‘Twas a weekend of insanity. I can’t think of the last time I’ve done so many diverse activities in the span of 3 days. On Friday, my volleyball team, ‘Junk in a Box’ managed to snare victory from the jaws of defeat, taking 2 of 3 games from first place ‘Cabo Wabo’ in our Hot Shots indoor beach league. We’re sneaking back into the playoff hunt after having a very up and down season.

Saturday morning it was off to Bayview YMCA Tiny Tigers Karate to see Mason get his first ‘tip’. He earns a tip (stripe of yellow tape on the end of his belt) for every session he completes. This was his first session in the new dojo, and he enjoyed Sensei Missy, and her assistant Kristen very much. The cool thing about this class was that the parents were asked to do all of the karate moves the kids learned. So, I did my first kata, consisting of a combo of blocks and punches. If I had time on my hands I think karate would be a terrific thing to learn.

Mason gets his first Shotokan Karate ‘tip’

Saturday night Tricia and I embarked on our first Halloween Rallye with Mom and Dad Rz. and the MG Car Club. It was a very cool event. We started by meeting at the Chili K-mart. About 20 participating cars lined up for a staggered start about 2 minutes apart. At the start we were given an instruction sheet for a car-based scavenger hunt, and an “escape envelope” in case we got hopelessly lost in the dark. The object is to complete the hunt with the most accurate answers to all of the trivia questions, and also get closest to the goal time. The goal time is determined by people who know all of the answers doing the speed limit and completing the hunt – so you aren’t supposed to speed. Adding to the excitement was doing the rallye in the dark in the back roads of Scottsville and Ogden. In all, the event took us on a 40 mile adventure to cemetaries, “haunted” barns, and even a gentlemen’s club. The event ended at Rohrbach Brewing Company for a Halloween themed after-party. At the party, Tricia and I were somehow voted best overall in the costume category, which won us a nice bottle of Vampire wine. It came in a great coffin-shaped box, spoooooky. Check out more pictures that Tricia posted.

The knight and his lady hold court

I woke up Sunday morning fully expecting to head to church at Browncroft before my date as the Godfather at Lily’s Baptism. Instead I got the news that Gary got a deer out of his stand at around 8am. He couldn’t get it out of the gully, so I drove to Victor to help him drag it out of the woods. All the effort is worth it since 80% of the meat ends up in my freezer anyways. It was a nice 5 point buck that he posted more pictures of here: Gary’s 2007 Deer pictures.

Gary’s 5 point buck

Then, the delight of the weekend was to become a Godfather for the first time. My Niece Lilyan Short became a member of God’s family on Sunday at noon. First, we went to Lindsey and Mike’s house for pre-event pictures. Then it was off to the church for the ceremony. Lily was wearing a dress that could have passed for a wedding gown – very pretty. It was great to be around the little one. She is so tiny and cute. It gets hard to remember my own kids being that small. Afterward Lindsey and Mike through a very nice party for the extended family at Keenan’s in Irondequoit. The food was good, and the company was even better. Congratulations Lindsey, Mike and little Lilyan!

Maureen Short (Godmother), Mike Short (Father), Lindsey Short (Mother), Kris Rzepkowski (Godfather), and Lilyan Short

This week was so busy with Halloween that it took me all week just to get a post up about LAST weekend. Now, it’s time to have some fun all over again.

You know those songs you can’t get out of your head? They’re called earworms. It’s only fitting that my severe earworm from Friday through the weekend was about a worm named Herme. This was a song brought home by Mason from Mrs. Sero’s kindergarten class. Herme…baby…what HAPPENED???

I know I’m behind the times, but I was introduced to Second Life recently and I’m finding it absolutely fascinating.

In response to the $37k paid by snorestop in an ebay auction to advertise on some dude’s forehead, check out these idiots that have jumped on the bandwagon.

There just isn’t any better time of year than right now. The air is crisp, the leaves are colorful, and the kids are growing. What has caused the blog entries to be so sporadic you ask? Well, between a role change at work, and every weekend spent morning ’til night having family fun time, there just hasn’t been a lot of time to download all of the pictures and write about things. Here’s some of the fun that has transpired:

Tricia ran in the Race for the Cure.

We went Apple Picking.

I went to San Francisco on business.

Anna started swim lessons.

We went to the scarecrow festival and rolled around in the grass.

We picked out the perfect pumpkin.

If the Bills would manage a victory at some point, I might consider this to be the best Fall ever.

When not procrastinating on my latest web architecture I can chuck paperwads into a fakebasket online. I just can’t seem to catch the paper airplane.

This is an awesome piece of political satire.

On Saturday we made the journey to the Fairgrounds for the DuPage County Fair. As far as fairs go I must say this is one of the more impressive events I’ve been to. We now have successfully introduced the kids to elephant ears. They are still too small for the rides, but the goats, pigs, cows, and baby chicks were enough to them entertained all day. What amazes me the most is how agricultural one of the most affluent counties in the state is. I just don’t know where they shipped in all these animals from when every day in the paper you read how the last specs of farmland have been developed into housing. While we didn’t hang around for the rodeo or the demolition derby, I cn’t remember a more fun fair experience.

Following on the bootstraps of the last time that Tricia and I actually left the house by ourseles, we went to another 1970’s tribute movie. This time it wasn’t Starsky and Hutch, oh no… it was Will “We’re Goin’ Streakin'” Ferrell in Anchorman. The movie really didn’t start off that funny, but by the end of the short hour and a half I got into the shtick and was rolling on the floor.

I’m just the least critical, easiest to please moviegoer ever. Give me some fart jokes and some polyester suits and you’ve got my 8 bucks wholeheartedly.

I got a chance to see Starsky & Hutch on Friday. I’m very much interested in attending any film that brings 70’s and 80’s era car chase tv to the big screen. If they ever make a movie of the Dukes of Hazzard, Knight Rider, or the Rockford Files, I’m there. Starsky and Hutch was typical Ben Stiller. The hard luck, quirky, slightly feminine, every-man’s hero… just what I needed on a Friday.