More Notes and Updates

The mini-vacation which seemed doomed ended up being saved after all. It was a quick three day trip to the beach/tidewater area to visit my uncle and enjoy a little time away from work.

I swam in the ocean for the first time in my 19 year existence. Although I didn't think I'd really like it, I really really enjoyed myself. The water was a little cool and I didn't much care for the salty taste, but after I got the hang of watching out for waves, I was able to drastically decrease my salt water intake (at first I think I was drinking about a gallon everytime a wave hit me). It was really nice to go on vacation with Courtney. We had a great time at the beach. Next year, though, I think a group of the 'friends' will be making a trip for a few day visit. Fun fun fun.

After a day on the beach, we had dinner with the family and then walked down (I think) Atlantic Avenue and visited all the little touristy shops. It was really nice.

The rest of the weekend was spent away from the beach in a little town called Poquoson where my uncle lives. We went to Yorktown, but the 'touristy stuff' was closing down when we got there, so we didn't get to see much of the battlefields or anything like that. We went down to the York River where they have a 'mini-boardwalk' (as my uncle called it). It was really nice. There were only a few shops, but they were pretty neat. One shop was very conservative and very pro-America (so naturally I loved it). It was at that store that I made my lone purchase (which may be seen below):

'Bush Won...Get Over It!'

I'm looking forward to wearing this around Shepherd this fall. If I don't post for a while after I return to school, it's probably because I've been badly beaten or chopped in to 'lil bits and shoved in a trashcan.

Speaking of Shep-prep (as Casey calls it), my imminent return is quickly approaching: under two weeks! All summer I've spent wishing I could be back there, now, with two weeks left, I'm trying to cling on to the last remnants of the final summer of my teenage years. Kind of depressing, really. Even with that in mind, I'm still ready to go back.

I guess with my return to school I will get this beastly site back to its old form... lots of rants and more frequent posting.

All for now...

WAIT: One final thought:

Happy birthday to us

happy birthday to us

happy birthday DEAR VENT PIPE

happy birthday to us

It's now been one year since The Vent Pipe went digital and entered the 'blogospehere.' A small, but meaningful, milestone.

Random Notes

First of all, I'd like to say HA HA FREAKIN' HA to all those people who said "the NHL lockout is going to go into next season." A deal is officially (well it will be official next week at the Board of Governors meeting) done. That means puck time in October. That means draft time in a few weeks and free agency (after to years of having none) and all the trade-rumors and speculation that comes with it in just over a month. Wonderful isn't it?

Secondly, I'd like to say HA HA FREAKIN' HA to all those people who thought I was an idiot for talking about the Mr. Tater Head guy who has a Darth Vader accessory line. Some people thought I was crazy because (after searching for one for months) we couldn't find a store that carried it. Well stick this in your pipe and smoke it! Pictured below is MY VERY OWN Darth Tater brought to your courtesy of Heather Hill and the folks at Target in Winchester. Darth Tater is pictured posing in front of my CD rack and beside the house plant given to me by Miss Margaret Broderick of Hampshire High School when I was a wee lad in only 10th grade. (for the record, the plant was doing really well and got HUGE for a while, but then died of to only a stub, now it seems to be bouncing back!)

the force is strong with this tater

Thirdly, I am ready for school to start back. The mini-vacation we had planned is now in jeopardy due to a problem with some of the sub-contractors' scheduling to be at a job we're trying to finish up on the day we were planning to sneak away for a long weekend. Everybody pray for me that we get a day off and a couple of days away.

Fourthly (more seriously), God Bless Great Britain. I hope the Brits wake up and take their country back from the terrorists: Brits, do NOT give it to the political left who would have you try to bring the terrorists to justice by counseling them and blaming George W. Bush.

Fifthly (and just for good measure) God Bless American, too!

Ain't No Doubt About It

Cross another one off the list of things I wanted to do. After having seen Toby Keith last night, there are only two concerts I have left to attend before I have seen everybody I wanted to. Next summer (assuming they tour) will be the Barenaked Ladies, and the summer after I might finally get to see Dave Matthews. But enough about everybody else, last night was Toby's night.

What a show! He's been ACM Entertainer of the Year at least twice, and there is definitely a reason for it.

Opening for Toby were Shooter Jennings (son of the late, great Waylon Jennings) and LeAnne Womack. I missed Shooter's two-song set (we were a little late due to horrid traffic), but his voice is a lot like Waylon's so I am sure it was great. I'm not a big Womack fan, so I just wanted her to stop squealing and get off the stage. It was actually pretty interesting to see the difference between the crowds reaction to the openers (everyone was sitting on the grass talking or goofing off, the people beside us were reading a newspaper!) compared to Toby Keith (everyone jumped up and stayed up the rest of the night).

Seeing as how he is Toby Keith and all, a 'regular' entrance could not be made. There's no way that he could just grab his guitar and walk out. So, in his big, bad-ass American way, Toby drove a big ole Ford F-350 right onto the stage and through a wall (well it was on a video) as the video ended the screen dropped and sure enough, there was the big ole truck. Lots of smoke and fireworks and then standing on the front of the truck was Toby Keith. A big jump from the truck onto the stage and we were off.

F.C.T.K. (according to the website I got this pic from) means "ford Congratulates TK

Obviously I didn't take the above picture. I tried to get a couple, but they aren't worth seeing

The first half of the concert was just not stop action: loud, screaming, big production action. About halfway through, his band left and he and another guy did three songs that they often perform for the troops when they go into the frontlines in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Listening to Toby sing those songs left one thing in my mind: There ain't no doubt about it, Virginia is a RED STATE BABY. 'Mr. Bush got on the phone and said, 'You SOB's better not be doing any business w/ that Taliban' got cheers like nothing I had ever heard before. Toby was also quick to point out during 'Beer for my Horses' that we ARE the good guys and there is not and should never be any doubt about that. That little statement also got a huge cheer.

Toby finished out the show and then came back to do an encore which consisted of 'American Soldier' and 'The Angry American' (you know, the 'We'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American Way' song).

Overall the concert was just great. I've only been to two other concerts (Trisha Yearwood when I was little for my cousins birthday, and Aerosmith), but of the three this was, by far, the best.

In the words of Sean Hannity, Toby Keith is a 'great American.'

Christmas in July

There's a silly tradition of saying "Christmas in July" and then showing some old Christmas cartoons on ABC Family (or whatever the name of that station is now--it changes hands quite a bit and I can't seem to keep track of it). Now I don't know who came up with this silly idea of 'Christmas in July," but I do know that I intend to celebrate it starting right now!

For the past year (over a year), I have struggled to keep my patience. Waiting quietly for an announcement. Hoping that silly things like multi-million dollar deals wouldn't keep us (fans) from enjoying the one thing we love more than any other: NHL Ice Hockey. But we were wrong, and in April the powers-that-be cancelled the NHL season. Well guess what kids, we stuck in there and held out long enough.

Sources close to the negotiations have informed Bird (for non-hockey folk, Bird is the administrator of the 'hockeybird' website which is basically a New York Rangers hockey blog and is also my favorite website) that a deal is 'done' and an announcement is pending the close of the holiday weekend. Here's what Bird had to say last night:

Ladies And Gentlemen, We Have A Deal! .

MY sources have told me that we do in fact have a deal. I have no specifics except that the writing of the document and an official announcement is not yet ready. However, it's a go.
Take it for what you will......but we will have an NHL season. It's expected that an announcement will come in 10 days or less. Of course, this is what I am told and anything could happen....even enough to kill it.

But the two sides have agreed. Oh yeah....82 games, no less.

It's about time!

~~~~~UPDATE~~~~~

apparently as I was writing this, the Bird man updated his post. Here's the new news, much of the same:

Confirmed Info

As I reported last night, the NHL & NHLPA have agreed to a deal. I still can't get much in the way of details on the actual agreement as both sides are keeping quite on purpose. Neither one wants to say something out of line that would derail the deal and Hockeybird is hardly the place that either side goes to in order to get a message out.
I was able to have the info I got confirmed by a few others so I can say it's true.

Is it to early to celebrate? I hope not. I may have to break out the old jersey and see if I can find some old recorded games I have under the TV cabinet. Throw on the hot-wings and break out the beer (well, I mean, for those old enough to drink it wink wink) 'cuz it's HOCKEY TIME BABY. HELLS YES!