Westford Road Race

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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.