My blog & twitter timeline...

I know I have been slacking on posting, but here you go... Hopefully not too techy...

Anyway, I received a link from my buddy Jason, but I have confidence that he won't blog about it, and I wanted to share it with everyone. The URL is http://www.dipity.com and what it does is allow you to create a time line and flip book that can include multiple feeds easily, so I added my blog, and my twitter RSS, and voila... You could also add your photos via their RSS feeds (photobucket, picasa, youtube, etc), and with all that stuff being date stamped you have an easy way to produce a chronological display of all those different sources. I can't help but think this would be awesome for a "baby-book" type application. Here is my timeline...

Poor Bird... A picture for Jill M...

Jason, and I were walking out to lunch on Friday heading to A&W for some draft root beer, and some world class coney dogs... We walked past this vehicle in the parking lot at work, and I had to take a picture for Jill M, because she is the only person I know that takes pictures of puke and dead rabbits...

Good Luck Adam!!!

So, today was the last day of work for a friend of mine, and I just wanted to take a second to wish him the best of luck... He is leaving a successful career in Cisco Routing and Switching to pursue his MBA from the University of Chicago. I have worked the closest with him over the last 3 years, and we have done several projects together including (but not limited to, because I am sure I will forget some)...

Initial Phone System Deployment
Remote Phone Testing and Deployment
Wireless - He did most of this, but I added my $.02 :)
VPN Implementation
New site integration - the one I am still working on
Video Conferencing Deployment
New Building Expansion

It has been a busy 3 years, and while there were challenges I would like to think that we had some fun along the way :)

I did have the pleasure of taking him to his first Disney experience last year at Disneyland when we went to the Cisco Networkers Conference :)

Good Luck, and God Bless...

Here are some pics I had handy...

Crazy Project, Voicemail, and Passwords...

Good Morning Campers... It is 5:25 AM at the hotel I am staying at, and I woke up, because I went to bed at a little after 10 last night. Of course the internet is down, so I am typing this in TextEdit, and will paste to blogger later. I have been really busy with this project I am doing to setup a new site for the company we purchased last year. The good news is that I only have one more telco circuit to be turned-up, and I should be doing that today. The bad news is that every time I think about this project I get overwhelmed by the amount of work left to do... I swear I am losing hair, and going grey (or is it gray) over this one. You can read over at Dawn's blog about the great weekend we had over the 4th of July. It felt like we were trying to cram in all the family time we didn't have last week while I was traveling into the few days I had off, but nevertheless it was awesome.

I was reading my Google Reader last night, and there was a post on lifehacker about whether or not we should get rid of voicemail in the world... I am totally for the removal of voicemail, because I find that it is cumbersome to access, slows me down, and doesn't fit into "my workflow" (which is driven by email). We have people at our company that can utilize our voicemail system so rapidly that I can't keep up which is crazy because I am the phone guy. They know all the buttons, and are proud of the fact that they can speed through it. I, however, am just glad that we have Cisco Unified Messaging, so that my voicemail shows up in my email box. I can then have the phone system call me and play the message, or I can play it through my computer speakers. The only problem this causes me is that people tend to forget their passwords (because they don't use them), and when they go on vacation and try to leave an out-of-office message they need their passwords reset. On my cell phone I have switched to YouMail which I love, because I get a text message that a voicemail was left, and it tells me who called, the length of the message, and I can login to a webpage to hear the message instead of dealing with the cumbersome TUI (in telco speak that is Telephone User Interface). *stepping off soapbox about voicemail*

BTW - the internet just came up, but I am going to finish this post here, and then paste it in :)

The next topic is for my dear wife, and while some of you might think tech post, you might want to read this one... I spoke on January 3, 2008 briefly about passwords, and the application of the year for 2007 being Password Safe, however, a former boss of mine used to say something to the effect of, "I reserve the right to be smarter today than yesterday", so I am going to speak about another program here as well... This all started, because I was logging into our Credit Union website to balance the checkbook, and they prompted me that I needed to change the password. I tried my latest and greatest password that is "easy to remember", and it didn't meet the criteria, so I looked a little closer to the rules for their passwords, and it apparently didn't like the fact that I had the same letter back-to-back. So, I got frustrated opened my KeePass, and generated a password... KeePass and Password Safe are two programs that allow you to keep your passwords encrypted and secure, and is the only way to have super-secure passwords (unless you are super duper brilliant, and can remember 20 letters, numbers, and symbols jumbled together).

Let's talk about the types of passwords that you have these days, because I see them fall into two categories... The ones I need to remember, and the ones I don't... We all need one that we can remember which should be created by using the first letter of every word in a phrase (provided those letters don't form a word themselves), and also include a number or special character. An example would be taking the phrase "Joe is an excellent blogger and I enjoy reading his posts", and the password I would use for that is Jia3ba13rhp* (I substituted a 3 for the e's and a 1 for the I), and you can see that it is a pretty good password, but because I know the phrase it becomes easy for me to use. I would use this easy to remember password for logging into my computer every morning at work, my gmail account and/or securing my password database in KeePass, or Password Safe.

The other type of password is the one that you really don't need to be able to reference from memory, and therefore the more secure it is the safer you are. In fact, think about the number of websites you sign-up for with the same username, and password combination, and the fact that with a cool webpage I could get you to sign-up for my site with those same credentials, and now I can access your bank account, ebay, paypal, etc... I am slowly moving all my passwords to a password database to alleviate this problem. The password database is encrypted, local to you (I recommend backing it up to a USB Key regularly), and can generate super-secure passwords with the click of a button. So, next time you are at a web page ready to register with your old standby password, stop and think that now would be a good time to be smarter today than yesterday and get your password database going...

So, my wife needs to download one of them, and I recommend KeePass (versus Password Safe), because it has better "cross-platform" support, so someday when she gets a Mac she can just copy her database over. Once she gets that setup I can give her the cryptic, couldn't type it if she wanted to, password that is on our Credit Union account :)

If you are looking for a really techie post check out this post from Jason that I use to sync my password database from my work computer to my MacBook with ease...

Dawn at Today Show

Dawn went to New York, and left me at home with the boys... I don't want to sound like a wimp, but let's just say it has been a rough go of it for me. Keep in mind that she went to DC just a few weeks ago, and my work has been extremely crazy lately (and it is going to get worse before it gets better).

Anyway, several years ago I went to New York on business, and on a cold November morning trudged several blocks to be at the Today Show. I had told Dawn to tape it, but she didn't, because she got up late. So, as she sat there eating her Cheerios, she saw me waving, and saying, "Hi Dawn, I Love You".

Of course, I had to work this morning, but I setup the DVR, and after watching the video below you will see that she decided to say hello to Julie... So, I guess that tells you where the boys and I rate these days... Anyway, here is her 1/2 second of fame (if you look close you might also see Jill, Lupe, and Amy)... I put this together pretty quickly (on the MacBook of course)...

Happy Birthday Dawn!!!

Today is my wonderful wife Dawn's 30th Birthday. We have been married for 10+ years and I know that I would choose her again in an instant. She is my best friend and I can't imagine my life without her. We have been blessed with two wonderful boys and a happy home.

So happy birthday baby and here's to another 30 years of happiness and whatever god has instore for us.

We are driving down to the Tiger game, so let's hope they can win.

Summer Time...

Summer Time is here...

The kids and wife are out of school. We won our first softball game on Sunday, and the weather is getting nicer here in Michigan.

Tommy is still playing Hockey, and we have the tournament in Toronto in a couple of weeks. He will then be done until August, so he will get a little break. He is also playing baseball, and seems to be enjoying it...

Austin is doing good, and seems to be really talking quite a bit, and with lots of clarity.

Dawn is still playing hockey, and it sounds like it is going to continue into the summer. She is also going to New York with a couple of friends right before we go to Toronto, and I think she is excited about it.

I am keeping busy at work with the integration of our new facility out east. It has caused me to miss going to Cisco Networkers in Orlando on June 22nd... I wish I was going, but I don't think they are going to change their mind, so hopefully the project will go well, and I can minimize the amount of traveling that I have to do.

Sorry for the short post, but not too much going on...

Softball Season...

We had a practice and cook-out for our Co-Ed Softball Team last night... Dawn is the coach/coordinator, so we had a practice, and then had everyone came over to the ranch for a cook-out and potluck.

The turn-out for the practice was good, and we were able to field a full team. I would like to welcome Nate and Amy to the team... That meant we had a house full of people for the party afterwards... I grilled the brats, burgers, and hot-dogs. Doug (who is now to be called Woody) brought some wood from his renovations, so that we could have a fire on our deck in the fire pit. We drank a ton of brews, and everyone had a great time... Here are some pictures the morning after...

We drank lots of beer...




We set the table on fire... Yes, I had to run and get some water to put the fire on table out :) It was pretty crazy that there was a glow below the table for a little bit...

Mr. Mom Checking Out!!!

Dawn is on her way home, and should be here sometime tonight... So, that means I get to check-out from Mr. Mom action. The boys were pretty good for me, but I run a tight ship (ruh-roh Tommy just walked down here saying he can't sleep...) I just sent him back to bed :)

Tommy had hockey practice tonight for the Stars. After practice we went and did two Geocaches. It was raining a little, but we powered through... I had Tommy looking out for muggles on the second one, and I think he was loving it :)

If you don't know about geocaching, here is a quick description for you. It is a game where you utilize a GPS to find a "treasure" that has been hidden by someone else. We like to do it for an outdoor family activity, or as part of a bike ride... You can learn more at http://www.geocaching.com

I have gotten a new BlackBerry 8330 at work, and I love it... As you know I am the phone guy at work, and I suggested that we look into BlackBerry to replace our Windows Mobile Solution that was integrated with mNotes (we use Lotus Notes for email). I must say that this is one of my best contributions, because the BlackBerry is working great, and so far everyone is pleased with the results...

Well, that's all for now...

Hockey - The Last Dance Tournament - GO STARS!!!

The Mid-Michigan Stars travelled to the greater Detroit Area this weekend to participate in "The Last Dance" tournament. Here is a quick run-down...

The first game of the tournament was Friday Night at 5 PM against the "International Stars" which we believe was a team from Kensington Valley. The MMStars were victorious by a score of 10 to 1. They didn't play great during the game, but they did play well enough to win, so we were happy for that.

We went to a Sports Bar with the team for dinner, and then back to the hotel for some R&R...

The second game was at 7:00 AM on Saturday morning... We were excited because this game was against the "5th ranked" Mt. Clemens Wolves. We had played the Wolves last Saturday in an exhibition game, and beat them 3 to 0 in a wonderful game. However, this was a new day, and we wanted to play tough against them. The game was good again, but we came up on the short side and lost 3 to 2.

We went back to the Hotel for the breakfast buffet, and some swimming... I decided to try and take a nap, but after laying down for awhile I was "mugged" by Tommy, and a bunch of his teammates asking me if I taped the whole game, or just Tommy. I told them the whole game, and in a few minutes there was this pounding on the door... I tried to ignore it, but eventually got to the door, and found Tommy, and Brady asking me to get the video working on the TV/Computer... I shut the door, and tried to ascertain whether or not I was properly dressed to leave the hotel room... I ended up getting the video pulled off of the camera, and on the beloved MacBook, so that the coach could review it. It was determined that the Head Coach watched the entire game at least 6 times, and knew what our issues were against Mt. Clemens...

The third game was at 5:00 PM on Saturday evening... We were in a must win situation, so that we could go to the Championship Game on Sunday. We played against the Livonia Knights, and won the game 5 to 1. The game was pretty good, but there were several penalties including Tommy for roughing the goalie long after the whistle was blown.

Saturday night we relaxed, ordered pizza, and then I put the kids to bed about 9:30 or so... I hung out in the hallway with some people, and distributed some beer to my new found friends...

The Championship Game was at 7 AM on Sunday morning... The Mt. Clemens Wolves scored first, but we were able to battle back, and win the game with a final score of 4 to 2. Tommy played pretty well, and one of the coaches even told me that he thought he played really well today... The MVP for the Stars was "The Team". The team is always the MVP for their games :) We were in the locker room, and the coach announces that while the players MVP is the team they are going to have a Parent MVP. He then announced that because the video seemed to help they were giving it to me :) So, I guess it paid off to get my nap interrupted :) We really love the team we are on, and are enjoying the players, and their parents. It is a great group of people!

It was a fun weekend, but we are all tired, and hoping to get to bed a little early... Dawn left for Washington DC this morning, so it is just me and the boys here at the Papesh ranch :) Here are a few pictures...

Update - still trying to blog again...

Here is a quick update...

Last Saturday - I completed my 4th Degree with the Knights of Columbus. It was a nice event, and I am really glad that I did it. Here is a link to some information about the 4th Degree. I wore my Tuxedo, and Dawn wore her fancy dress from White House Black Market.

Baseball - Tommy had a game on Monday, and on Wednesday. His team won both games. He is doing fine, and enjoys playing both 2nd base, and catcher. The coach pitched on Monday, and on Wednesday the kids started doing the pitching.

Tomorrow Night we have a scrimmage for the Mid-Michigan Stars, so hopefully Tommy will do well.

Work - It has been crazy lately... We are working to implement a BlackBerry solution for mobile users. We are also working on a phone system for our site on the east coast.

Whew! - We made it out of April! The month of April was going to be hectic for us with Hockey (for Tommy & Dawn), Volleyball (Dawn), Baseball (Tommy), Dawns Birthday Party and regular life... We are now in May, and it already feels like it isn't as busy at home :)

We are geeks this busy week

Our family is exhausted tonight, because last night we had the big birthday bash for Dawn at the suite at Comerica Park. Thanks to everyone involved we did pull off the perfect surprise! She is still talking about it...

We are sitting in bed each with our laptops, and watching American Idol, so it is true we have reached utter geekdom :) She is working on posting some pictures, but they probably won't be up tonight...

Tommy had hockey practice tonight, and did a good job... He has baseball practice tomorrow night, and then a hockey game on Friday.

I have been really busy at work, and now that we are done with the birthday party I need to re-focus, and hunker down until the next Hockey Tournament :)

Saturday we have my Knights of Columbus event, and I am all set with my tuxedo (it is at the cleaners), and looking forward to a nice event and dinner with my lovely wife.

Well, time to get some sleep...

Disney World - Hockey - *sigh* Austin on the Potty...

I know I am horrible poster, so feel free to delete my feed :P

Disney World - Yes, you may have noticed the countdown is going here on the blog, and indeed we are going to Disney World this year. We got a great deal with the free dining promotion that they are currently running, and $800 for all 4 of us to fly non-stop round-trip. So, surprise surprise we are going to visit the Mouse :)

Hockey - My house is Hockey Central... Dawn is gearing up for her Chicks with Sticks (btw - her picture was in the paper this evening, but they put the wrong name on the photograph), and is now playing in her league on Monday nights. I am trying to get back into the Adult Learn to Play that I did a couple of years ago just so I can try to keep up... Tommy is playing on two teams House, and a spring "travel/tournament" team. We have a tournament in Ann Arbor this weekend, and Tommy really wanted a big banner, so I just finished painting the main portion of the banner, and hopefully Dawn will paint the kids names, and numbers on it. Yes, I love my Tommy, so I stayed up to 1 AM working on a banner that being paper could be utterly destroyed by Austin in 3.2 seconds :) Anyway, I am looking forward to the tournament this weekend.

Austin came home from school early today, because he was having potty problems... So, I left work, and took him to the doctor, got the oil changed, and we went to lunch. It was nice to have a surprise day off, and after speaking with the doctor we have a plan with how to make him for comfortable and operating at peak efficiency :P

*yawn*

Well, I gotta head to bed... Catch ya later...

--Joe

Thanks!

I have been crazy busy at work, so sorry so slow on the posts :)

I wanted to take a moment to Thank Mike M. for his help at the school yesterday... There were some donated computers that didn't have any drivers loaded, and he found the correct ones, and got them loaded. I told Jill to give him a big hug, a smooch, and tell him I said Thanks! It is one less thing I have to worry about...

I went to Knights of Columbus tonight, and tomorrow we have a Spaghetti Dinner for the Knights, and then Tommy has baseball practice...

I hope everyone is having a great week...

Trip to Maine...

In case you didn't know... I am in Maine for a couple of days this week... I am here to look at a building that some of our company will be moving into, and determine how we can meet the Telecom needs etc...

The trip hasn't been too eventful, but I do have a couple of items to share :)

We were awesome when it came to reviewing the facility, and figuring out some of the big questions we had...

We went to lunch yesterday at the Birthplace of Maine which is also known as The Jameson Tavern. The food was good, and definitely a building with some history... We then proceeded to some LL Bean store that everybody was all excited about... I guess I don't get it :)

Last night, we went to Portland, and looked at the ocean etc... Then we went to dinner at a place called The Street & Co... The first exciting event of dinner was when when our waiter stated that he was married, and that "he was a chef" referring to his spouse. We are from Michigan, so that caught us off guard a little bit, but in the end I was ok with it. However, it does cause me to wonder if they are both each other's husband, or is one of them referred to by a different name.

Also, at some point in the discussion about specials, and items on the menu he subtly drops the comment, "we don't serve great quantities of pork or beef here". At this point I got extremely scared, because as you should know by now I don't eat seafood... So, at dinner with the executive and my manager, I have to find a way to tactifully say, hey what can I eat... Keep in mind I am largest person at the table :P I finally just said that I am not a seafood person, so what would you recommend... He tells me that they can do pasta with alfredo sauce, or a red sauce, but the red sauce has anchivoe's (sp?) in it for flavor (but he could have that taken out just for me)... I decided on the pasta with alfredo sauce, and then proceeded to have the bourbon pecan pie for desert.

After dinner, we went out with Josh, and headed to Gritty McDuff's for a few beers, and some good conversation. Adam and I like to drink beer, but the waitress was giving us a hard time for not wanting to try anything other than "light beer"... I tried a couple of their brews, and all in all it was a good evening...

I fly home this afternoon... I can't wait to see the kids, and of course the wonderful wife...

--Joe

*sigh* Busy Week!

WOW! It has been a week since my last post... We have just been crazy busy! This will be a classic jumbled up post about several topics...

I cleaned my desk at work... I should have taken a "before" and "after" picture, because it is just awesome, and I am going to try and keep it that way. I finally took the time to go through some cabinets in my cubicle that had stuff from the person before me, and throw a bunch of it away. When I first started I didn't know what I needed to keep, so I just kept everything that was there... Now, I have some overhead room to put that various clutter that sometimes just happens. The interesting thing is that I have received more praise from cleaning my desk than I ever get when working on a project. So, either I don't do that well on the projects I work on, or cleaning your desk is more important than doing a good job on real work. *steps off sarcastic soapbox* Anyway, the desk is clean, and I am going to try and keep it that way.

Project Completed! - Speaking about work, I did implement an ACD setup for a group this week, and they were happy with the results... They even sent an email saying that I did a good job, so snaps for me (or high-fives... up to you).

On the personal front, I went to the Red Wings yesterday with my Father-in-Law Paul, Brother-in-Law Scott, and Dawn's Cousin Adam (not first, but I don't understand that mumbo jumbo to properly classify him). The Wings lost, but more importantly it was $1 Hot Dog Day, so we indulged! We ate a total of 19 dogs, and Adam only ate 1, so 3 of us ate an average of 6 a piece. Scott and I had 7 each, so my public education tells me that Paul ate 4. The best part is that we did our part to set a new record for Hot Dogs eaten at Joe Louis Arena!!! 12, 119 (I think this was it) is the new record. They had announced early on that the old record was 11k and some change, and then in about the 2nd period they mentioned that we had some work to do, because we were only at 5k Hot Dogs eaten. The dogs were supposed to be $3 each, so people in attendance saved about $24,000 on Hot Dog costs, and can now proudly say that they are part of the Hot Dog eating record for Joe Louis Arena. Maybe they can hoist a banner up there with the Stanley Cups, and President's Trophies etc to honor the occasion!

Today, we went to watch Dawn at her Hockey Practice... She did pretty well, and definitely isn't embarrassing poor Tommy. Then we stayed for open skate, because one of Tommy's old teammates was having a birthday party. Austin did pretty well skating, and actually used one of the walkers today. Finally, we headed to the Saginaw Spirit, and they won in a shootout versus the Plymouth Whalers 4 to 3.

In the last week I have done some "techy" stuff, but those of you that are normally bored might find this a little interesting...

Twitter (http://www.twitter.com) - Micro-blogging - I am giving this a try, but basically I can blog about something in 140 characters or less. I think it will be cool, because I can give some updates on things I am doing, or a random thought about something in the news etc... It is subject to be dumped at some point, but for now I am giving it a whirl. You can view my Twitter on my webpage.

Remember The Milk (http://www.rememberthemilk.com) - This is my new task list. It is a web-based task manager and I think it will work for me. It allows you to get reminders via email, im, and text messaging... You can utilize Google Gears to take it offline, so you have it without a connection to the internet.

Jott (http://www.jott.com) - This is the component that makes Twitter and Remember the Milk come together for me. Jott allows you to call from your cell phone, and do speech-to-text conversions... So, on the way to work I can call Jott, and utilize Remember the Milk to add a task, add an appointment to my Google Calendar, or update my status with Twitter. The text to speech is good enough for leaving myself a note, and as I get better I will feel more comfortable with having it email or text somebody directly.

YouMail (http://www.youmail.com) - I am testing this out based on a recommendation from a buddy... It allows you to have your cell phone voicemail come to you in email, and to do customized greetings for various callers (which I haven't tried yet).

Gmail - Email Heaven Update - I just wanted to re-iterate that using Gmail as my primary email has definitely allowed me to enjoy email again. It filters the spam so nicely on my email address that I have used to sign-up for everything on the internet.

Well, that's it for now...

Mite Championship Game

We had the Mite Championship Game today at 9 AM. The team we were playing has been at the bottom of the standings most of the season, but has a really good goalie... The other team scored 15 seconds into the game, and then there were no goals until we scored early in the 3rd period to tie it up. The game then went into overtime (5 mins), and then into double overtime which was 4-on-4 play. We scored with probably about 3 minutes left in the 2nd overtime to win 2 to 1. The game was just awesome, and a great way to end a wonderful season.

We have the team party at Noon, so we are just at Barnes and Noble looking at books, and being "trendy" in the Starbucks cafe... Here are some pics from the MacBook PhotoBooth :)

Pinewood Derby

The Cub Scouts held the Pinewood Derby today, and somehow over the last week we were able to get Tommy's car done. We had the race, and he took 3rd Place for his Den of Tiger Cubs. We went into it just hoping that the car would go down the track, but he won a trophy so that is cool :)

*sigh* Tag I'm It

I never participate in chain emails, but I can't let my good friend Jill down, so I will play along...enjoy :)

10 years ago-- Dawn and I were still Newlyweds, and were living in the mobile home. I was about 5 months into the job that took me from being "entry level" into a fairly successful career...

5 Things on my to do list today were:
1. Work on painting the Pinewood Derby car with Tommy
2. Go to Knights of Columbus meeting
3. Work on ACD Project at work
4. Go to the hardware store to buy the paint for the Pinewood Derby car :)
5. Pack my lunch (btw - I ended up going out for lunch)

Things I would do if I were suddenly a Billionaire:
Hmmm... This would be an easy one... Host my own vacation convention at Disney World for a week :) Then, I would build the dream estate which would be sizable, and setup such that on the 4 corners would be a house for each of our parents. Our house would be centered on the estate, and behind it would be a complete gym (yes hockey arena also), and the entire estate would be connected by golf cart trails. So, the boys could take their golf cart to any one of their grandparent's houses... See, I told this was easy :)

3 of my bad habits:
1. Stay up too late
2. Eat too much
3. Bite my nails

Jobs I've had:
1. Boy Scout Summer Camp Counselor
2. Chuck E Cheeses - Game Room Attendant - Yes, I wore the costume on occasion :)
3. *Customer/Technical Support
4. *Project Engineer/Sr. Project Engineer
5. *Manager
6. *Project Manager
7. Telecom Analyst III - current :)
* - these were all at Concentric Network/XO Communications

5 Things people don't know about me: hmmm - this is a hard one...
1. I am scared of heights
2. My first car was a VW Rabbit
3. I waved to Dawn and said, "Hey Dawn, I Love You" while in the audience for the Today Show
4. I was born on the same day as my Great Grandpa (his name was Joseph) that I was named after
5. I wore special shoes as a kid, because my left leg turned in. I think it still does that sometimes :)

Ok, I have to find someone to tag... I am tagging Mike and Sherri...

Red Wings Game - Mr. Hockey

Tommy and I went to the Red Wings Game tonight thanks to Grandpa Paul, who got Tommy 2 tickets for Christmas. The Wings lost 3 to 2 to the San Jose Sharks, but the evening had plenty of excitement anyway...

Mr. Hockey - Shortly after we arrived at Joe Louis Arena we learned that Gordie Howe (#9), yes, Mr. Hockey was there signing copies of his new book. The book cost $30, but to have it autographed the total came to $70. It was Tommy's first Red Wings Game, and the line wasn't long, so I sprang for it. We took a couple of pictures before Tommy got up there, but the interaction when it was our turn was awesome. He asked Tommy if he played hockey, and what position he played. Tommy answered that he played defense, and Gordie wanted to see what his shot looked like... Tommy backed away from the table, positioned his hands, and proceeded to "air stick" a shot. Mr. Hockey proceeded to tell me that we need to work on using both hands to both push and pull the stick simultaneously to increase the speed. Here I am (who has never played hockey) getting tips for my 7 year-old from Gordie Howe.

The interaction was going well, so I decided to ask if Tommy could step behind the table to get a quick picture. Gordie said, "sure if he doesn't get caught." I was encouraged by this, and then Gordie proceeded to ask one of the crowd control people, and then mentions that Tommy is a relative, so it should be all right... I was dying inside, because Gordie was showing that subtle disobedience that you would expect from a hockey player. The one crowd manager said, no, but before he could finish the other guy pulled Tommy behind the table, and the picture was staged :) Of course Tommy was nervous (partly because he was "breaking the rules"), so the picture isn't the greatest, but still we have a picture of Tommy with Mr. Hockey... I really love the one of them talking across the table... I had the Canon point and shoot, so not the fancy camera, but it was ok because my arms were already full of coats etc...

We settled into the game, and after the 1st period we decided to hit the pizza station. We bought a pepperoni pizza, large drink, and a bottle of water for $19.50. We got back to our seats, and while Tommy was holding the pizza, so I could remove my coat, it fell off his lap and toppled onto the floor. Of course, for the $12.50 Hot-N-Ready Pizza they don't give you a box, yes that's right you only get a paper cookie sheet to carry around your overpriced pie. I should have taken a picture, but at that moment Tommy was almost in tears... So, I calmed him down, and cleaned up the mess... We did end up getting some pizza between the next intermission...

Finally, after the game I was getting Tommy's sweatshirt and coat on, so that we could leave. I turned around, and some guy was taking the 2nd of our two mugs from the free giveaway. I called him on it, and he handed it back. I then proceeded to wait a few minutes, and found a completely abandoned mug, so we did end up with two. I was just disappointed that the people I sat by all night were trying to rip-off our mugs.

Oh well, it was awesome to have Tommy see his first game, and meet Mr. Hockey...