right

as far as i know i am not going to be a father by new years eve either. in fact, that would take a medical miracle or the next coming of the angel gabriel.

Cleveland Sounds Good to Us

While the Papsdorf clan loves to travel to new and exotic places, we like the sound of Cleveland for New Years this year. It's a day's drive from my parent's house, so we can stop there on the way for Christmas and stop again on the way home - all for much less money than flying. Plus, my aunt and uncle live in Cleveland and they always have the best sausages when we come to visit.

We will decline the opportunity to host New Year's this year, though we would be in the running with a new little one due to arrive in September. (Surprise!) We will defer to those who may be having a new baby closer to January 1st in matters of NYE party locations, though we may have to wait another 3-4 months before anyone really close to the date will be sharing the news.

Of course, as far as I know, Jon isn't going to be a father by New Years Eve, but I guess he can still host the party, as long as his mom can provide lots of toys.

Now I must go watch Lost. I love Netflix.

It's never too early to start planning

(i learned that from Amanda).

So I was wondering if you guys have given any thought to New Years next year? I would be happy to offer my house (and also my parents') for the upcoming celebration. Like I mentioned last year, the houses are just two doors apart, so we'll really have two houses to spread out in. Plus, my mother was talking to me this weekend about pulling all the baby toys down from the attic for all of the BLD kids. (Yes, she is in serious need of being a grandmother, and her children are falling down on the job). So, clearly there is nothing urgent since it is only March, but I just wanted to present the idea again while I was thinking about it.

Hope all is well with everyone. Keep the updates coming.

Speaking of updates, I finally had a free weekend this past weekend, which I spent almost entirely working on my house. It was actually quite fun, and I had people helping and keeping me company most of the time. Almost all of the ugly wallpaper is finally down and replaced with paint. It has been a long time coming. I should have taken before and after pictures so you guys could more fully appreciate the awfulness of the wallpaper & carpeting before it was replaced.

Plus, I now spend a lot of time watching informative shows such as Sell This House, House Hunters, Trading Spaces, etc. I will be more than ready when it is time to sell my house, at least according to the people on those shows.

JH

It's a small world

Jon, I just discovered two facts that should brighten your mood.

1) I work with Wendy (Habeski) Simon's husband.

2) The COO of my company is Alex Schowtka, a former world-class swimmer and member of the West German 800m free relay team that took silver at the '84 Summer Olympics. For the non-swimmers in the audience, that relay had one of the most memorable finishes in Olympic swimming history.

this boy's so spectacular

Mazzucco update

Quickly...
The Mazzuccos are on vacation in Sovy, Il.
Things are going well. The boys are fun.
I'm looking for a new job b/c I don't like working with lawyers. Maybe I'll sell cars.
Also, I'm playing with a new frisbee team b/c I didn't like the leadership of the last team (I was the captain).
I'll write more later.
Mazzucco

here's another good one

these keep getting better and better (or worse and worse, depending on my mood)...

http://www.dailynewstribune.com/sportsNews/view.bg?articleid=71689&format=&page=2

High Strung Atheletes

Seems to me that high strung atheletes seem a lot like high strung tourists.

So for your entertainment...here's the best lines I've heard at our restaurant!

10) Where does the rain come from????

9) I know you're closed but _____________ (fill in the blank).

8) Do you put your drinks in cups?

7) Excuse me. This 1/2 roasted chicken has dark meat.

6) This pasta primavera doesn't taste like the ones in Georgia!

5) Can I get a clam chowder no potatoes?

4) I so neeeeeeeed my coffee! Do you have decafe?

3) Is this tuna salad sandwich made with fresh ahi?

2) Are you really closed?

And my personal favorite of the month....

1) You put mayonaise on your burgers? That's not how they do it in America!

oh and one more thing

Josh,
I can kinda top your sticker/button furniture issue. Jay and I bought a super cheap TV holder about three years ago (sticker variety) and Jay spent a LONG TIME putting it all together only to discover that his 27 inch TV is just a bit bigger than other 27 inch TVs. So, he got all ticked and started to beat the thing and I finally convinced him to just saw a side off. So, our TV stand is SUPER rigged.
And none of our furniture matches.
But, don't feel bad for us, because at least we don't care about water marks ...which kind of works out because one of us wouldn't care even if our furniture were good and did match (I'll leave it to you to figure out which one of us that is...not me).

RATS

Well, free agency was going well.

Unfortunately, Adam Vinatieri has decided to go in another direction with his representation. Apparently we weren't doing a good enough job. I suppose this is the life of an agent. Always unpredictable and always at the whim of some pretty high-strung athletes.

Well I wish him the best. My only response would be summed up best by the article below, about a player who did stick with us and I think got pretty good results.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=407991

all right

what's the deal, BLDers. i'm up to my ears in free agency, and i keep checking this blog every once in a while, hoping for a new post to distract me from work for a few minutes. but, noooooo. surely there are some interesting things going on out there. if not, then just type anything. tell us about a dream you had, or how you changed your child's diaper, or how you just remembered something ridiculous about our dartmouth days. anything will do.

THE NEW CARD

Thanks to a phone call from Shannon, I was given the heads up that Mayfair Games had finally put the finishing touches on redressing Family Business. The game is essentially the same, but the cards have been dressed up. Each mobster card now sports an actual drawing/ picture of the mobster, and the playing cards have all be redesigned. A few mobsters have also been added or subtracted.

But the real news is the addition of a new card. It is called the "Turncoat" card. It allows you to kill one mobster from the team with the most mobsters at that time (your choice in the case of ties), AND to resurrect a dead mobster from the RIP pile from the team with the least amount of mobsters at that time (again, your choice in the case of a tie). The only catch is that you may not bring a human player back into the game using this card. My initial thought is that saving this card until the end of the game (like I usually do with the Vendetta) could be huge.

My friends and I in Ohio have not yet played with the redressed version and the new card, but should this weekend. I'm looking forward to it. The "Turncoat" definitely seems like it can be a game-changing card. Nice work, Mayfair Games.

The Hawaii 3-0

So I have entered the next decade and it is rad.

I had three nights of parties...one of which was a surprise one thrown by my Hawaii friends! Lots of great food, good wine, Newcastle, a cigar and a 20 yr. tawny port. Don't feel a day over 21. Especially when my friends doused me with 2 gallons of ice water and a huge piece of chocolate cake in front of my bosses.

Thankfully, I'm not a lawyer. ; )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPUDDIN

Just a shout out to Adin Kawate on her birthday today. Hope you have a good one.

JH

haha

1. i watched almost all of tpb yesterday. my brother was watching it, and i got sucked in. it's impossible not to.

2. doug, remember when we did movie quote of the day and trivia of the day? that was kind of fun for a while. although no one could get your movie quotes after a while because you know too many of them.

3. they keep pushing free agency back which means i keep staying up late every night working, only to ultimately accomplish nothing and to have to do it all over again. hopefully one of these deadlines will actually stick.

4. i ordered furniture for my re-done living/ dining rooms. i think it will look nice. i have never had anything actually match before, so i am looking forward to that. maybe one of these days i will actually take pictures. if i had a camera, that would help.

They are lyrics

My parting words are lyrics from music I am currently into. So far I have quoted "Somebody Told Me" and "Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine" by The Killers, "Running Out Of Time" by Hot Hot Heat, and "Castle On A Cloud" from Les Misérables.

I saw someone doing it on another blog and liked (stole) the idea.

fling out the fish and the unleavened

Speaking of Movies on TV...

Anyone happen to catch TPB on VH1? It played multiple times (I watched some last night and today). Ahhhhh, memories.

question

what do Doug's mini comments mean? Entertaining, yes. Understood, not so much.

Is Kevin Ready?

I happened to catch the last hour or so of The Firm last night on the Hallmark Channel (at least one movie they've shown in the past 6 months that Josh might have watched if he weren't so focused on saving the universe in his new Star Wars PC game), and I started to worry about Kevin. I mean, I know he's working out, but can he run fast enough to escape murderous hit men and hold himself horizontally against bars above their heads? All before heading to a meeting with the heads of a mob family who know he's been talking with the FBI?

Kevin, can you do that?

Jon, you're a sports lawyer, so you don't have to deal with the mob (at least not so much in Cleveland). I think. But what if some of the football players decide you haven't served them well and come after you. Can you beat them off or run fast enough to get away? I'm sure you could outswim them, but somehow I think they're more likely to attack when you're not in the pool.

It suddenly strikes me that being a lawyer is very dangerous.