My Weekend

OK, now that I got the venom out of my system in the previous post, let's get onto happier things, namely, my weekend.

Friday
University night and there was a pretty good sized crowd. The Thunder even wore Rachel took Friday off for mental health and because she's jealous that I get payday Fridays off. Can't say I blame her for being jealous and I was happy she had the day off with me. We spent the day taking down the rest of the Christmas decorations, picking up, and watching movies/TV. Later that evening we met my Dad and Mark at El Porton (best Mexican restaurant in town). We then went to the Prairie Thunder hockey game. Friday night was Illinois WesleyanIWU green sweaters that they auctioned off after the game for charity.

The game was great as we won 5-3 with new player Jars getting a hat trick and Standish almost getting one himself (his shot on the open goal hit the pipe, oooh, two hockey lingos in one post). We all had a good time and Dad enjoyed his first visit to the Coliseum.

Speaking of Standish, the guy is maybe 5'6" on skates but is faaast. He has great passing skills and has a nose for creating plays. I don't expect he or Jars will be around for too long. Let's enjoy them while they're here.

Saturday
Saturday we decided it was time for a trip to Peoria. Why would we go to Peoria? We wanted to visit Big Lots (ours closed down last year) and Burlington Coat Factory, and to see if the Bennigan's there was still open. Since I didn't print out a map we of course got lost. I drove all the way around Peoria and finally called Burlington for directions. Once there Rachel found a jacket and I found that I was not the target demographic for this particular store. Unless of course I was looking for a fake Chinchilla coat or a derby hat to match my suit.

From Burlington we traveled to downtown in search of a Monte Cristo. No luck though, the Bennigan's was closed. I truly hope some chain buys the recipe. Oh well. We had a good backup though, Joe's Crab Shack. Joe's was very delicious. We had a pot with Chesapeake seasoning and an appetizer platter with crab dip (I highly recommend), some jalapeno crab balls (that's what she said), and popcorn shrimp. All washed down with some Blue Moon.

After Joe's we didn't want to truck all the way back to the North side of town for Big Lots so we decided to try and find the one in East Peoria. Well, we got a nice tour of East Peoria and Germantown Hills (recently expanded into Polandtown). I stopped at a convenience store and naturally the lady was new and hadn't heard of Big Lots. I looked it up in the phone book and saw it was on E Washington street. The lady said the street was on the other side of the highway. Away we drove in search of bargain prices only to discover the street was W. Washington. Dejected, we gave up and decided to head home. We got on the highway and, lo and behold, what do we find but an exit for E. Washington st. Deliverance at last. We found the promise land and then spent an hour and a half perusing their wares. Actually, I spent the last half hour laying in a recliner but that's beside the point. Oh, and some of you are wondering why if I looked in the phone book, I didn't call the store for directions. Exactly.

When we arrived back in Bloomington we stopped at McDonald's for our free Big Macs. Yes, we got free Big Macs. If the Thunder score 4 or more goals in a game everyone in attendance gets a free Big Mac the next day. Victory was delicious.

Once we arrived back to our humble abode we played some Rock Band 2 on the Wii.

Sunday
Super Bowl Sunday was spent cleaning and watching TV. Included in the viewing was Puppy Bowl V on Animal Planet. A very enjoyable two hours. Late we went over to our friends Amy and Scott's house to watch the game. The game was pretty boring (save the 100 yard Int TD) for the first three quarters. Luckily the fourth quarter was great.

So Long Crash

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2009/01/08/sportsextra/doc49654a7e83d9b073054219.txt

Well, the Thunder let Don "The Crash Davis of Hockey" Parsons go the other day. As I've said before, I know just enough about hockey to be dangerous. In my opinion, he had lost a step (skate?) or two this season and didn't always handle the puck the best. That said, the Thunder will definitely miss the revenue from sales of his jersey. He was also a recognizable name to the general fan. With that in mind, it must have been a difficult decision by team management to let him go.

I've also read/heard that his leadership skills were less than desirable and he rubbed several teammates the wrong way. Nonetheless, I wish him well. I'm sure he will find another team as a player or coach. 15+ years in the minors should have given him some experience...one would hope.

At least they waited until he got the minor league scoring record. Hopefully his wife is as hot as Susan Sarandon.....

FYI, for those who do not get the Crash Davis and Sarandon references, do yourself a favor and rent Bull Durham. And while you're there, rent Slap Shot and Strange Brew hoser. Okay Coach.

A step forward?

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2009/01/03/sportsextra/doc495ebe9258190580083629.txt

Well, it looks like the GM of the Prairie Thunder resigned last night. I don't know anything about the guy so I wish him luck in whatever he does next. Let's hope this is a step in the right direction and that we can get some Ws.

NYE

Well, another NYE has come and gone. It was a pretty good one this time around. We went to the hockey game with our friends Amy and Scott. Of course, the Prairie Thunder lost (more on that later). After the butt whupping the Thunder got we went back to our place to play pool, darts, and Rock Band. All in all, a pretty good night. Plus, Kathy Griffin was on CNN with Anderson Cooper, always good for some laughs.

New Year's Day was a little harsh to us but we soldiered through. Unfortunately El Porton (best Mexican restaurant in B-N) was closed so I went to Zorba's to pick up some breakfast. The rest of the day was spent laying around the house watching TV and taking naps. Quite a productive day if you ask me ;)

Now on to the hockey game. I sincerely hope the Thunder make a New Year's resolution to start winning games or at least get some better puck handling skills. Oh, and can we get an enforcer sometime soon? It's crazy that the littlest guy on the team (Standish, about 5'6"...on skates) has the most fight in him. He even took on a 6'5" guy! Anyway, the games are a good time but it would be nice to win every once in a while.

One more thing, any parent who buys their child one of those f'n plastic horns should have a giant Bud Light (I'm not wasting good beer, come on!) dumped on their head. I can't tell you how many times I have wanted to snatch one of those horns away from a kid and blow it directly into their mom or dad's ear. And don't get me started on the bloody cowbell people. Have we forgotten how to cheer or be obnoxious with our voices? If you are going to cheer your team and/or annoy others, at least do it the old fashioned way.

Nice to remember what good hockey is like

Let me start off by saying this. I like the Bloomington Prairie Thunder hockey team. I think it's a great asset for B-N. Even though the level of play is just above high school. The players do the best with what they have. I like the coliseum and the fact that I can get 312 for roughly the same price as Bud Light. Ok, the beer prices could be lower but I understand I'm at a sporting event.

With that said, there is a noticeable difference between the Thunder and the Peoria Rivermen. For those of you unaware of the Rivermen, it is the direct feeder team to the St. Louis Blues. Essentially, it is AAA hockey, and boy does it show. Crisp passing, fast skating, just superior play all around.

Thursday night my brother called to say he had free tickets to the Thunder so we gladly went. This is probably our 4th or 5th game this season and I'm pretty sure the Thunder has lost all of the ones we attended. Nonetheless, it was free and we had a good time. The Thunder really stunk up the place in the 1st and 2nd periods. Only in the 3rd did we start to show some fight. Speaking of, what does it take to get a decent enforcer on the team? Several times we were on the receiving end of some beat downs. I'm not saying we need to start a goon squad but we could use one of the Hanson brothers.

Fast forward to Saturday. To celebrate Rachel's friend Amy's birthday we were going to the casino boat in Peoria. Then, Rachel's other friend (yes, she has two) Stacey's boyfriend Brian (you following this) came up with 6 free tickets to the Rivermen. So, we went to the Rivermen game, three rows behind the corner glass. NICE! The game was great, lots of back and forth action, lots of physical play. And the game seemed in the bag with the Rivermen up a goal when, like a movie, the other team scored a goal with 1.8 seconds to play. Yes, you read that correctly, 1.8 seconds. Then we had a 5 minute overtime with several close plays. Still tied we went to a shootout, which, I'm happy to report, the Rivermen won.

After that, we went to the boat where I won $20 at the blackjack table and then proceeded to people watch.

One more thing. When we sat down at the game in Peoria there was some drunk redneck with his unbranching family tree behind us. He seemed to be quite concerned with who was homosexual. He also talked in that voice where you don't move your lips much and it sounds like a vaguely familiar foreign language. Kind of like Robert Duvall in any of his Westerns, only drunk on ether. Needless to say, I took great pleasure in making fun of the guy. Don't worry, I used big words. It was also my birthday present to Amy since she takes great joy in my alcohol-fueled heckling.