Jack & Marcy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!