offense is set. We don't need to go after anyone. I don't want Dunn on this team. There's no need to go after Teixera in the offseason. We just need to focus on pitching. Now, I can't yell this loud enough to Omar, Do Not Go After Ben Sheets! If you thought Pedro was always injured, just wait to see what happens if you sign Sheets! It'll make Pedro look like Cal Ripken, Jr. I'd say take a shot at C.C. Offer him Santana type money(I'm pretty sure that would cover Pedro, Alou, & El Duke's salaries). He's said that he would like to stay in the NL. He likes to hit. He's also pitched amazingly so far in the NL. I'd love to have a 1-2-3-4-5 of Santana, CC, Maine, Perez, Pelfrey. That's a rotation the Mets can have for at least 4-5 years and would be the best in baseball. Will it happen? Probably not, but I can always dream. Secondly, we need a closer. And more help in the bullpen. Call the Padres up. See if we can get Heath Bell back. Go ahead and sign either K-Rod or Fuentes to close. Trade Heilman to some team who's looking for a starter(he'd like to start and might be better at that) for some more bullpen help and also make sure they're not 35 and about to break down. Please. Then trade the rest of the bullpen for a bunch of baseball and a welcome mat for citifield. Then we can call up guys from the minors to replace them. So, we'll see what happens.
On a good note I was really really impressed with Notre Dame on Saturday. By far their most complete game of the season. I'm not sure if it means much because we beat Purdue, but it was nice to see Jimmy Clausen have by far his best game at ND. We could also by far have the best young receiver core in college football. Golden Tate is amazing and so is Michael Floyd. I like Duval Kamara even though they don't throw to him much. He's just a big dude and he's hard to cover. Kyle Rudolph will be a great TE for the Irish. And the best part about this? They're all Freshman and Sophmores. Can't go wrong with that. I knew Golden Tate was going to be great, but I'm really surprised the most with Michael Floyd. Lets just hope they keep it up.
Lastly, has anyone watched the new Knight Rider tv show? I watched the tv movie and it was pretty decent but I missed the first episode and I don't know if I want to get into another tv show. Time will tell.
Friday, September 26, 2008
What a night!!
What a night it was last night. I just can't believe what went down. First off, I'm glad Malone smacked Rob down. You can't say the Mets would have lost because at worst the Mets would have tied it with Delgado on Second, Beltran on first and Church up who already had 3 rbi's on the night. Who's saying he doesn't come through and win it? But anyways, that was a great slide by Church and then an even bigger hit by Beltran. I couldn't believe it and I watched both plays on mlb.com like 10 times each. That was a classic Mets win to come after a classic Mets loss. Now we're down to the final 3 games with Pelfrey & Santana pitching two of those games. Also, I think the Brewers are going to play the Cubs in the last 3 games, so that'll be difficult for them. It's going to be very interesting. Also, the brewers win was insane with a walk off grand slam to win it. Stupid Pirates.
Also just as big last night was USC losing to Oregon State. I love whenever USC loses. It's just great. It also messed up the national championship, which is just as great because maybe people will realize that we need a playoff system finally.
Rob, wouldn't march madness be a worse time for you guys than this time? I just remember it sucking because peoples tickets would go into the wrong category because in the first two rounds you could buy tickets for the first game or the second game or both games and the tickets would always go in the wrong area. Ha ha, I'm glad I don't have to mess with that anymore!!
Also just as big last night was USC losing to Oregon State. I love whenever USC loses. It's just great. It also messed up the national championship, which is just as great because maybe people will realize that we need a playoff system finally.
Rob, wouldn't march madness be a worse time for you guys than this time? I just remember it sucking because peoples tickets would go into the wrong category because in the first two rounds you could buy tickets for the first game or the second game or both games and the tickets would always go in the wrong area. Ha ha, I'm glad I don't have to mess with that anymore!!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Okay I'm Back
Okay, sorry about not really responding much this week, its been such an up and down week that's its distracted me a little bit. So lets get on with what's going on.
First off, Rob there is no way in Hell I'd ever root for the Red Sox again. I actually rooted for them against the Yankees in 2003 and they let me down. Then came 2004 and all of the bandwagon fans and now I actually hate the Sox more than the Yankees. If, unfortunately, the Mets do not make it to the playoffs then I'm cheering for the Rays to win it all. That's who I'm going for.
Last night I had softball. It was okay. We mercied the other team in the first game but in the second game we lost. I'm not even sure how we lost that second game. Well, actually I do. We did the dumb thing and threw the ball around when they had people on base and they ended up scoring like 7 unearned runs because of this and we lost by 6 so there you go. I actually played well this week and for the first time ever I batted lefty and I actually hit a pretty good single. It was a hard shot straight up the middle. I think I'm going to keep on trying to bat lefty and see how it goes.
Now onto the mess that is the Mets. That was an absolutely horrible, horrible loss. I only got to watch until the Mets gave away their 5-1 lead. When I got back from softball was when the bottom of the 10th started so I was happy that I missed most of the crap. Once again I'm really starting to hate this team. I don't hate them like I hated them last year. This team actually looks like they want to play where as last year it seemed like they didn't really care. Delgado's grand slam was awesome but then they just sucked the rest of the time. I don't get it. Oh well.
Lets hope that Harden gets hurt early on and we can get to their bullpen tonight and maybe Pedro can come through. I doubt it, but oh well. Malone, we need a new bullpen. Release all of them and sign new players. I can't wait to see the free agent list and see who the Mets should get and who Omar won't get. I don't get the 4 year extension? Why didn't they wait until after the season?
Rob, I don't think there are a lot more Pats fans than Giants fans in Ct. I think it's pretty even and also when you get to southern ct there area more Giants fans than Pats fans. But, it doesn't really matter because the pats will be horrible this year, Randy Moss will take the season off, and the Giants will have a good year. It's kinda scary that the 3 best teams in the NFL are in the NFC East. Where did this come from?
First off, Rob there is no way in Hell I'd ever root for the Red Sox again. I actually rooted for them against the Yankees in 2003 and they let me down. Then came 2004 and all of the bandwagon fans and now I actually hate the Sox more than the Yankees. If, unfortunately, the Mets do not make it to the playoffs then I'm cheering for the Rays to win it all. That's who I'm going for.
Last night I had softball. It was okay. We mercied the other team in the first game but in the second game we lost. I'm not even sure how we lost that second game. Well, actually I do. We did the dumb thing and threw the ball around when they had people on base and they ended up scoring like 7 unearned runs because of this and we lost by 6 so there you go. I actually played well this week and for the first time ever I batted lefty and I actually hit a pretty good single. It was a hard shot straight up the middle. I think I'm going to keep on trying to bat lefty and see how it goes.
Now onto the mess that is the Mets. That was an absolutely horrible, horrible loss. I only got to watch until the Mets gave away their 5-1 lead. When I got back from softball was when the bottom of the 10th started so I was happy that I missed most of the crap. Once again I'm really starting to hate this team. I don't hate them like I hated them last year. This team actually looks like they want to play where as last year it seemed like they didn't really care. Delgado's grand slam was awesome but then they just sucked the rest of the time. I don't get it. Oh well.
Lets hope that Harden gets hurt early on and we can get to their bullpen tonight and maybe Pedro can come through. I doubt it, but oh well. Malone, we need a new bullpen. Release all of them and sign new players. I can't wait to see the free agent list and see who the Mets should get and who Omar won't get. I don't get the 4 year extension? Why didn't they wait until after the season?
Rob, I don't think there are a lot more Pats fans than Giants fans in Ct. I think it's pretty even and also when you get to southern ct there area more Giants fans than Pats fans. But, it doesn't really matter because the pats will be horrible this year, Randy Moss will take the season off, and the Giants will have a good year. It's kinda scary that the 3 best teams in the NFL are in the NFC East. Where did this come from?
Monday, September 22, 2008
Monday, uggghhhh
Well, it's Monday night after a pretty crappy weekend, ha ha. It really all started Friday when I noticed my car was making a funny noise when I would turn to the right. Well, that lead to Saturday when the Irish lost. The annoying thing was the fact that I knew they should have won that game. They had two turnovers in the red zone and missed two field goals and that was really the difference. Besides that, I really liked the passing game and Michael Floyd and Golden Tate will be known as two of the greatest wide receivers ever at Notre Dame. Well, that lead to Sunday where the Giants played down to the Bengals and barely beat them in O.T. Add onto that the Mets going down in flames at the end of the season once again and that's just a great weekend/Monday. Well, after work today I took my car to get repaired and now I get to pay $500+ for it. Just a great 3 days, ha ha. Oh yeah, Rob I forgot to say my last tat is on my left arm just above my elbow inbetween my tricept & bicept. After all the crappy sports stuff, I just don't have it in me today to write a big post. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Here's the long story
So Rob, here's the story to make you happy. It's starts a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Just kidding. On a side note I looked for the Dave Dravecky breaking his arm both times on youtube and it's not there. Oh well. So here we go:
The Beginning: Yeah, I'm going to be cheesy and break things up into pieces so here we go. I've wanted a tattoo ever since I was about 16 or 17. I'm not really sure what made me want to get them, maybe it was because of the music I listened to(punk/hardcore/ska music) but alot of the groups that I listened to had tats. I can remember around the time of my 17th birthday asking my mom if I could get a tat for next year. She calmly said no. And I'm actually glad she said no. I was going to make one of the biggest mistakes you can do when getting a tattoo. I wanted to get a Rage Against The Machine logo(the only other bigger mistake would be to get a gf'/bf's name tattooed on you) on my chest. I wanted to get the E they had on their Evil Empire cd. It's pretty cool looking but shortly after they would break up. So, I was saved from making a huge mistake but the idea of getting a tattoo was in my head and I knew sooner or later I would get one.
Other People: Well high school ended and I headed off to college. During my sophmore year a friend of mine went and got a tat done across his back. He was the first friend that I knew who got one. It didn't seem that bad but I remember that he could shower for 3 days(and thus smelled during that time, ha ha). That's when I realized that there were a lot more people that I knew who had them or ended up getting them. College ended and I entered the work force. I moved back home after college and it wasn't too bad. How can you go wrong when you don't have to pay rent, utilities, or for food? My only expenses were my cell phone and my car insurance, which was really little because I didn't have any speeding tickets or accidents. I can remember that I would have 2 or 3 pay checks on my floor because I didn't need to cash them and I didn't have direct deposit. Now that I think back to it it's crazy that I was lucky to live that way. Maybe I should have stayed living at home?(There was really no point in telling this part I just thought I'd make this story really too long) Maybe not. Well, after a year of living at home my parents decided to charge me for rent. Well, this didn't sit overwell with me so I decided to move out. I had two friends from my high school who had just rented out a condo and they had an extra room(it was a loft) and they wanted to reduce their bills so I decided to move in with them. Well about 6 or 7 months after living with them one of my roommates Adam and another friend from High School John decided to get tats at the same time. So, they setup their appointments and got their tats. Hmmmm... those seemed cool and I knew I wanted to get at least one but I didn't know what. So I waited for the right inspiration.
A Young Roger In Love: Everyone knows that you can't have a great story without involving love in it. So, after about a year of living in the condo one of my roommates decided to move home(he was going through law school and was working for his dad, a financial planner, and it would just be better for him) so my other roommate Adam and I decided to move to Manchester and live in the Pavillions. Well, at this time I was still working for the company I had been working for since after college, IPT. Well, after about 3 months of living in Manchester and being single for a while a friend of mine had suggested that I meant a friend of his gf's up at Uconn(his gf was still up at Uconn going through her pharmacy studies with Malone's soon to be wife). Well, at the same time at IPT we had hired a new secretary who actually lived in Glastonbury for a little bit and now lived in Portland. So, a date was setup for my friends and I to have a group outing with my friend's gf's friends and for me to meet this lady. She had no idea we were being setup but still a good time was had by all(I think we went to Ted's, but I could be wrong). Well, at the same time I had started talking to the secretary from work and we seemed to be getting along together. Well, the Thursday after meeting from friend's gf's friend Maddy(short for Madeline) I ended up going to the Uconn-Pitt football game with the girl from work, Kelly. You see kids I'm not the best decision maker out there. I know, shocking! Ha ha. And another thing that seems to happen to me is that when I'm looking for something, may it be a new job or a girlfriend I'll go a long time without any success and then all of a sudden it'll seem like I've hit a jackpot and will have a lot of options. Well, this was one of those times. You see I could either go after Maddy or I could go after Kelly. I'm not one of those types who wants to date two or more girls at the same time. It's hard enough dating one! And seeing as how I'm soooo good at making the right decision I decided to date Kelly because, well, she lived closer. Yup, that's right. Because she lived closer. Well, as you can tell I made the wrong decision, not that dating Maddy would have been a better decision and frankly I think I'm glad I didn't because I got really lucky later on, but what I ended up going through with Kelly nearly destroyed me. I wasn't ready for a girl like Kelly. Have you ever dated someone who you knew wasn't right for you but you didn't want to hear it? Well, Kelly was that girl for me. I think I stayed in the relationship because I had never been in one for more than a month before, which is sad but true. And Kelly had tattooes, she had a bunch of them. Both of her feet had ink on them, one on her stomach and I can't remember where else. But, after 6 months I knew I couldn't date her anymore so we broke up and I was devistated.
The Aftermath: Well, for some reason it took me forever to get over Kelly. It was bad. Really bad. I ended up going out a lot and getting drunk at bars and then driving myself home. I'm surprised I never ever got a DUI or pulled over at all. There were soooo many times something could have happened but I was lucky and got away from it. I'm not happy about what I did and I wish I could take it back but it is what it is. I got lucky and I've learned from those decisions. Well, after we broke up I started a new job at TicketNetwork. Back then there were 20 employees. I really liked the job and I was making a lot of money there because I was selling tickets and back then we got commission for the tickets we sold. It was unfair. Really, after all of the heads of departments I was probably the highest paid employee there. I was making over $1,000/week. I'd never made that much before. Well, something about the breakup triggered what I like to call a mid 20's crisis. And I've actually heard other people going through them too. I just felt like I needed to do something to prove myself to Kelly, even though we were dating and I hadn't talked to her since we did(for some reason I'm the type of guy who once we're over, we're over. I won't call you back). It was strange but for some reason I felt that I wasn't man enough for her and I had to prove myself, even though I didn't. So, I made some changes. I decided I wanted to get a motorcycle and I started looking into getting my license. I dyed my hair jet black(I've done this twice before in college. The first time I didn't leave the dye in long enough and my hair turned a black/blueish color. The second time I got it right, ha ha) and I decided I wanted at least two tattooes. But what to get?
The First One: There's one thing that my friends from high school know me for, besides my love for the Mets, Notre Dame, The Giants, The Blues and weird music is my love of movies. I love going to the movies. I love watching movies on tv. I love buying movies. I don't know what it is but I love movies. Heck, on my days off I would go to the movies alone. Actually I still go to the movies alone. Well, there's one movie that has stuck to me, that has made a great impact on my life, and surprisingly I was thinking about Star Wars, ha ha. It's the movie the Boondock Saints. I don't know what it is but I just love the movie. Wel, there's always been a rumor of a sequel so I would checkout the website from time to time to see what was going on. Wel, on the website there's pictures of people who love the movie also and there were a lot of people who who have gotten things from the movie tattooed on them. Aha! I had an idea of what I wanted to get! Also, my roommate and I, when we had moved to Manchester decided to buy a bunch of posters and one of them that we got was a Boondock Saints poster. On it you can see what the brothers have tattooed on their hands. One brother has a tat on his left index finger and the other a tat on his right index finger. The brother with the left hand has "VERITAS" and the right has "AEQUITAS". Well, I couldn't exactly get that tattooed down my finger so I came up with a better idea. Get it down the back of my arms! So, I setup my first appointment. I decided to go with VERITAS first. For those of you who don't know it is latin for truth. And so, on a friday I went and got my first tat done. My roommate drove and his gf(now wife) came along. I went to Green Man Tattoo in West Hartford. Afterwards we went to the movies with some friends and I showed them the new tat.
The Second One: Well, after I got my first one I knew I was now addicted to it. I'm not sure what it was about it, but I knew I wanted more. I knew I was going to get at least one more but I wanted more than that. I also wanted to expand on them. But things around them. Well, the Monday after I got my first one I setup an appointment to get my second one done. I went with the same guy and went the next Friday. This time I went alone. So, after 8 days I now I had two tattooes. Also, for those of you who don't know, AEQUITAS is latin for Equality or Justice.
The Third One: So the addiction grew. I wanted another one and I wanted it bad. But what to get? What did I want? I couldn't really decide? There were some ideas that I had but none of them really stuck with me. I know that eventually I'd like to have a Star Wars tattoo but I wasn't sure what I wanted. I started to look different things up. Here are some ideas that I had: A Yin/Yang symbol but with either a half Decepticonz, half Autobots symbols instead of with a half Empire, half Rebellion from Star Wars, I thought about getting a cross going over VERITAS, or getting the Irish mascot with holding a Guiness in one hand. In the end I decided to go with something that would represent my family. Well, the nationality that I associate with the most is being Norwegian. When I was younger, like back in elementary school or middle school my grandmother researched my family line all the way back to a Norwegian King. It was King Olaf who was King of Norway for about a whole 3-4 years before being killed in battle. Probably the thing that Olaf is known for the most is sending Leif Erickson to explore the West, and as people know, Leif ended up finding North America. So I decided that I wanted to get a shield with the Norwegian flag in it. I ended up getting my last tattoo about 3 or 4 months after my first two. In fact I think I used my tax return to pay for it. Ha ha.
The Hidden Reason: I also think probably the strongest reason for me to get them is because I've always felt just like an average person. There's nothing special about me, nothing that makes me stand out from the next guy. I've never done anything great, nothing that would make people, and by people I really mean women, to notice me. I think I've had this sort of complex since high school when I started to be interested in girls. I guess I've wanted to stand out in some way but since I've never been really great at anything I had to do something else. And well, having tattooes is definitely a way to stand out, especially when you see some random dude walking away and there's something tattooed down his arms. I've had a bunch of people ask me what I have and what it means. Actually the funniest story I have with someone asking about them was I was at Hooters one day with my old roommate(who has at least 6 of them) and another friend our waitress came over and saw my AEQUITAS tat and asked if that was my last name? AEQUITAS? Last Name? Ha ha. It was also funny because my old roommate has a lot more than I do and she noticed mine. See how it works? Now, all I have to do is convince the wife to allow me to get more. I don't think it'll happen, but whatever. I still have the urge to get more and some day I'd like to get some. We'll see what happens.
The Beginning: Yeah, I'm going to be cheesy and break things up into pieces so here we go. I've wanted a tattoo ever since I was about 16 or 17. I'm not really sure what made me want to get them, maybe it was because of the music I listened to(punk/hardcore/ska music) but alot of the groups that I listened to had tats. I can remember around the time of my 17th birthday asking my mom if I could get a tat for next year. She calmly said no. And I'm actually glad she said no. I was going to make one of the biggest mistakes you can do when getting a tattoo. I wanted to get a Rage Against The Machine logo(the only other bigger mistake would be to get a gf'/bf's name tattooed on you) on my chest. I wanted to get the E they had on their Evil Empire cd. It's pretty cool looking but shortly after they would break up. So, I was saved from making a huge mistake but the idea of getting a tattoo was in my head and I knew sooner or later I would get one.
Other People: Well high school ended and I headed off to college. During my sophmore year a friend of mine went and got a tat done across his back. He was the first friend that I knew who got one. It didn't seem that bad but I remember that he could shower for 3 days(and thus smelled during that time, ha ha). That's when I realized that there were a lot more people that I knew who had them or ended up getting them. College ended and I entered the work force. I moved back home after college and it wasn't too bad. How can you go wrong when you don't have to pay rent, utilities, or for food? My only expenses were my cell phone and my car insurance, which was really little because I didn't have any speeding tickets or accidents. I can remember that I would have 2 or 3 pay checks on my floor because I didn't need to cash them and I didn't have direct deposit. Now that I think back to it it's crazy that I was lucky to live that way. Maybe I should have stayed living at home?(There was really no point in telling this part I just thought I'd make this story really too long) Maybe not. Well, after a year of living at home my parents decided to charge me for rent. Well, this didn't sit overwell with me so I decided to move out. I had two friends from my high school who had just rented out a condo and they had an extra room(it was a loft) and they wanted to reduce their bills so I decided to move in with them. Well about 6 or 7 months after living with them one of my roommates Adam and another friend from High School John decided to get tats at the same time. So, they setup their appointments and got their tats. Hmmmm... those seemed cool and I knew I wanted to get at least one but I didn't know what. So I waited for the right inspiration.
A Young Roger In Love: Everyone knows that you can't have a great story without involving love in it. So, after about a year of living in the condo one of my roommates decided to move home(he was going through law school and was working for his dad, a financial planner, and it would just be better for him) so my other roommate Adam and I decided to move to Manchester and live in the Pavillions. Well, at this time I was still working for the company I had been working for since after college, IPT. Well, after about 3 months of living in Manchester and being single for a while a friend of mine had suggested that I meant a friend of his gf's up at Uconn(his gf was still up at Uconn going through her pharmacy studies with Malone's soon to be wife). Well, at the same time at IPT we had hired a new secretary who actually lived in Glastonbury for a little bit and now lived in Portland. So, a date was setup for my friends and I to have a group outing with my friend's gf's friends and for me to meet this lady. She had no idea we were being setup but still a good time was had by all(I think we went to Ted's, but I could be wrong). Well, at the same time I had started talking to the secretary from work and we seemed to be getting along together. Well, the Thursday after meeting from friend's gf's friend Maddy(short for Madeline) I ended up going to the Uconn-Pitt football game with the girl from work, Kelly. You see kids I'm not the best decision maker out there. I know, shocking! Ha ha. And another thing that seems to happen to me is that when I'm looking for something, may it be a new job or a girlfriend I'll go a long time without any success and then all of a sudden it'll seem like I've hit a jackpot and will have a lot of options. Well, this was one of those times. You see I could either go after Maddy or I could go after Kelly. I'm not one of those types who wants to date two or more girls at the same time. It's hard enough dating one! And seeing as how I'm soooo good at making the right decision I decided to date Kelly because, well, she lived closer. Yup, that's right. Because she lived closer. Well, as you can tell I made the wrong decision, not that dating Maddy would have been a better decision and frankly I think I'm glad I didn't because I got really lucky later on, but what I ended up going through with Kelly nearly destroyed me. I wasn't ready for a girl like Kelly. Have you ever dated someone who you knew wasn't right for you but you didn't want to hear it? Well, Kelly was that girl for me. I think I stayed in the relationship because I had never been in one for more than a month before, which is sad but true. And Kelly had tattooes, she had a bunch of them. Both of her feet had ink on them, one on her stomach and I can't remember where else. But, after 6 months I knew I couldn't date her anymore so we broke up and I was devistated.
The Aftermath: Well, for some reason it took me forever to get over Kelly. It was bad. Really bad. I ended up going out a lot and getting drunk at bars and then driving myself home. I'm surprised I never ever got a DUI or pulled over at all. There were soooo many times something could have happened but I was lucky and got away from it. I'm not happy about what I did and I wish I could take it back but it is what it is. I got lucky and I've learned from those decisions. Well, after we broke up I started a new job at TicketNetwork. Back then there were 20 employees. I really liked the job and I was making a lot of money there because I was selling tickets and back then we got commission for the tickets we sold. It was unfair. Really, after all of the heads of departments I was probably the highest paid employee there. I was making over $1,000/week. I'd never made that much before. Well, something about the breakup triggered what I like to call a mid 20's crisis. And I've actually heard other people going through them too. I just felt like I needed to do something to prove myself to Kelly, even though we were dating and I hadn't talked to her since we did(for some reason I'm the type of guy who once we're over, we're over. I won't call you back). It was strange but for some reason I felt that I wasn't man enough for her and I had to prove myself, even though I didn't. So, I made some changes. I decided I wanted to get a motorcycle and I started looking into getting my license. I dyed my hair jet black(I've done this twice before in college. The first time I didn't leave the dye in long enough and my hair turned a black/blueish color. The second time I got it right, ha ha) and I decided I wanted at least two tattooes. But what to get?
The First One: There's one thing that my friends from high school know me for, besides my love for the Mets, Notre Dame, The Giants, The Blues and weird music is my love of movies. I love going to the movies. I love watching movies on tv. I love buying movies. I don't know what it is but I love movies. Heck, on my days off I would go to the movies alone. Actually I still go to the movies alone. Well, there's one movie that has stuck to me, that has made a great impact on my life, and surprisingly I was thinking about Star Wars, ha ha. It's the movie the Boondock Saints. I don't know what it is but I just love the movie. Wel, there's always been a rumor of a sequel so I would checkout the website from time to time to see what was going on. Wel, on the website there's pictures of people who love the movie also and there were a lot of people who who have gotten things from the movie tattooed on them. Aha! I had an idea of what I wanted to get! Also, my roommate and I, when we had moved to Manchester decided to buy a bunch of posters and one of them that we got was a Boondock Saints poster. On it you can see what the brothers have tattooed on their hands. One brother has a tat on his left index finger and the other a tat on his right index finger. The brother with the left hand has "VERITAS" and the right has "AEQUITAS". Well, I couldn't exactly get that tattooed down my finger so I came up with a better idea. Get it down the back of my arms! So, I setup my first appointment. I decided to go with VERITAS first. For those of you who don't know it is latin for truth. And so, on a friday I went and got my first tat done. My roommate drove and his gf(now wife) came along. I went to Green Man Tattoo in West Hartford. Afterwards we went to the movies with some friends and I showed them the new tat.
The Second One: Well, after I got my first one I knew I was now addicted to it. I'm not sure what it was about it, but I knew I wanted more. I knew I was going to get at least one more but I wanted more than that. I also wanted to expand on them. But things around them. Well, the Monday after I got my first one I setup an appointment to get my second one done. I went with the same guy and went the next Friday. This time I went alone. So, after 8 days I now I had two tattooes. Also, for those of you who don't know, AEQUITAS is latin for Equality or Justice.
The Third One: So the addiction grew. I wanted another one and I wanted it bad. But what to get? What did I want? I couldn't really decide? There were some ideas that I had but none of them really stuck with me. I know that eventually I'd like to have a Star Wars tattoo but I wasn't sure what I wanted. I started to look different things up. Here are some ideas that I had: A Yin/Yang symbol but with either a half Decepticonz, half Autobots symbols instead of with a half Empire, half Rebellion from Star Wars, I thought about getting a cross going over VERITAS, or getting the Irish mascot with holding a Guiness in one hand. In the end I decided to go with something that would represent my family. Well, the nationality that I associate with the most is being Norwegian. When I was younger, like back in elementary school or middle school my grandmother researched my family line all the way back to a Norwegian King. It was King Olaf who was King of Norway for about a whole 3-4 years before being killed in battle. Probably the thing that Olaf is known for the most is sending Leif Erickson to explore the West, and as people know, Leif ended up finding North America. So I decided that I wanted to get a shield with the Norwegian flag in it. I ended up getting my last tattoo about 3 or 4 months after my first two. In fact I think I used my tax return to pay for it. Ha ha.
The Hidden Reason: I also think probably the strongest reason for me to get them is because I've always felt just like an average person. There's nothing special about me, nothing that makes me stand out from the next guy. I've never done anything great, nothing that would make people, and by people I really mean women, to notice me. I think I've had this sort of complex since high school when I started to be interested in girls. I guess I've wanted to stand out in some way but since I've never been really great at anything I had to do something else. And well, having tattooes is definitely a way to stand out, especially when you see some random dude walking away and there's something tattooed down his arms. I've had a bunch of people ask me what I have and what it means. Actually the funniest story I have with someone asking about them was I was at Hooters one day with my old roommate(who has at least 6 of them) and another friend our waitress came over and saw my AEQUITAS tat and asked if that was my last name? AEQUITAS? Last Name? Ha ha. It was also funny because my old roommate has a lot more than I do and she noticed mine. See how it works? Now, all I have to do is convince the wife to allow me to get more. I don't think it'll happen, but whatever. I still have the urge to get more and some day I'd like to get some. We'll see what happens.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
I'm Back
Okay so I'm back now. So I'm going to try and make this a long one because there's a bunch of stuff to talk about now, and I'm sorry Koho, but I will be talking about baseball. Ha ha. Here we go. I'll leave the recap of Friday and Saturday alone since I got such a negative reaction. Perrotti, the guys name is Dave Dravecky(spell?). I read his book when I was younger. Here's what it says about him in wikipedia "The following season, a cancerous desmoid tumor was found in Dravecky's pitching arm. He underwent surgery on October 7, 1988, removing half of the deltoid muscle in his pitching arm and freezing the humerus bone in an effort to eliminate all of the cancerous cells. By July 1989, he was pitching in the minors, and on August 10, he made a highly publicized return to the major leagues, pitching 8 innings and defeating Cincinnati 4-3. In his following start five days later against the Expos, Dravecky pitched three no-hit innings, but in the fifth inning, he felt a tingling sensation in his arm. In the sixth inning he started off shaky, allowing a home run to the lead off batter and then hitting the second batter. Then, on his first pitch to Tim Raines, his humerus bone snapped, ending his career.
To see a pitcher break his arm with a loud cracking sound while doing something as ordinary as throwing a pitch, then fall to the ground rolling in agonizing pain, was shocking, unusual, and upsetting, especially for those who had followed his touching story. The pitch was replayed on television repeatedly over the following days.
The Giants won the National League pennant in 1989 (defeating the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS in five games), and in the post-game celebration, Dravecky's arm was broken a second time by Kevin Mitchell and Kelly Downs. A doctor examining Dravecky's x-rays noticed a mass in his arm. Cancer had returned. Eighteen days later, Dravecky retired from baseball, leaving a 64-57 record with 558 strikeouts and a 3.13 ERA in 1,062.2 innings. He won the 1989 Willie Mac Award honoring his spirit and leadership."
Next onto some positive things. I was really impressed with the Notre Dame win this past Saturday. I watched it when I got back from Malone's house(which I might add on the side is an awesome place. I was really impressed by it, it's huge, has a basement, which needs to be finished ASAP, and has a nice back yard. Good buy there Malone) I watched the game in about 30 minutes before falling asleep. I already knew that they won because I was texting during the Mets shame of a game on Saturday but it was different to see the way they won. 6 turnovers and some of them at crucial times. I like this defense. It reminds me of the '05 defense but better and faster. It's always great to beat Michigan, even when they're rebuilding. Everybody better watch out for Jimmy Clausen, Golden Tate, and my favorite freshman Michael Floyd. This offsense will be a lot better than last year and I think the defense will be too.
Now onto the Giants. Too be honest, I'm really surprised at how good they are this year. I knew Eli was going to be confident(how can you blame him after last season?) but I thought maybe the defense would be not as good. Yup, I'm wrong. The defense is still insane and the offsense has been rolling, even if we beat up on St. Louis which Jim Rome is betting could be the first 0-16 season. Also, I need to order a Justin Tuck jersey. I was happy when the Giants drafted him(he's Notre Dame's all time sacks leader) but I wasn't sure how good he'd be in the pros. Yeah, don't have to worry about that anymore, ha ha. What's great is the fact that in Columbus I can happily say that Notre Dame's best pro player is better than any of Ohio State's pro players and there really isn't an argument. Actually I'm trying to think of the best OSU player and I can't really come up of one. Maybe Chris Gamble? Anthony Gonzalez? Eh, whatever.
So, now onto the bad. Nothing better than you're last Mets game at Shea being a classic Mets let down. Just great. You could just tell the bullpen was going to blow it. You know, Santana should be 20-7 right now and should have the Cy Young locked up. But no, the bullpen's blown 7 wins(could be 8 I can't remember) and he's really just an afterthought. Lets hope something good happens tonight when he pitches. I'm not toooooo concerned with the Mets losing the NL East lead. First off it's only 1/2 game and we're tied in the loss column. That's the most important thing. Secondly there's also the Brewers who have fallen harder than the Mets. Even if the Mets don't win the NL East I think they'll take the Wild Card. Either way when they make the Post Season I'm going to like either match up. I really hope the Dodgers don't blow it and make it. If the Mets win the NL East it'll be a great series between the two teams. Manny back in NY for the NLDS? How great would that be? Or, will the Cubs throw away another great season? Should be great. I also think in the offseason the Mets will go after either Brian Fuentes or K-Rod. It would make sense since we need sooooooooo much help. We'll see.
Rob, I promise tomorrow I will post the story about my tats. And it won't be the short version, it'll be the really really long version.
To see a pitcher break his arm with a loud cracking sound while doing something as ordinary as throwing a pitch, then fall to the ground rolling in agonizing pain, was shocking, unusual, and upsetting, especially for those who had followed his touching story. The pitch was replayed on television repeatedly over the following days.
The Giants won the National League pennant in 1989 (defeating the Chicago Cubs in the NLCS in five games), and in the post-game celebration, Dravecky's arm was broken a second time by Kevin Mitchell and Kelly Downs. A doctor examining Dravecky's x-rays noticed a mass in his arm. Cancer had returned. Eighteen days later, Dravecky retired from baseball, leaving a 64-57 record with 558 strikeouts and a 3.13 ERA in 1,062.2 innings. He won the 1989 Willie Mac Award honoring his spirit and leadership."
Next onto some positive things. I was really impressed with the Notre Dame win this past Saturday. I watched it when I got back from Malone's house(which I might add on the side is an awesome place. I was really impressed by it, it's huge, has a basement, which needs to be finished ASAP, and has a nice back yard. Good buy there Malone) I watched the game in about 30 minutes before falling asleep. I already knew that they won because I was texting during the Mets shame of a game on Saturday but it was different to see the way they won. 6 turnovers and some of them at crucial times. I like this defense. It reminds me of the '05 defense but better and faster. It's always great to beat Michigan, even when they're rebuilding. Everybody better watch out for Jimmy Clausen, Golden Tate, and my favorite freshman Michael Floyd. This offsense will be a lot better than last year and I think the defense will be too.
Now onto the Giants. Too be honest, I'm really surprised at how good they are this year. I knew Eli was going to be confident(how can you blame him after last season?) but I thought maybe the defense would be not as good. Yup, I'm wrong. The defense is still insane and the offsense has been rolling, even if we beat up on St. Louis which Jim Rome is betting could be the first 0-16 season. Also, I need to order a Justin Tuck jersey. I was happy when the Giants drafted him(he's Notre Dame's all time sacks leader) but I wasn't sure how good he'd be in the pros. Yeah, don't have to worry about that anymore, ha ha. What's great is the fact that in Columbus I can happily say that Notre Dame's best pro player is better than any of Ohio State's pro players and there really isn't an argument. Actually I'm trying to think of the best OSU player and I can't really come up of one. Maybe Chris Gamble? Anthony Gonzalez? Eh, whatever.
So, now onto the bad. Nothing better than you're last Mets game at Shea being a classic Mets let down. Just great. You could just tell the bullpen was going to blow it. You know, Santana should be 20-7 right now and should have the Cy Young locked up. But no, the bullpen's blown 7 wins(could be 8 I can't remember) and he's really just an afterthought. Lets hope something good happens tonight when he pitches. I'm not toooooo concerned with the Mets losing the NL East lead. First off it's only 1/2 game and we're tied in the loss column. That's the most important thing. Secondly there's also the Brewers who have fallen harder than the Mets. Even if the Mets don't win the NL East I think they'll take the Wild Card. Either way when they make the Post Season I'm going to like either match up. I really hope the Dodgers don't blow it and make it. If the Mets win the NL East it'll be a great series between the two teams. Manny back in NY for the NLDS? How great would that be? Or, will the Cubs throw away another great season? Should be great. I also think in the offseason the Mets will go after either Brian Fuentes or K-Rod. It would make sense since we need sooooooooo much help. We'll see.
Rob, I promise tomorrow I will post the story about my tats. And it won't be the short version, it'll be the really really long version.
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