Good Guy of the Week Award

The inaugural BlahStuff GGotW Award goes to a co-worker of mine named Matt Holzmann. Why? Well, try this on for size:

I'm heading down there to help rescue people from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

...

Why am I going? Well, I have wilderness first aid experience, boat driving experience, just enough vacation time, and I would hope that someone would do this for my mother, if this sort of tragedy struck Florida.

Even better, Matt somehow managed to arrange to pick up a pontoon boat from someone who works at our new parent company in Little Rock.

Just fantastic. Way to go Holzie!

Beantown Trip

Posting will be light at best for the upcoming 10+ days, as The Wife and I are making a trip back to New England. Here are the details that I know at the moment:

  1. We arrive in Boston on Tuesday, August 2.
  2. We'll be staying at H's uncle's house in Randolph
  3. There are plans in place to see H's friend Jill and her family Wednesday
  4. Thursday, we will be heading up to Maine to see H's aunt and uncle, returning to Randolph early Saturday, probably.
  5. ...?
  6. We come back home on Wednesday, August 10.

Congratulations

My college buddy, Chris Ring, just had a welcome addition to his family. In his words:

Shaela Marie Ring came into the world on 15 July at 10:38 AM. She was a bruiser at 8 lbs, 6 oz and 21 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great and we are having a lot of fun with the new addition.

Chris and his new daughter Shaela

Hopefully, we'll be able to drop in on them in August.

Hell in Your Living Room

I was talking to the brother-in-law, Chris, yesterday and he hits me with an incredibly disturbing recommendation: "You need to do me a favor -- and just try to trust me on this -- go get Karaoke Revolution for your Xbox." My reply? "Oh, hell no! You have to be kidding me." I begin to shiver as I flash back to my karaoke distaster from my bachelor party.

He continues his argument, though, telling me that "with a few friends you trust and enough alcohol it's about as much fun as you can have in your living room" (paraphrasing, of course).

I'm still not really that convinced, but it does seem to be the next big thing in gaming. The song list looks kind of hit or miss, though.

Besides, the key factor is the friends thing. Chris lives in LA: He has both gay friends and friends in the entertainment industry (with plenty of overlap, obviously). These are the types of people who would be willing to come over and be foolish without embarassment or reserve. My friends like to play poker, make snarky comments about movies, and listen to The Wife cuss like a sailor. I'm not convinced I could get Matt to belt out "Broken Wings" in my living room...

So, yeah, I'm on the fence on this one... And I'm only waffling because his description of "It's all Kate, Scot and I have been doing lately: Irish Car Bombs and karaoke" sounds like a ton of fun.

Hooray Rollergirl!

No, not that one (though she is a good thing, for sure). I'm talking roller derby girls! The recent resurgence of roller derby has finally made its way to the Denver metro region, and I am psyched.

Matt and I desperately want our ladies to sign up. Then not only could we be legitimate rollergroupies to real, live, super-hot rollergirls, we could stage roller husband fights in the stands!! Yeah!

Besides, check out the friends they would make:

The assembled crew suggests there's no typical derby girl. There are women from all walks of life: a mom, a burlesque dancer, PhD students, nine-to-fivers, a former figure skater. Some girls are all of 90 pounds while others are significantly more. They all come together thrice a week to strap on some wheels and smack each other around a bit.

Sweet. They even have t-shirts available at Twist & Shout.

Shane Corcoran's Injuries

Shay has another update on Da Kine's status. It's mostly good. He's in Hawaii and has a crack team of ninja doctors working on his injuries. Just for the record, these are them:

  • Three left side skull fractures
  • One Right side Skull Fracture
  • Subdural Hematoma’s (Now gone)
  • Epidural Hematoma (There but getting better)
  • Right side brain contusion
  • Pelvis fractured twice
  • Fractured shoulder
  • Collapsed lung (not yet fully inflated, put on O2)
  • Broken ribs
  • Fractured tibia
  • Kneecap knocked out of alignment
  • Tendons and severe lacerations of right hand

Holy crap!

I figure his tennis, ballet, boxing, and Xtreme Tai Chi carreers are all a wash. And he may never play the violin again.

(Seriously, I'm glad and a little amazed that I can joke about it.)

In other news, it sounds like Shane and his wife Courtney may be moving to Boston. I'm disappointed to lose my Hawaiian tour guide, but that's exciting news.

More on Da Kine

The news is good. First, from Kin-Shay:

2005-03-16 UPDATE - Courtney just called, she just spoke with CPT Rivera, the military laison to the civilian hospital. Shane is awake and speaking. We are not sure what he is saying, but his nurses described him as a “feisty young man.� CPT R is on his way to the hospital now to visit Shane. More updates to follow…

At first, I was worried Shane might be confused enough to default to one of the other languages he speaks. He'd have a hard time getting water from a nurse if he asked for it in Latin or Romanian... Luckily, Kin Yah Brutha adds some detail in the Soxaholix comments:

hey guys, da kine is out of the drug induced coma two days early and spoke to his wife this morning. he is speaking in complete sentences, but is still a little confused. ever the master of understatement, he said, "i seem to have been in a bit of an accident."

That's our boy!

If you have some spare good vibes...

Send them Shane's way, please. He was in a very serious accident while serving in Kuwait. Initial signs seem encouraging, but he suffered some nasty injuries.

We love you, brother. Be well.

...

This is purely trivial now, but Shane would be happy if circumstances hadn't interfered: Our BU Ice Dogs made it past Providence tonight and will meet New Hampshire in the Hockey East semis, which will be a single-elimination affair.