4:30am Saturday Morning

And I'm wide awake.  I fell asleep on the couch again, as has been my habit recently and woke up just after 4am.  Awesome.  I don't remember when I fell asleep, I think around 11, so I guess that's close enough to a full night of sleep.  Have a big day planned with Skip heading down to Fitzpatrick Stadium to watch some high school fooseball.  It's sort of a tradition since they moved all three classes to Fitzy a few years ago.  It's actually a pretty cool setup for the first two teams that play because the crowds are usually big but the third game always gets shafted, not so much because a lot of people leave (though I'm sure they do) but because that game doesn't start until 6pm so it's almost always cold as balls.  Back in my younger days when I was a fooseballer (Now I'm just a fooseball fooseballer..) I hated the cold.  I never "got" the whole thing about acting tough and not wearing sleeves, or thinking football should be played in the snow.  My sentiments: Fuck that.  I stayed as warm as I could.  When I was at Bates all athletes were issued gray sweatpants and sweatshirts to wear for the season.  And when it got cold I would wear the sweatshirt under my pads.  Ya.  I dressed like a 6 year old youth fooseball player.  But I was warm.  All the shit I got was certainly warranted as I looked like a clown but that's neither here nor there.  Maybe that explains some of my poor performances...If only I had not worn sleeves in practice maybe I would have been a better player...but I digress.  Back to Fitzy.

When I was a high school fooseballer my team made it all the way to the Class A State Championship game.  We had to have been one of the worst teams to ever make a championship game.  Ya, we had a good bit of talent and out defense was nails but we were flat out awful on offense.  In the first eleven games of the year we never game up more than 14 points, yet we were 4-4.  But at any rate we got hot and went on a little run through the playoffs and beat Lewiston in the PTC Championship, a game which decided which team from the Eastern conference had the "privilege" of getting flat out demolished by Portland.  41-8.  Ya, we got worked.  But the PTC championship game was a good overall assessment of my football playing ability: slightly above average.  Muffed a punt in the first half which led to Lewiston's first TD, but pick-sixed a pass in the 2nd half to tie the game up.  We missed the extra point and the goddam game went to two overtimes and I was fracking cold by the end, but that's neither here nor there.  More or less this performance was on par with my life in general, I suppose.  And I don't find anything wrong with that.  Just be on the good side of the bell curve and everything is gravy, right?  O, and Yeah, high school.  Just had to get that out of my system.  2nd O: If anyone out there on the "internet" has a copy of that '02 PTC Championship game, VHS, DVD or otherwise I'd appreciate it if you could let me know and I could make a copy, as I think my copy has been misplaced.  You're all too kind..

Sidenote here on high school.  Maybe it's just me but if I could have stayed a junior in high school forever I'm pretty sure I would have.  You're an upperclassman so you have a little clout, my class was good at most sports so that was pretty nice, by this time we were all 16 and we all had our licenses so we could go wherever we wanted (right, Sloat?), high school classes are jokes and you have absolutely no responsibilities whatsoever.  I mean, I worked summers in a screen printing shop which wasn't glamorous but it filled my gastank and allowed me to live the lifestyle I'm now accustomed to (read: barely getting by.  HAH!).  [Lester:When I was your age, I flipped burgers all summer just to be able to buy an eight-track. Ricky: That sucks. Lester: No, actually it was great. All I did was party and get laid. I had my whole life ahead of me..]  But seriously there was no college or real life coming up, no pressure.  It was a pretty good ride.  So if there are any juniors in high school out there reading this: Stop reading this, it's not meant for you.  But also enjoy yourselves, you might not know how good you have it..

Picked up a new winter hat today.  As I look back today was actually a pretty good day.  Made dinner.  Pizza.  Or flatbread.  Flatbread pizza, maybe?  Came out OK except for the fact I was the only one home when they finished cooking around 7 (I was hungry, sorry..) so by the time my folks got home they were a little chilly and I made one of them a quasi-pizza margherita with sliced tomatoes so the crust was a tad bit moist in thinner places.  D'oh!  But overall they came out well.  I got the dough at the Italian Bakery, my favorite little hidden gem in the twin cities.  Well, I think it's kind of hidden.  A few people know about it...the right people.  But they make a good dough so I picked up a ball and went to Hannaford Bros. and picked up some fresh mozzarel, a big ol' red onion and a couple of tomatoes, then just used some other ingredients from home.  I grilled off the dough with a little olive oil first, and that made for a nice crunch when all was said and done.  I used some leftover chicken with the onion which I caramelized and some BBQ sauce for a base and some shredded cheese for my own take on a BBQ chicken pizza.  I kind of skimped on the cheese on this one, but I'll still give it an 8.  The aforementioned pizza margherita
came out swell, too.  The fresh mozzarel really brought it home.  De-lish.  I still have half a blob of mozzarel leftover so I'm pretty certain early next week will be another pizza day.  But not Monday.  The I-Ti is closed on Mondays.  So wait until Tuesday to try to go.  Or go today.  They have a great Saturday baked bean special.

Back to the hat.  This has really kind of drifted around, eh?  I went o the Auburn Mall to look for a hat as I like Carhartt winter hats and Super Shoes sells quite an assortment of Carhartt products.  I was originally going to stop at a place on Lisbon St. that I saw last weekend...but I must have missed it when I drove by because I never quite saw it today.  They had a random ass flag waving out front last time and this time I saw know flag so maybe they were closed.  I'll try again another time.  They sell Red Wing boots.  I'd like a pair of Red Wing boots to go with...my other pairs of boots.  But again, I digress.  I hadn't been to the Mall in awhile and it surely didn't disappoint.  First because I found a great hat, and second because there were a lot of jokers milling about...probably myself included.  But passing the movie store I laughed because the promo cutouts they had in front all had price tags on them...for which I feel partly responsible.  Back in the day I played wheelman for a birthday-present gathering mission which involved the Red Dragon in its prime, A tiny, blond-haired boy and a 4 foot tall, 3-D How the Grinch Stole Christmas cutout.  It barely fit in the back with the tumble seat folded up.  Haha.  For whatever reason Jenny loved the new Grinch movie.  I thought it sucked, but that's just me.  Why did they have to try to outdo a timeless classic?  Fuck You, Jim Carey.  But this wasn't shoplifting.  It was outside the store and didn't have a price tag on it.  It wanted to go with us.  So, ya.  It was a pretty sweet present; we were pretty sweet for acquiring it.  John and Wanda didn't ask questions, which was nice.  And since then all the cutouts in this particular movie store have had price tags on them.  Too late, my friends.  Too late.

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More on the Lobster Claw

Post-dinner I had nothing to do while the Celts were on so I started poking around on the "internet" looking for ways to take delightfully awful smells off of shells.  And other rhymes, too.  But mostly smells and shells.  One guy recommended a bleach & water soak using a half cup bleach and 3 gallons of water.  It was the top link on Google.  I went with it.  But I'm more of a more-is-better guy so I put probably a cup and a half in the bucket.  But, of course, the bucket wouldn't quite fit all of the claw so I had to flip it.  And a 20 minute soak turned into an hour.  So this guy's white in some spots now instead of mostly black all over.  Call him MJ.  Except for the tip of the claw which is still mostly black and shows where the bleach bath ended.  It happens.  And my hands smell like bleach, even after repeated washings...I think I'm just going to bleach the top part I "missed" again, spray some lacquer on it and call it good.  As long as it doesn't stink I feel pretty good about things.  Well, stink like fish.  Now it stinks like bleach.  Hopefully that goes away...I don't think you can bleach something to get rid of bleach smell.  I didn't bother to take a picture, guess you'll have to wait with baited breath to see how things shake out.

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It's now nearing 6am.  O, I'm up for WCLZ's acoustic sunrise.  It's gonna be a good day, Tater.  Every Saturday from 6-10am or 7-10am CLZ plays only acoustic music.  Lots of live works.  Pretty solid start to a weekend.  But I always sleep through it or forget if I'm actually up for some reason.  Not today, my friends.  Not today.  Click a link above and you can stream online.  It's a good station.  Enjoy.

And on the subject of music (sort of) have you ever been listening to some music on your computer, then clicked on a website that has music and had your mind blown?  Two songs at once DJ Clue-(DJ Clue)...REMIX-(remix)-style.  I don't go to a ton of websites but I've got another blog that I read with a music player on it and every time I click to it...it punks me.  I try to shut off my music before I click over but I usually forget (Yep, I forget.  Do you you ever forget?  It happens to me..) so I get all "What the crap is going on?" for about 30 seconds...then remember.  I stop my music when I read mainly because the player contains some good music but also because I figure I should try to get the whole effect.  Seems appropriate, right?  So, good taste and welcome back..

Don't expect any music on the 'Pad any time soon, though.  Make your own soundtrack (read: I'm lazy..)..

Didn't feel like proof reading.  Deal with it.  Get your weekend started off correctly.  Cheers.