Cope with This

Safety First!

2009-06-23T23:00:00.005-04:00

6/10:

I try to do as many racing-related activities as possible, including getting to the local go-kart tracks and occasionally racing in my own car during autocross events. I finally got a little tired of borrowing/renting helmets that who-knows-how-many people had worn before me, putting up with scratched shields that didn't stay in place, and generally not feeling very cool and decided to buy my own helmet. Considering how much I like racing, this was a pretty big deal.

I did a little poking around and found out that there really aren't too many places around Cambridge to buy racing helmets. Fortunately there are many different places online ranging from the helmet manufacturers themselves (www.simpsonraceproducts.com, www.bellracing.com) to Herb's Helmet Hut of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Comparing prices of various helmets across these options revealed minimal differences, so I opted to go straight to the manufacturer as I thought cutting the middleman would be a good idea. My first choice was a Simpson Avenger (the link was good as of this writing), which I thought was a great deal: a decent helmet from a well-known manufacturer for only about $220, where other apparently comparable helmets cost at least $40 more (and some were $1000 more). I eagerly ordered one up the Monday before Memorial Day. Two days later I got a phone call from Simpson: apparently they don't have any of those helmets left in stock, and in fact they don't even make them anymore. I'm not sure why you can still add one to your cart on their website, but the helpful customer service lady seemed pretty unconcerned about it. Unfortunately, their next-cheapest option was $300, so I moved on to Bell Racing. Their website offered, among others, the Bell Sport which again is a decent helmet from a well-known manufacturer for about $260. Supposing I'd forget about the $40, and not finding any sweeter deals elsewhere, I added the Bell, size large to my shopping cart. As an aside, I had tried on a few helmets in the pro shop of the go-kart track, and the mediums were rather small: my chin poked prominently out from the bottom and the padding was borderline-uncomfortable. I added a helmet bag to my order (I'll need something to carry it around in, after all), and a pair of karting gloves, also size large, to round out my accessories.

Clicking "Buy Online" didn't quite do what I thought it would: I was brought to the site of something called "Shopatron," which to me is essentially Spanish for "what the hell is this?" A little poking around revealed that Shopatron (seriously? What, was Shop-O-Matic already taken?) is a company that facilitates online merchandise purchases, and Bell Racing has outsourced their online store to them. It appears to be legit, but it also appears to be either something straight out of '98, Bush League, or both. Regardless, all of Bell Racing products were there, and my cart seemed to be accurate, so off it went.

The following morning, Thursday, I got an e-mail from Shopatron letting me know my order had been submitted and would be shipped shortly. Of course by "shortly" they meant the next morning, when I got another e-mail, this time from North American Race Gear (wait, who?), letting me know my order had shipped. I was a little miffed that I had deliberately gone to the manufacturer to get the helmet straight from them and had been piped through a middle man regardless, but there was little I could do about it at that point. I had chosen the cheapest shipping option ($17.90 for "3 to 5 days" via USPS), and considering it was just before Memorial Day weekend and the USPS takes Sundays off anyway, I expected everything to arrive sometime between Wednesday and Friday of the following week. Of course my shipping option didn't include online tracking, but I honestly wasn't concerned about it.

Yet.

Of course Wednesday and Thursday come and go without any deliveries. I was still holding out hope for Friday, but I got yet another e-mail Friday morning, this time from Bell Racing. It was a product satisfaction survey, as they wanted to know how much I was enjoying my new helmet. When I clicked the "I don't know, I don't frigging have it yet" button, I got a message to the effect of "You should have gotten it by now, we'll look into it." Here's a tip: if you want someone to think something is wrong, tell them something is wrong. It worked like a champ on me. I would have loved to have checked the online tracking to see where my $350 of stuff was, but as noted above that wasn't an option. I helpfully mentioned this in the "Do you have any other comments?" section...

Fortunately the doorbell rang Friday evening, and Amanda came back from answering it holding a helmet-sized box. With a UPS sticker on it. Hmm. It would have been nice if they had sent over the tracking number once they decided to forget about the USPS and send it via big brown truck, but whatever, it was here. I popped open the box and the gloves were sitting on top. I pulled them on and they fit like gloves. They were just barely big enough without being too small. I rightly figured that a few races would break them in and they'd be awesome. Under the gloves was the helmet bag, and under the bag was the helmet. In a bag. Turns out Bell Racing helmets come with bags. It would be helpful if they mentioned that on their website so you didn't go spending $20 on an extra one, but I guess that's what I get for accessorizing. Finally, I pulled on the helmet, and of course it was massive. I could almost spin it around my head. It was big enough that with it on I could fit my hands up in it and waggle my fingers in front of my face. I didn't think I had an unusual hand-to-head ratio, but apparently my hands are a size large and my head is somewhat smaller.

I kicked an e-mail to North American Race Gear (specifically Chris, who had sent the shipment confirmation message) letting him know I had selected the wrong size helmet and could I possibly exchange it, and oh I bought myself an extra bag and if there was anything he could do about it that would be awesome. Fortunately for me, Chris and North American Race Gear shoot pretty straight, and he let me know all I had to do was send the helmet and both bags back, and he'd send me what I needed. It took me until Wednesday after work to get to the UPS store to send the helmet back. The nice UPS man charged me $10 and said it would be there on Friday, two days later. Turns out he was extra-right, as (according to the online tracking) it got there early Friday morning, about 36 hours after I had dropped it off. While that was awesome on the surface, and while my math skills aren't stellar, it was also half the shipping cost to cover the same distance in a quarter of the time, with online tracking. Hmm. I had sent Chris the tracking number the morning after I sent the package, and he assured me he was preparing my new shipment. Unfortunately all I can do now is wait and hope that everything is as it should be when it gets here, probably sometime next week...

In the meantime, if you're considering buying a helmet, go find a local race gear shop to buy one from, even if "local" means an hour or two away. You'll likely get to talk to someone who can help you find one that is appropriate for what you're going to use it for (although you'll probably feel like you don't know what you're talking about), you'll get to try on as many as you need to find one that fits nice, and you'll take it home that day for just about the same price as you'd pay online before shipping (either one-way or several round-trips). Now you know.

Update 6/17:

Last weekend passed without any sign of any packages being left for me, so Sunday night I e-mailed my pal Chris at North American Race Gear looking for an ETA. I didn't hear anything back by mid-day Monday, so I gave him a ring... and had to leave a voicemail. I got to work today (Tuesday) still without any word at all, so I gave Chris another ring and finally managed to catch him. It turns out that the helmet was back-ordered when he went looking for a medium to send me. Apparently they're due to get them sometime in the next day or two, after which he said he'd "ship it immediately and e-mail or call me with the tracking number." What a peach.

Update 6/23:

Finally.

After one failed attempt to deliver the helmet while nobody was home, UPS managed to catch Amanda this afternoon. Well, barely. She had to run down the street in a bathrobe to catch the departing UPS guy, as he had rung the doorbell while she was in the shower. She knew who it was and what he was delivering, and since she is amazing she ran him down for me.

Fortunately for everyone involved, this helmet fits and I'm pretty excited to get it out on the track.

Moral of the story:

DON'T BUY HELMETS ONLINE. It's enough of a pain in the ass to get one; you sure as heck don't want to have to try to get another if the first isn't exactly what you need. Seriously, just go to a local race gear shop, even if "local" means an hour or two away. You'll likely get to talk to someone who can help you find one that is appropriate for what you're going to use it for (although you'll probably feel like you don't know what you're talking about), you'll get to try on as many as you need to find one that fits nice, and you'll take it home that day for just about the same price as you'd pay online before shipping (either one-way or several round-trips). I've said it twice for a reason. Now you know.

Celtics vs. Toronto

2009-01-18T23:44:00.000-05:00

Another slow week this week, although I went to the Celtics/Raptors game Monday, and it was my sister's birthday on Wednesday. Amanda came with me to the Celtics game, and that's always a good time. The Celtics as an organization put on a wicked entertaining show. The basketball is obviously good, but the clips they play on the big screen, the music, and everything else they do works really well together. I like watching basketball about as much as I like watching hockey, but going to Celtics games is a lot more fun than going to Bruins games.

We didn't do anything for my sister's birthday, although everyone sent her cards. Mine was an e-card, and she hadn't checked her e-mail for most of the day so she was pretty peeved when she thought I had just been lazy or forgotten. I gotta remember to follow that up with a phone call or something next year.

Bruins

2009-01-11T23:40:00.002-05:00

This past week was fairly quiet, although on Tuesday I made it to a Bruins game. It was my first (and possibly only) game this season, so I was pretty excited. They played the Minnesota Wild, which is the team we got our backup goalie from, so we were hoping they'd play him. Unfortunately (for him), Tim Thomas got the start. Unfortunately for everyone, the Bs lost 1 - 0. While we were there, we noticed the Wild's logo is much more complicated than it appears at first glance:

Looking closely, you can see the main shape is that of a wild cat or bear, but it incorporates a river, tree line, and full moon, ostensibly of the Minnesota landscape. The "eye" of the animal represents the North Star, an homage to the Minnesota North Stars hockey team.

New Years, etc.

2009-01-04T21:39:00.007-05:00

Amanda and I had our two year anniversary this past week, along with New Year's Eve. For our anniversary we went to one of our favorite restaurants in the North End, The Florentine Cafe. We had our third date there, and for some reason we always seem to have really good luck walking in and getting a table without much of a wait.

A few days later for New Year's Eve we went to our friends' house in Mansfield. We knew it would be a good time, but the drive was a challenge. The highway was mainly wet, but there was a lot of salt, which kept coating the windshield. Of course it was about 15 degrees outside, so my windshield washer sprayers were frozen. I'm always amazed when that happens; it seems like something we would have figured out how to prevent a while ago. We actually had to stop a few times on the way to scrub the windshield with snow so I could see.

Once there we had a great time. Equipped with the safety net that is Alka-Seltzer Wake-up Call, we downed several bottles of champagne, vodka, and High Life. We ran out of champagne flutes, so I was using a Sam Adams beer glass instead. The next morning we hit up Percy's to sample New England's Largest Breakfast menu, and it was absolutely delicious.

This about sums it up:

Note that is a bottle of High Life, and a glass of champagne. Happy New Year.

Adenovirus

2008-10-16T10:16:00.004-04:00

Last week I was fighting off what I thought was a fairly routine sore throat. People around the office have been coughing a lot lately, and I thought my insanely-robust immune system was simply shrugging off whatever was floating around. Unfortunately, come Sunday morning, I felt bad enough to not leave the couch all day. I made it out Sunday night to catch Body of Lies, which was solid, but woke up Monday morning with my eyes full of garbage. I took the day off of work so I could sleep off whatever cold/allergy combination had come to visit, and while I felt better Tuesday morning, my eyes were still full of slime and had gone all pink. My throat didn't feel any better either, so I worked from the couch, sure that I'd be ready to roll Wednesday.

Of course, I was wrong. I was in the same condition Wednesday morning as Tuesday, so I headed for the doctor's office, where I found out I had a strain of Adenovirus. Allegedly "rampant in the community" right now, I blame the coughing carrier monkeys at work.

The doctor put me on Sudafed, Advil, and fancy eyedrops, and I'll cease to be contagious by about noon today.

Friggin' monkeys.

Colgate

2008-10-06T21:32:00.004-04:00

This past weekend, Amanda and I drove out to Hamilton, NY to visit Colgate University where she got her undergrad degree. I don't think I've ever been out to that part of New York, so it was interesting to see. Amanda drove for sentimental reasons, and I was actually pretty nice to just hang out for a few hours.
As scenic as it is, there isn't a heck of a lot to do out there, so most of the weekend was checking out parts of campus and checking out the bars. The campus buildings are mostly pretty new, although they're all built to look old. A new science building was put up since Amanda graduated, so we spent an extra few minutes walking around in it, and it was damn impressive, especially for a primarily liberal arts school. Plus, any building with a planetarium gets extra marks in my book.
The bars in Hamilton are all predictably small and crowded, but they also all have plenty of cheap beer. One, Risky Business, had the two scariest bar tenders I have ever seen. Both women, one looked like she must have been 60+ but was dressed like a 13-year-old, and the other was probably late 30s but looked like she had literally just gotten out of bed. A huge selling point, aside from the cheap beer, was the most badass Miller Lite sign I have ever seen. I can't even find a picture on the Internet, such is the awesomeness. It looked like it was from the 70's, and was an animated, scrolling city/mountain/beach panorama.
We had driven out to Hamilton on Friday night, so our drive home on Sunday afternoon gave us a chance to actually check out the scenery, which was pretty nice. There were a couple of wind farms just outside of Hamilton and as scared as I am of huge windmills, they really do look awesome. The ride home took us about four and a half hours, and despite my hangover it made for a nice end to a nice weekend.

Wedding in the Poconos

2008-10-05T21:50:00.002-04:00

Early in August, two of Amanda’s best friends got married in the Poconos. The wedding itself was on a Saturday, but we headed down Thursday night. Amanda was a bridesmaid and the associated brunches, lunches, and parties started Friday.

I’d never driven through the Poconos before, but it was about what I expected: lots of hills, lots of trees, some deer, and not really much else.

We stayed at a cottage complex in the area. We arrived at about 11pm Thursday night, and there were virtually no lights at all near our cottage, so it felt a little like we were sneaking through a neighborhood as we unpacked the car.

The rehearsal dinner, wedding, and reception were at the SkyTop country club (which has a well equipped bar, and a well equipped lawn bowling court), but the brunches, lunches, etc. were at the Maid of Honor’s parent’s house on a nearby lake. The house was on a “preserve,” which I found meant an elaborate gated neighborhood surrounding a huge lake, with nothing but muddy dirt roads. Miles of muddy dirt roads. It was one of the few times since I’ve had the Mustang that I actually missed my old Bronco II.

Despite the terrain, all of the events were fun and it was fun hanging out with everyone, none of which we get to see very often.

Helping Move

2008-08-25T13:13:00.000-04:00

About a month ago one of my good friends and his wife moved from one house in Western Mass to another. He's helped me move a few times at least, so it was really no trouble to wake up a little early on a Saturday and head out there to help. No trouble until I sat stopped in traffic on the Pike for an extra hour, anyway.
Traffic, and the 90+ heat aside, the move went about as well as it could have. It's essentially standard procedure now that I'm one of the goons who crawls around in the recesses of whatever truck is being used, cramming oddly-shaped things into oddly-shaped spaces. My goal is to make myself useful by lugging heavy things around the hot truck and keeping the number of required runs as low as possible. You'll have to ask the people I've helped if that is actually a useful thing to do or not...
The movees are renting space in a friend's house, which was essentially already full of stuff. I felt a little bad about piling all of their things in either the garage, the living room, or their bedroom, but hopefully they have it all sorted out by now.
I unfortunately had to leave early in the afternoon to make it home in time for dinner plans, but as far as I know nothing was seriously damaged in the move, which is about all you can hope for. The leg of a table or couch or something made a bit of a mess of the plastic frame around a TV screen, but as far as I know it still works fine. Besides, now it has character.

Walking with Dinosaurs

2008-08-20T13:08:00.003-04:00

Last month Amanda and I went to Walking with Dinosaurs at the Garden. I didn't know anything about it other than a vague promise of animatronics, and I was not disappointed. The show was actually pretty awesome. We were guided through a history of dinosaurs and their evolution by a nearly fearless human guide, who was dwarfed by the massive dinos walking around him.
The show was immersive, with elaborate and clever backgrounds and environments for the dinos to lumber around in. The lone flying dino required some slight imagination, but the effect came off well.
The dinosaurs themselves were surprisingly lifelike, and it required as much imagination to figure out how they worked as to think of them as real.
It was definitely worth the price of admission, and not nearly as campy as I would have thought.

New England GP

2008-08-15T14:25:00.000-04:00

Last month the American Le Mans Series came to Lime Rock Park in Connecticut for the New England Grand Prix. Six of us made the three hour drive down and it was a blast. If you've never been to an auto race before, the first thing you'll notice is how loud it is. Some of the cars are absolutely deafening. One of the draws of the ALMS is the variety of cars racing against each other. Most series, like NASCAR, essentially use just one kind of car, and this is completely different. You can close your eyes and easily tell if a Corvette, Ferrari F430, or Porsche 911 just went by.
Lime Rock is a short, fast, narrow track so the racing is exciting for the whole race. There were no major wrecks, although one of the Audis pitched itself into a barrier pretty hard.
Basically the whole day was sitting out in the sun watching loud, fast cars scream by. I really can't think of too many other things I'd rather do.

July 4th on the Cape

2008-07-16T12:28:00.000-04:00

This year Amanda and I spent 4th of July weekend at her parents' Cape house. Her parents were in Chicago for a wedding, so there was plenty of room for three of our friends, too.
The weather was not great, although it was warm the entire time. There was a period of good sun on Friday afternoon, which we took full advantage of by playing bocce in the immaculately-maintained yard. Saturday was a total rain-out, but we got to the beach on Sunday.
Most of the weekend was split between sleeping, eating, and drinking, but we managed to get some bowling in as well.
Unfortunately there wasn't anywhere for us to go to see fireworks, although there were enough backyard shows going on to remind us what day it was. Other than that, it was a great weekend, and a nice follow-up to the Jersey vacation.

Stone Harbor

2008-07-16T12:20:00.000-04:00

Towards the end of June, I went with Amanda and my family to the south shore of New Jersey. If you've never been to the beach there, it's a lot nicer than you think. The sand is really fine, almost like a powder, and the beach itself is very well maintained. We stay in a cottage a few blocks away and for the most part it is completely awesome. Amanda came down with us last year, too, so everything was pretty routine. We've gone down there basically every year since about 1981, and I'm definitely looking forward to next year already.

Celtics

2008-06-18T10:04:00.004-04:00

"Amazing" is about the only word that covers it.

Scoring 131 points in four quarters

to beat the LA Lakers

in the Finals

to win the first title in 22 years

Actually being in the building for that was one of the most incredible things that I have ever done.

The craziest part of the game was when we were up by 30+ in the fourth quarter, the Lakers got the ball after another Celtics basket, and the whole place was still chanting "DEE - FENSE! DEE - FENSE!"

To say that we've had a good run in Boston recently would be a colossal understatement.

And to say that I've been lucky to see Manny's 500th and the Celtics' 17th in the span of a month would be just as colossal an understatement.

I guess "colossal" works, too.

Paintball

2008-06-12T13:19:00.000-04:00

We headed back down to Upton for more paintball this past Sunday. It was hot. The thermometer, sitting in the shade, read 90 for most of the day. The upside was we were mostly in the woods. The downside was we were mostly running through the woods. The other downside was that our team got its ass kicked. The teams are essentially random, with the refs mainly concerned about equal numbers. It usually shakes out about even, if not in our favor, but we looked like kids this time out.
For some reason we took a fair number of nasty hits, too. I started it off by getting shot directly in the Adam's apple. Fortunately the shot was from a pretty good distance and I was wearing a neoprene neck guard specifically for that purpose. Nonetheless I ended up with a scratchy voice for a few hours, and a bruise that's still visible four days later. Another one of us came across a kid who didn't exactly know the rules, particularly the ones about close-range combat, and got blasted in the arm from something like three feet away. 280 feet-per-second is the maximum velocity allowed on this field, and it turns out that a paintball hitting your arm at 190 mph will raise about a 3/4-inch bloody welt. Totally nasty. We were all sure that was going to be the worst of it until the last round of the day. One of us got tagged right in the throat, but from much closer than my hit and without the benefit of a neck guard. You should see what it looks like when someone has a golfball-sized bloody welt right in the middle of their neck. Actually, you shouldn't, it's friggin' disgusting. He was a wicked trooper about it and thought it was "awesome," although I'm not sure if he still thinks so.
Don't let any of this deter you from thinking it's a good time, because it is. Let me know if you're interested in going next time and I'll kick you an e-mail.
And yeah, I have extra neck guards.

Baltimore

2008-06-11T13:19:00.001-04:00

Two weekends ago, Amanda's parents brought us down to Baltimore to catch some Sox games. The trip has been planned for months, and none of us really thought too much about it other than to be excited to finally get to Camden Yards.
First, the bad news. Shortly before the trip, we learned that one of Amanda's relatives passed away as a result of complications from a recent, and extremely unexpected, heart attack. Everyone took the news hard, although in some weird coincidence all of the proceedings happened in North Carolina that Sunday, so essentially Amanda and her parents were halfway there already and headed south after the games.
Being huge Sox fans, and somewhat in need of a distraction, the trip to The Yards was still on. Of course, we get down there only to realize that Manny Ramirez is sitting on 499 career home runs. Friday night's game was great, as it was the first time we had been to the park, and our seats were good. The crew directing people to their seats even escorted us (and everyone else, of course) right to our seats before Windexing and wiping them down for us to make sure we didn't have to sit on Oriole poop. No Ramirez home runs that night despite the game going 13 innings, but the Celtics booted the Pistons out of the playoffs and there were numerous Celtics banners getting run through the stands. Remember, this is in Baltimore.
Saturday night's game was incredible. We were sitting in left field, just beyond third base. Watching Jacoby Ellsbury steal absolutely everything was wicked fun, but then the 7th inning happened. Manny absolutely cranked the first pitch he saw into the right field seats, and the place went berserk.

The rest of the trip, Sunday's game, the Harborside area of Baltimore, Babe Ruth's house, Annapolis, seeing the Sox in the lobby of their hotel, was all great. Seriously though, 500 home runs.
Wow

F1 Outdoors

2008-06-10T13:18:00.001-04:00

F1 Outdoors is a go-kart track in East Bridgewater we've been meaning to get to. It's run by the same company as F1 Boston (an indoor track in Braintree) but is, as expected, outdoors. A group of us finally made it over there, and it was awesome.

The karts felt like faster versions of their indoor counterparts, although the time sheets suggested they were actually about the same speed. The biggest difference was the fact that there were no guardrails immediately next to the track; the whole circuit had standard red-and-white racetrack curbing and ample runoff before getting to the barriers. The track layout was also a little more conducive to flat-out racing, as opposed to the extremely tight and windy indoor courses. Both of these details not only made it feel faster, but actually allowed for better racing and more fun. I had a couple of come-from-the-back runs that I wish I had on camera.

We're definitely heading back there fairly soon, and we're toying with the viability of starting a race team; it's that much fun. Let me know if you want to come with us next time and I'll shoot you an e-mail.

Celts/Detroit

2008-06-09T13:18:00.004-04:00

People can be loud. I've been in a lot of loud crowds and I thought I was reasonably familiar with just how loud a building full of people could actually get. The roar of the crowd at Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals was without any doubt the loudest human-generated noise I have ever heard in my life. Seriously rock-concert, so-loud-you-can't-hear-yourself-scream loud.
Loud
Even though we lost, the game was great. Both teams played well, the aforementioned crowd was unbelievable, and right up until the final seconds of the game we thought the Celtics would take it. Being there for the first home loss of the playoffs obviously isn't the best thing, but since we now know that the Pistons won't be getting new rings, it's all good.

Birthday

2008-06-08T13:33:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, Amanda and my sister took me to a Sox game for my birthday. The weather was awesome, which was good because we were out in the open; it just started to sprinkle as the game ended, but otherwise it was sunny and warm.
The Sox won, and I had a great time.
Afterwards, we went to a bar to watch the Celtics knock the Cavs out of the playoffs. It was an absolutely awesome day.

D.C.

2008-05-14T13:00:00.001-04:00

My grad-school-bound little sister graduated from college this past weekend down in D.C., and the whole family headed down to watch. It was actually the first time in a long time that the five Copes went anywhere without additional company, and it worked out pretty well.
D.C. is a neat place with a lot of interesting monuments, although basically everyone upon entering the District gets a strong and vocal opinion about all kinds of political issues and isn't afraid to share. Even people who don't normally talk about politics decide it's a good place to start, including myself.
We took a bicycle tour around the city, and that was a great time. We were led along the numerous walking/bike paths to some of the monuments, where our travelling guide would tell us about them. After a few minutes of wandering around we'd get back on the bikes and head to the next one. I forgot how much fun it was to get air off of bumps in the sidewalk and it almost made me want to get a bike to ride to work. Almost.
The graduation ceremony was indoors and out of the rain, and it actually wasn't too bad. They break the students up by school, and we only had to watch two schools' worth get their names read. The speaker was Dr. Vernon Jordan Jr., and he was actually pretty interesting.
I can't believe that my little sister just graduated from college... It's amazing how nobody ever gets any younger...

Paintball

2008-05-14T12:50:00.002-04:00

A couple of weekends ago a bunch of us dusted off our paintball gear and headed down to Upton for the day. We played a couple of times per month last summer, but we definitely didn't start until later in the year. The field, which is usually pretty dry, was loaded with mud and running water, and it was a great time. It threatened to rain all day but all we ever got was a quick misting mid-day.
I personally played fairly well, especially considering it was the first game of the season, although our team as a whole wasn't particularly dominant. Our pack is still relying too heavily on the actions of the other goobers that are there, and that never works out. Hopefully we'll figure it out next time.

Westford Road Race

2008-05-14T12:15:00.000-04:00

Earlier this month Amanda ran the 5k part of the Westford Road Race. Almost, but not quite a coincidence, she ran with a friend of ours who is dating another friend of ours who went to High School with me there. Amanda kicked it out in 36:40, which is probably about twice as fast as I could do it.
I have basically no desire to run for distance, but I definitely think it's impressive.

Good work, babe!

Philly

2008-05-14T12:00:00.000-04:00

Last month, Amanda and I headed down to Philly to see a few friends of hers from college. Philadelphia is a pretty bi-polar city, with all of the crappy parts on one side, all of the nice parts on the other, and Broad St. running right up the middle. It seems like anyone who has been on the wrong side of Broad street looks at me like I have two heads when I tell them I like it there.
I do feel pretty badass heading down to Philly just to hang out for the weekend, and Amanda's friends are absolutely awesome. Aside from them, and the obvious draw of cheese steak, Philly is packed with stores, bars, and parks. It reminds me a little of parts of Boston, and that's definitely a good thing.
While I was there I learned about the Curse of William Penn, which essentially blames the lack of success of Philly pro sports teams (no championships in any sport since 1983) on someone constructing a building taller than the statue of William Penn which sits atop City Hall. Apparently the contractor who oversaw the construction has died, leaving his son (a friend of Amanda's friends) with the blame.

Celtics Playoffs

2008-05-14T11:56:00.003-04:00

Last Thursday I took Amanda to the Celtics game (second round against the Cleveland Cavaliers). I went to a few games during the regular season, and this was way more intense. The crowd was going absolutely nuts from about the middle of the first (when we started scoring) until about the middle of the fourth (when we were up by 20 and everyone started going home). The show put on by the Celtics as an organization is incredible. They always have something going on when there's a break in the action, and the combination of the announcing, music, and scoreboard is a great compliment to the game.
Of course it helps that the Celts are motoring through the playoffs, although their inability to win on the road is a serious cause for concern. Keep your fingers crossed.

Back to Cali

2008-04-30T14:35:00.007-04:00

Amanda and I are taking a vacation to SoCal this summer, and I'm wicked excited about it! I haven't been back to Cali since I left almost two years ago. She's never hung around the LA/San Diego area so it should be fun to show her around. I never really got a chance to do all of the touristy things while I was out there, so that will be fun too.

Boston Marathon

2008-04-30T14:35:00.005-04:00

Proving that both of my sisters are more capable (or at least more motivated) than I am, my non-grad-school-bound little sister ran her second Boston Marathon this year. She kicked total ass, cranking out a time somewhere near 4:13, about a minute faster than last year. There aren't too many things I can do for four straight hours, and basically none of them require physical exertion.

Good work, sis!

Grad School

2008-04-30T14:34:00.003-04:00

My little sister got into grad school! She's officially "one of those smart kids," and clearly doesn't take after her brother. I did spend six years in college, but I definitely only have one degree to show for it.

Good work, sis!

Easter

2008-04-10T16:35:00.004-04:00

Easter weekend, Amanda came out to Longmeadow with us to spend the day with my family. My cousin brought Rock Band for his XBox 360 and it was an absolute blast. I was shocked to see not only my cousins but my aunt and uncle all playing. Amanda even sang a few and gave the drums a shot. I don't think that many family members have ever had so much fun doing something non-competitive.
Dinner was delicious as usual, and it was great to see the family since I haven't seen most of them since Thanksgiving.

12 Hours of Sebring

2008-03-20T10:15:00.002-04:00

Last weekend the 56th annual running of the 12 Hours of Sebring, a sports car race down in Florida. The race began at just past 10am Saturday morning. The Speed channel showed about 10 hours of the race, taking two hours off mid-day to bring us critical coverage of the NASCAR Nationwide series' practice session at Bristol, which really is as interesting as it sounds.
To read what I thought of the race itself, check out my other blog, Street Level.
Fortunately for me, I'm not the only nut-job who wants to sit and watch a race for twelve straight hours. A friend of mine (yep, just one) joined me for the entire event, and I was pretty grateful for the company. I would've watched it by myself, but it wouldn't've been nearly as much fun.
This kind of racing is pretty exciting, and I highly recommend you check out at least the last 20 or 30 minutes of a race even if you don't think you'd have any interest. Of course, if you're already hooked, you know where you can find someone to watch with.

Murph

2008-03-19T23:25:00.002-04:00

This one's not so fun, which is why it's a month late. On February 19th my parents' dog Murphy was put to sleep. I say he was my parents' dog, but he was around for (I think) 14 years, so he was our dog for most of it.
It wasn't unexpected, but it still kinda bites. As far as we could tell, he had an absolute blast most of the time, so we can't really be too sad.

Pistons @ Celtics!

2008-03-05T10:16:00.002-05:00

Tonight the Celtics host the Pistons for one of the season's most exciting games. The Celtics are #1 in the league, ahead of the #2 Pistons by 3 games, and this is their third and final regular-season matchup (the series is 1-1).I have absolutely awesome tickets and I can't wait for game time. I was hoping to see Sam Cassell on the court, but he isn't expected to start for the Celtics until Friday. Regardless of that minor detail, it should be an awesome game.

Furniture Shopping

2008-02-18T13:00:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, Amanda and I headed to Bob's to browse for a couch. We already have a donor couch from my parents, but we really need something else to sit on in the living room. Our plan was to check out prices and colors and see if there was anything interesting in there, and of course we ended up buying one. This was hussled along by the fact that we both liked the same couch the best, and the price was right where we were thinking.

The old couch is a deep red with stripes of green and beige, and the new couch matches the green. It's pretty huge and comes with a "movable" chaise cushion which is way more comfortable than I would have thought.

We had a pack of people over on Sunday and at one point we had six people on the couch without much discomfort, so it seems to have done the trick.

Cambridge

2008-02-07T07:34:00.000-05:00

On January 26th, Amanda and I moved in to our new apartment in Cambridge, and we love it! Thanks to the help of a great pack of friends, the move went incredibly well. Everything was moved quickly and not a single thing (that I know of, yet) was damaged at all. There is no way we could have done it without the help of our friends. Even the offers to help by those that couldn't make it that day were greatly appreciated!
The weather was the best I've ever had for a move, as it was in the mid-40s and nothing was falling from the sky. Amanda and I had all of our "big stuff" ready to be loaded onto a truck by Saturday, and the rest we moved in by car. The only negative of the day was when I almost made it on the news for shearing the top off of the U-Haul. Only a quick exit from Storrow Drive by Tom in the Mustang saved me from that fate.
Amanda is basically unpacked and is patiently waiting for me to get all of my stuff out of our Reading Parlor. I've been plugging away at it but I've been recently distracted by the installation of our cable and Internet connection. As soon as we get the place looking presentable, we'll have a housewarming party.

New Year's

2008-01-17T09:25:00.001-05:00

This year, we celebrated New Year's Eve at our friends' place in Northborough. It's a little bit in the middle of nowhere, but their house is huge. They own the place, so we didn't have to worry so much about angry tenants or landlords. They have the requisite huge flatscreen TV, plus the added bonuses (boni?) of air hockey, ping pong, foosball, and a huge grill.
It was a good time, although honestly it was a little flat until midnight when we woke up the champagne.

Jack & Marcy

2007-12-31T11:51:00.000-05:00

One of the things I miss the most from Los Angeles are the friends I made there. Jack and Marcy were two people I never got to spend enough time with while I was there, let alone since I've moved back to Mass.
Fortunately for me, Marcy's family is from Massachusetts, so her and Jack were "in town" for Christmas. I got to see both of them last Wednesday out in West Springfield. Not real close, but a hell of a lot closer than Cali. Amanda came with me, and I was all kinds of excited that they all got to meet each other.
Hopefully I'll get the chance to head out west in the Spring or Summer, but this was pretty damn cool in the meantime.

Christmas

2007-12-28T10:53:00.000-05:00

My Christmas plans were a little different this year as Amanda and I tried to split our time between our families. We did a pretty decent job and basically just picked up where our Thanksgiving plans left off.
The Camelios had a Patriots/holiday party on Sunday which included us and some of their family friends. I held up the Cope tradition by falling asleep on the couch during the third quarter, but I don't think anyone minded too much. Monday night Amanda, Frank, and I did our own Christmas at our place, then Tuesday Amanda and I headed up to Westford. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning there, then went to her Aunt and Uncle's place where a lot of her extended family was.
Everywhere we went was a good time, and I think we did a decent job of seeing everyone over Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Snow

2007-12-17T00:13:00.000-05:00

It snowed again this morning, and there was at least as much snow to clear out as earlier this week. Frank is out of town, so Amanda and I tackled the driveway and cars. No snow fort this time, although the snow was a lot wetter and heavier so we probably would have had an easier time. Amanda was a hell of a trooper and cleared out a lot of snow. Shoveling snow is something I can do basically all day, but I'll definitely be laying down some Advil before I go to sleep tonight after heaving that heavy friggin' snow for a few hours.

Christmas Carol

2007-12-17T00:04:00.000-05:00

Every year, my family heads up to the North Shore Music Theatre to catch their production of A Christmas Carol. Fortunately, Amanda was able to join us this year. Of course the story never changes, but every year the production itself is slightly different. This year's was not my favorite, although it certainly wasn't bad.
Amanda being there was a bigger deal than it sounds, and it's pretty awesome that everyone is comfortable with everyone else.

Celtics

2007-12-15T11:00:00.000-05:00

I was fortunate enough to land tickets to a few Celtics games this season, and Friday night was the second game (of seven) that I'm planning on going to. The first game was the preseason match against the Knicks, so Friday's game against the Bucks was a little more exciting. My sister Kate came with me and we had a friggin' blast. We got there almost an hour before the game which gave us the chance to grab some food and get settled.
The Celts won, which was awesome, but the game was close at the half so it was pretty exciting nonetheless. The two of us are also going to the Pistons game on Wednesday, and we're both wicked psyched about that one as well.

Thurs 12/13: Snowfort

2007-12-14T20:09:00.000-05:00

Last night brought the first serious snow of the season. Frank, Amanda, and I cleared most of the snow off of the cars and driveway at about 7pm, but a few hours later there were a few more inches of snow that needed to be cleared out. Frank and I went out at about 11:15pm and had the driveway and cars pretty well cleared out by about midnight.
As I was brushing the last of the snow off of my car, I noticed Frank had started an impressive mound of snow in the backyard. He simply wanted something he could stand on, but the powdery snow was giving him some trouble. I decided to up the ante and declare that we could build a mound that he could not only stand on, but do so as I tunneled underneath. About an hour later, we had a solid mound with what amounted to a mail slot snaking through it. Not without assistance, I managed to wiggle most of the way through before Frank had to pull me the rest of the way. The tunnel was tight enough that it was tough to breathe, and it probably about six and a half feet long, so it was a little creepy, especially at 1am. A few minutes later, I had widened the tunnel just enough to get through under my own power, with Frank perched on top. It was completely awesome and the first snow fort I've built in probably at least five years.
There's a video of it, but unfortunately it's too big to post here. Let me know if you're interested and I'm sure we can figure something out.

Dodgeball: Week 4

2007-12-12T20:08:00.000-05:00

After our fourth week of dodgeball, we're beginning to see a pattern: we seem capable of winning three games per night, and that's it. We play ten games each night, against five different teams, and we finally managed to take both games against one team, but it was a small comfort. We continue to play better each week, but our progress continues to lag behind that of other teams. We're tied for 28th (out of 32), and that's two places back from where we were last week.
There are only two weeks left before the playoffs, so hopefully we can manage a breakout week before then.

Found an Apartment!

2007-12-07T12:00:00.000-05:00

Amanda and I found an apartment!
It's right up the street from my current place, which is really convenient for me. It's also only slightly farther from her school than her current place, so it's pretty convenient for her as well.
We're both pretty psyched about it, and we move in officially in February. Nobody is living in it now, so as soon as the landlord is done refinishing the floors and cleaning the place up, she'll let us start moving our stuff in.
Offers to help moving stuff in are gratefully considered.

Dodgeball: Week 3

2007-12-04T22:16:00.000-05:00

Tonight was our third night of dodgeball, and we're getting pretty consistent. We won another three games, but unfortunately it was still out of ten. Going into the night we were tied for 26th out of 32, so not great but not last.
I feel like I'm playing better, which is good, although I'm catching a little bit of shit for being too intense. Some of us are there to have fun, and some of us are there to win. I happen to find winning pretty damn fun, so I suppose you can count me in both categories.
We're making progress with our strategy, and it's really too bad our record doesn't seem to reflect that. Hopefully the season will be long enough for us to get our act together.

Auto Show

2007-12-03T01:48:00.000-05:00

This weekend Jimbo and I made it to the New England International Auto Show at the Boston Convention Center. It was a pretty big improvement over last year, which was at the Bayside Expo Center. The BCC had all of the exhibits in one large room, and the whole building looked decades newer than the Expo Center.
The show itself was pretty cool; it was the first time I had gotten up close with the Dodge Challenger or the Pontiac G8, and they're both sweet cars. Every major automaker (that sells cars in the U.S. anyway) were represented, including an assortment of Ferraris and Lamborghinis which were absent from the show last year.
Here's the quick FAQ: The most expensive car there was probably the $498,000 Mercedes-McLaren SLR Roadster, the "nicest" inside was the Jaguar XKR, the "nicest" outside was the Lamborghini Murcielago, and the one I'm aiming to get next is the Pontiac G8 (or the Challenger, or the absent Chevy Volt).
To anyone who has never been to a car show, or hasn't been to one in the last five years, I highly recommend you catch one. It's a great opportunity to get your hands all over the inside and outside of a bunch of cars, and not just really expensive ones. It's amazing how much happier you could be with your next car if you take the time to sit in not only the one you're considering, but six cars like it, especially from different manufacturers. They all do things a little bit differently, so chances are you can find one that is exactly what you are looking for, then find another one that is even better because of a few things you probably didn't even think of.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-24T00:19:00.000-05:00

For the last few years, my immediate family has gone out to Longmeadow (where my Grandmother, Aunt, Uncle, and cousins live) for Thanksgiving. It's always a good time, but this year was particularly good for me because Amanda was brave enough to come with us. It was the first time she had missed Thanksgiving with her parents as well as the first time I had brought someone along, so it was a pretty big deal. As far as I've heard, Amanda had a great time and everyone loved her. That's exactly what I expected, but it's always nice to be right about that kind of stuff.
The plan right now is for Amanda to do Christmas Eve with my immediate family (another first), and for me to do Christmas Eve with her and her extended family. Sounds like a pretty good time to me.

Dodgeball: Week 2

2007-11-21T00:18:00.003-05:00

Tuesday was our second dodgeball night. Two of our players couldn't make it, but since we have 11 total on our team, missing two wasn't devastating. Having said that, we got absolutely pummeled. There was a lot of conversation after last week about how to play to our strengths and essentially win more games, and we all gave it a solid shot this week but only came away with two wins, putting our season record at 5 - 15. I feel like I personally played pretty well, and I'm still pretty confident that we can get our act together and start winning more regularly. We get next week off, so hopefully coming back off of some rest will help.

Sick

2007-11-21T00:18:00.001-05:00

This was weird...
I don't normally get sick, even when stuff is going around, and basically the only exception is my every-other-year flu that usually lays me up for a few days.
This past Friday afternoon I started feeling pretty tired at work. I didn't really think anything of it, I had a pretty tiring week as it was. Friday night Amanda and I went out for some dinner, and I really didn't feel well. I barely touched my food, and my stomach was making some weird noises. Sparing the details, I ended up actually getting sick (like the verb, not the adjective), and for damn sure it wasn't a good time. By Saturday I felt much better, although my stomach was still a little pissed off until about Tuesday.
Weird stuff, and not fun.

Dodgeball

2007-11-17T12:17:00.000-05:00

A pack of us decided to play in a dodgeball league this season, and yeah it's as much fun as it sounds like it would be. It's six-on-six, played the length of a basketball court, and it looks a little like this:

The video is not of our team, but should give you some idea of what we're doing. We were a little disorganized on account of it being our first night, but we went 3 - 7. Not horrible, but with a little coordination we should be able to regularly win games. There are 30 teams in the league and I'll be happy if we can finish in the top half.

Cold Paintball

2007-11-17T01:06:00.000-05:00

A little more than once a month for most of the summer and fall a crew of us have been heading to Friendly Fire Paintball in Upton, MA to get shot at, worn out, and dirty for six hours. We've had good luck with weather all season, but this past Sunday was cold. A couple of us got there at about 8:20 am and it was in the mid- or upper-30s.

As the sun came up, so did the temperature, so by mid-day it was perfectly comfortable. We had a pretty good day as a group, and I had a pretty good day individually. I definitely had a couple of "kills," although usually I measure my worth in total effectiveness. If I'm the first one to the flag, for example, it doesn't bother me if I can't hit the broad side of a barn.

I managed to only get shot in the head once (compared to five times last time out), and Mike, one of the guys with us, won the big shootout at the end to get a free pass. None of us have ever done that before, and it's pretty impressive to be the last one standing out of literally about 100.

It was probably the last time out for us this season. Too bad, although honestly kicking out $60 every couple of weeks is a little tough. Either way, I'm sure we'll be back at it pretty early next season.

Apartment Hunting

2007-11-07T20:21:00.000-05:00

Put this one in the "Significant" file: My girlfriend Amanda and I are looking for apartments. My shaky financial situation (I blame four weddings and four bachelor parties in eight weeks) means we probably can't do anything for a few months, but the wheels are definitely turning.
The timing will be a little dicey, finances aside, as we need to make sure my current apartment stays full, but I'm pretty sure we'll figure something out without too much fuss. Frank, my current roommate (etc.) is simultaneously looking at houses in Westford (MA) and jobs in San Jose (CA), but stuff like this has a neat habit of working out pretty well. We'll see...

Intro

2007-11-07T09:19:00.000-05:00

I'll admit, I'm horrible at staying in touch with people. It's an embarrassing side-effiect of wanting to do more than I have time for.

We all have friends that will occasionally hit our inboxes with "Let me tell you what I've been up to" e-mails, and while I don't like the idea, I am usually interested in the content.

I think something like this is more appropriate than a MySpace blog (since everyone is on FaceBook now anyway), so here it is. There won't be daily updates, and you won't find any "exclusive" info here, but if you're wondering what I've been up to, this is where to find it.

Please feel free to leave a comment. I get an e-mail every time someone does, so maybe I'll be better at getting back to people this way.

Thanks for your interest!