Last regular season game of the year and I will be there

That's right. April 5, in Boston, the Sabres will be visiting those pesky Boston Bruins. My wife, my sister, my cousin, and myself will be lucky enough to be at this game. My sister and cousin will be making the trip from Buffalo.

I just got done purchasing 4 tickets to this game. Let's hope at that point in the season the Sabres are well ahead of the Bruins (although it doesn't look like it) and eager to jump into Round 1 of the Playoffs.

Elaine and I had a good time (albeit the Sabres lost) at the last Sabres/Bruins game on a Saturday, back on November 10 2007.

Here are some pictures of that game, in case you missed them:

Ooooh, the Sharks can use Photoshop

...and so can I.

Nice job, Sharks. Can't even take a current picture of the guy.

Bought a new Jeep Grand Cherokee

So, I finally did it. I bought a 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo. It's obviously a 4X4, something I needed after getting in my bad accident. Living in the northeast, it's something you just need.

I love this thing. It's the smoothest ride I've ever been in. It's in extremely good shape. It has less than 18,000 miles. I fell in love with it at the dealership. Getting a Jeep is something I've wanted to do for the last year or so. I guess I had to after I demolished my car a month ago! :(

Some of the specifications are:

-3,701 cc 3.7 liters V 6 front engine with 93 mm bore, 90.8 mm stroke, 9.6 compression ratio, overhead cam and two valves per cylinder EKG

1.1 gallon main unleaded fuel tank

Four-wheel ABS

Electronic brake distribution

Tinted glass on cabin, rear and side

Here are some pics:

The Sabres are starting to play some hockey, eh?

Vanek scores two late game (last 2 minutes of the 3rd period) goals and then the Overtime winner, who would have thought?

Vanek is almost single handedly carrying this team. The rest of the team needs to start scoring, but Vanek is definitely a bright spot in this lineup.

Currently, the Sabres are winning 1-0 against the Maple Leaf's up in Toronto. Let's hope they keep this up.

The playoffs are coming soon!

Elaine and I plan on getting tickets for the April 5th game in Boston. We'll be there again rooting on our Sabres, we can't wait! This time, we should be able to win this game. We were embarrassed, in case you forgot, in November.

The Plague is going around

So I came down with a nasty viral infection on Sunday night and I'm still very sick. I have been out of work for the past 3 days and feel awful. Unfortunately, a lot of people at work are out sick with the same virus. It's really going around.

I can't wait to feel back to normal. Hopefully tomorrow. But I just have to let it run it's course, I guess.

I have been watching a lot of TV during the day with Elaine, as she is home this week on "February Vacation". I didn't know Regis was still on TV. Nor did I realize there are two solid hours of Judge shows on like 3 channels. What the hell?

I feel bad for her, as this is no way to spend a break, with a sickie in the house.

Training this week at Staples Corporate Center

For those of you who don't know, I work for Boston's fastest growing and most widely referred provider of IT services for small businesses, Thrive Networks.

Anyway, we have are pretty much owned by Staples. Myself and 4 other engineers were hand-picked to go to Staples Corporate Center (no, not the Staples Center) in Framingham (the headquarters) to be trained in Cisco VoIP technology. I am very excited to be apart of this, however not looking forward to the drive to and from Framingham. It's about 45 minutes, and involves two very busy highways, especially during rush hour. But the building I'm going to is a state of the art facility. It is 130,000 square feet!

I believe it's from 8:30 to 5 Monday - Friday. That means I'll be easily leaving here at 7:15 am just to make sure I get there in time. Let's hope it doesn't snow this week, however the forecast shows flurries the next three days.

The training is pretty intense. If you're a Cisco guy (which I can't wait to get into, this is the first step), here's the certification overview.

I'm not sure if we'll be taking part of the exam at the end of the week or if we'll have to schedule it after a period of time. But I wouldn't mind going down the Cisco path now that my Exchange 2007 certification is all set (do I smell promotion in the near future?) and grabbing this certification right away. I wouldn't mind adding "Cisco IP Communications Express Specialist" to the end of my email signature :)

Traffic near the Super Bowl - right around where we used to live

Here's a shot about 5 minutes ago, from down the street where we used to live in Peoria, AZ. We used to live about 10 minutes north of the stadium. This is the Loop 101, which I used to take to work every day. The stadium is also off the Loop 101. Would you want to be stuck in this?

Super Bowl Weekend

While I'm unhappy the Bills aren't in the Super Bowl, this year's Super Bowl between the Giants and the Pats is gearing up to be one of the greatest, in my opinion.

While the Pats going to the big game was not a surprise, who would have thought the Giants would turn around and win big to get to the big show? They will be a strong force against the Pats, I do believe. But let's be serious. I do not see the Pats losing this one. It's almost like they can't lose. Obviously there were no teams that could beat these guys. The Pats already beat the Giants this year (albeit, it was a close game) and have knocked down everyone in their path. Their offense is something special. My prediction: 28-17, Pats. Like I said, close game.

Things around here are quite quiet. We're going to go pick up some ingredients today for a chili Elaine and I will be cooking tomorrow. Chunky Chicken and Chorizo Chili. YES, it has a bottle of beer in it. I can't wait!

My body is feeling good after the accident. I'm still walking a bit slow and with a slight gimp (haha) but my foot has gotten much better and most of the swelling has gone down. I'm getting around with out crutches right now, so that's a good thing.

I updated my blog template. The other one was hard to read and boring. This is more simple and definitely more appealing to the eye.

Anyway, that's about it. GO PATS! (Bet ya never thought you'd hear me say that!) Don't worry, this is just for one game!