Xbox 360

While I was out with my kids last Thursday, we stop by the local Circuit City to pick up a Wireless USB network adapter for our home computer, I came across the Guitar Hero II demo they had setup. Well after a few minutes of my children and I playing it, I was hooked. I wanted to buy it right there but there is one problem, that stop me from buying it. I unfortunately do not own an Xbox 360, yes I know that it is sad. So what to do? ask the wife if I can buy it, I know that would not go over well. So I need to come up with a another plan and one that I hope will work. So I thought about that guy that posted to his website and ask for other people to help him out and he made like a a million bucks, that sounds like a good plan right, I only need $399 for the Xbox 360 and $90 for the Guitar Here II game. So I really thought about asking the internet for help in achieving my goal. Why not, everyone ask me for money: church, the local fire company, kids selling candy bars, my son's soccer team, and seemingly endless requests for a buck or two at work for whatever. In the end I think that really is not a good plan, I really have no idea who reads this anyways. I guess just have to get the old fashion ways, save a buck or two, and beg my wife to let me buy it.

Stephen Kellogg and The Sixers

One of my favorite bands is playing Thursday in the Square on September 9. Give a listen below. See you there!

The Playoff Beard

I came home yesterday and my lovely wife had left me a nice surprise. She had bought me one of the coolest t-shirts I have ever seen.
Yes that right a shirt to show my respect to the hockey gods. Since the Buffalo Sabers enter the Stanley Cup Playoffs last Sunday, I have begun the ritual of abstaining from shaving to hopefully bring my team good luck. That right I have started by Playoff Beard. So be sure to check back here later as I hope to post some pictures of my progress soon, and I case you missed it last night the Sabers rocked the Islanders 4-1 in game 1.

Let's Go Buffalo

I think this video says it all!

Barenaked Ladies - The Bathroom Session

The other day while I was posting some videos of my children bowling to YouTube.com, I can across the the Barenaked Ladies Official You Tube channel and discovered "Some Fantastic" thing. Ed Robertson the lead singer of the group, setup a camera in his bathroom and grab his guitar and just started jamming through a whole bunch of their songs. In the last 3 or so that have been posted, Tyler Stewart joins him to belt out some songs and they are very funny. I believe this is the first major group who really has adopted new technology to get there material out. Be sure to check this out. This one is my favorite:

Map of the Shamrock Run

Here is a map of this years Shamrock Run. It's 5 miles and I completed it in 0:50:55.

Map My Run.com

So last night after my run I wanted to see just how far I really went, I knew that I ran for 0:23:10, using the stopwatch on my ipod. So I started to search the web for something like Google maps where I could trace my route on and it would calcuate the distance. Now I have see those cool GPS units that provide this information for you, but lets face it I promised my wife I would not buy any electrics this year. So after a little googling I came acrossed MapMyRun.com, it is very cool you enter you starting address, it brings up a Google map and you just trace on the map where you ran and it computes the distance. It is pretty slick, it will display the mile marker and even can show you the elevation changes thruout your run. So below is the run I did last night:

A Week Off!

Well I took a week off of running and going to the gym, so that I could give my foot some time to heal. It feels much better and now that I got some new sneakers, I ready to rock and roll. Funny story about me new sneakers, Dana and I went to the mall on Friday and we stopped in at Dicks so that I could get some new sneakers. Well after waiting about 5 minutes for any employee to recognize that I wanted to try some sneakers on, the employee went into the back to find my size on 2 different sneakers. 5 minutes later he came back out and said that he did not have any in my size. Then he started to walk away, no suggestions on any other sneakers, he just did not care, so we left and when up to the Finish Line. At least here the employee was quick to get me a size that I wanted, but he just left the box and did not, lace them up or tell me anything about them, he also just walked away. After about 5 minutes I was debating on buying them, but he never came back, so we left. Now to be perfectly honest my Uncle Mike who is a Podiatrist, told me to go to the Runner's Roost and that they would be able to take care of me. So on Saturday, I took the kids and went out to the Runner's Roost, they were extremely helpful, they check my feet, brought out a good selection for me to try on, lace them up, and fit me for the appropriate sneaker for what I was doing. Now, I paid a little bit more than I wanted to for them, but in the end I got what I needed. So I guess the moral to the story is that the Mom & Pap store have the advantage over the big box stores when it comes to customer service.

So now that I got my new sneakers, I thought that I would give them a little try last night and took a brisk 2.5 mile run thur my neighborhood. The sneakers felt great and my foot does not seem to hurt. Back in Business

Shamrock Run 8K

Yesterday, I completed one of my goals that I set out at the beginning of the the year . That was to complete the Shamrock Run an 8k (5 mile road race) in less than an hour. I did just that completing the race in 0:50:55 at a pace of 0:10:15. I finished 1447 overall and 109 in my age group. The overall winner finihed at 0:24:57, he was in my age group. That does not make me as sad as the winner of the 70+ age group who finished in 0:39:31. It was a great feeling crossing the finish line just as the snow started to fly on a brisk 32 degree day. On a side note I had hurt my foot early in the week and was thinking about not running the race, but yesterday morning my foot fell ok, so I raced. Well this morning I could barely put any weight on my foot. I guess, its off to the doctors to see what going on with it. So what is next, in my new found love of running, I think that I will take on the Bunny Hop 5K in East Aurora on April 7. Dana has told me that she thinks that she wants to race to. After that maybe the Buffalo Half Marathon (13 miles), on May 27. I may have to step up the training to complete that.

Gym Update

Ok, one week to go until the Shamrock Run and I just ran about 6 miles in 55 mins, this morning at the gym. I got up this morning at 7am and checked the road outside to see if I could finally take a run outside, and the road was dry pavement. So I started to get ready and then the dogs need to go outside. So I went to the back door to let the dogs out and the thermometer on the back window of my house read 5 degrees. So running outside was a no go today. I have read somewhere that you burn twice and many calories in the cold as you would at room temp, but I don't think that the frost bit is worth it.