Sappy as I get (publicly)...

iPod update:

1,858 songs, 6.1 days, 11.5 GB (out of 40)

Last album added: Eric Clapton, 24 Nights


This is the tough part.

Monday morning after a great weekend with my wife. I left NY at 7:00 and made it back before 11. Pretty good time for the drive and probably what I'll wind up doing for the rest of the time.

What a great weekend though, not to sound too sappy. It was like one of those musical montages kind of time. "Something Tells Me I'm Into Something Good" or something like that. Cheesy? yes, but I can't wait for it to happen again.

Back to work (which I love saying) now and a busy week here at NAN. NewsFeeds, RadioTours, all that good stuff which I get paid to produce and distribute. It is a great job with great people who genuinely look out for each other and care about the advancement of the company. We have a lot of pride in what we do and that we are the #1 company in our field.

Thanks to a great gift from my Dad, I know just how far I have come:

In October of 1984, I was a 10 year-old hockey prodigy who needed to learn how to make a buck. What better way to do that than scorekeeping hockey games? Right? Yup. Five bucks per (they make $15 now) to sit there and run the clock. First thing I found out about working? It's freakin' cold in a hockey rink when you're not actually playing!

Well when I got that first check my dad took it, gave me a five dollar bill and had that check framed. It sits on my office wall and is a constant reminder of how far I have come from freezing my ass off in a hockey rink in October of 1984.

In other news. Congrats to Lori Morris who, over the weekend, was married to Paul Flores in a beautiful ceremony in Totowa, NJ. Amy & I were fortunate enough to be invited to share in the day.

Al & Amy Hagovsky continue the slow process of moving into their new (and first) home. My wife and I will be helping them out next Saturday when she visits. From what I hear it's a great place with tons of Poker and Super Bowl potential! Were helping them move but we are not driving them to the airport!

Finally, speaking of the game...If you are in town this upcoming weekend and need a place to watch the game, come on over to our place. We've got 55" of Super Sunday goodness!

Good Day!

You daaaaam right.

iPod update:
1,766 songs, 5.4 days, 7.13 GB (out of 40)

Last album added:
Roger Waters, The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking

So I'm walking to work this morning and it dawns on me that a person is very insulated from all around him/her when you have the tunes going.

Case in point. I have the iPod on shuffle so 1,766 tunes play in order and "Alive and Kicking" by Simple Minds comes on. This tune has a great start, good bass drum beat. Next thing I know I'm walking pretty briskly to work! It's the darndest thing but I feel like the coolest guy in the town. Walking with tunes is like having your own theme song (every good hero should have one).

With an iPod, everyone is Shaft.

So that got me thinking. What are my personal favorite walking/Shaft-esque tunes?

- "Bullet the Blue Sky", U2
- "Staying Alive", The Bee Gees
- "Moby Dick", Led Zeppelin
- "One of These Days", Pink Floyd
- "All Mixed Up", 311
- "Would?", Alice In Chains
- "Rockin' The Suburbs", Ben Folds
- "Monkey Man", The Rolling Stones
- "Xanadu", Rush

Happy downloading!

Sad, sad, sad.....

iPod update:
1,522 songs, 4.7 days, 6.19 GB (out of 40)

Last album added:
Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run


I don't care one iota about the National Hockey League right now. It's an absolute disgrace how they have taken our game and made it their game. I get more joy and satisfaction from watching and being a part of youth leagues and pick-up games to even care about what some millionaire thinks should be important to me.

I am the target audience for the NHL and the NHLPA. 18-39 and middle-class. The NHL game should be accessible to me but hasn't been since 1996 when I could get a Sabres ticket for half-price with my student ID. There was a time when I would drive two hours through lake-effect snow to see a game. Those days are gone because now, even if I needed to, I wouldn't drive to an NHL game.

Don't get me wrong....I'll be back. I don't know when my faith will be restored (probably sooner than later) but what the NHL and the NHLPA have done over the course of the past few months have scarred me to the very core. In a game that relies on emotion they have sucked it right out where all that is left is an empty shell.....and I live in Maryland. What's happening in the Great White North?

Is curling that popular? I don't think so. In fact, the lockout has had such an effect that a man in Ottawa used his dying words to denounce the current state of affairs.

Amen, brotha.

I love hockey. I love the Ramapo Saints, the St. Joseph Regional Green Knights, the Indian Hills Braves and the New York Islanders(honestly, I do!) However, right now I'd drive the four hours back to NY/NJ to see the first three play but not the five minutes to hop on the Metro into downtown D.C. to see the Isles when they are in town. It's like when you are so mad at someone you just do not want to even see their face.

That's how I feel about the NHL.

Moving right along

"Bear left."

"right frog."

There is something to be said about chemistry. The chemistry that existed between Frank Oz and the late Jim Henson when they were manipulating and performing as Fozzy Bear and Kermit the Frog is something that comes along every once in awhile. The scenes from The Muppet Movie in the car when it's just them is some of the funniest ever put up on a movie screen.

I'm big on inspiration. Maybe even bigger on "psyching up". I like the way a movie or a piece of music can just change your mood instantly. It doesn't matter where you are or who's around....if a piece of music comes on you get that jolt through your body like you just got hit by lightning.

A few pieces of music do that for me:

August 7th, 2004. I'm getting in the car to drive over to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. It's my last time that I'll have by myself before I am overtaken by the madness that is a groom's wedding day. I fire up PR2K (ProfRocket 2000) and slip in Exit...Stage Left, the first Rush CD I ever bought. For the 4:50 second trip over to the hotel I rocked out to "The Spirit of Radio". I'm telling you, I felt immortal for those sublime minutes.

Another song that does it for me is Led Zeppelin's "Achilles' Last Stand". It's on their lesser known Presence album but believe me, nothing kicks ass like that song. At 10:50 seconds the song is just long enough to get me from my old house on Prospect St. in Nanuet to Sport-O-Rama in Monsey. 10:50 to get psyched up for each and every home game for St. Joseph Regional High School (the Montreal Canadiens of high school hockey). Two nights ago I put in on just to see if it still did it. Sure enough, the time machine was activated as soon as the first note hit my ears. I even lost it in the car when John Bonham hit that sick drum/cymbal combo in the middle of the second verse. Like clockwork and a drink from the Fountain of Youth I was 17 again, driving to the rink, feeling unbeatable.

I dunno what the point of this is. It could be that I got a 40 GB iPod as a present to myself for landing this great job. Every CD I own is now stored on a device the size of a deck of cards....the only thing I can muster when I try to fathom that is a dorky, teenage, "oooooooooooooo!" Like those toys that live in the crane game in Toy Story.

Later people, stay warm and don't forget what I said.


-Good Day

View from the 14th Floor

Nice disolve!

Hey gang, I'm looking out of my 14th floor window in front of my desk here at my new job in Bethesda. I'll get a pic up as soon as I can. I've got a nice clear view of western Bethesda, which is like having a view of western Paramus but hey....beggars can't be choosers, right?

Definantly a good day today folks!

J-E-T-S

Oh yeah baby!

Everything from here is gravy for the Jets. After that emotionally draining football game on Saturday night/Sunday morning nobody expects them to do anything against the Steelers, Pats, or Colts, so should we pull off....nah, I'm not saying anything more than that. I'm a happy Jets fan right now looking forward to an exciting week on all accounts.

I was so high on adrenaline that I wasn't able to get to sleep until about 3:30 AM. Normally, that wouldn't be bad on a Sunday morning but yours truly had to officiate a Junior Caps game at 10:00 AM in Laurel. Three 20 minute periods, keeping up with 18-21 year olds. Top notch hockey and thanks to some intestinal fortitude and overall great skill, I had a gem of a game. Felt good to be able to ref at the highest level and be considered by my peers and the spectators.

I came home and crashed for four hours.....utterly exhausted.

So the week starts anew, literally. I go into NAN on Tuesday for training and orientation. I'm psyched to get going. Like I said before, it's a great company with the right people. I look forward to being part of the team on a full-time basis.

My sister-in-law's boyfriend, Lt. Chris Remillard got his station assignment for his tour of duty. He'll be a Physical Therapist, stationed at Ft. Knox in Kentucky (yes, that Ft. Knox). He's off to the Blue Grass State in April. Good luck Chris!

More to come in the next few days!

Vindication

(exhale)

"That ends the longest f%^$#$g losing streak I've ever been on"

It's a line from Slap Shot, the greatest movie of all time and it was the first thing I said after I hung up the phone this evening. Yes indeed, the GDP's full-time again. It's nice to be wanted....wanted by anyone professionally that is, and this afternoon North American Network, Inc. in Bethesda, MD asked me to join the team.

I will be a Project and Client Services Manager for NAN, which is a public relations firm specializing in radio. You can visit our website at www.nanradio.com. It is a great company with excellent people who share a common background, love and friendship. It is the company which took me in back in '98 and saw that I shared all of the qualities which they posses. The decision was a no-brainer for Amy & I.

Now I know that I posted in the last message that I wanted to write and believe me, I still plan on pursuing that in whatever capacity I can. It's just that I have such a great feeling about all of this. The company, the people and the future. This is where we are going to spend the foreseeable future and it is all at once exciting and nerve-wracking.

One last high note. My good friend from high school, Dawn Cassiello got engaged over the holiday break. Congrats to you Dawn!

I start next week and will put all of the resume paper I have in stock up on eBay. Wish me luck!


-Good Day!

History

The evidence is in from New Year's and believe me, most of the pics I've seen show the same face as the one I posted below. Getting drunk is better advertising for Gatorade than anything Michael Jordan did in the 80's & 90's. It's an elixir. If you are planning to get sauced go out and buy two 32 oz. bottles (make sure you get the Frost brand, that is, no color because the traditional ones leave a bad aftertaste in your mouth) and put 'em in the fridge before you go out.

It's gold Jerry....GOLD I tell ya!

Sunday was a day of rest in every sense of the term.

So now it's back to the grindstone. I like my job right now but it has no room for advancement. It's freelance work so I'm hoofing it in downtown DC on the days that I'm not in the office....getting the word out that the GDP is in town and available. I've done everything but scribble my resume on the Union Station bathroom stall.

I've also started the official Ryan McKenna PowerBook fund. It's up to $350 right now, which is about a third of the way. I stopped in the Apple Store in Tyson's Corner and test drove the 12" (another Aerosmith reference, DAMN!) and convinced myself it's going to be the machine which will best help me make my future happen. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you that over Christmas I was inspired by a gift.

Amy got me a family history plaque which has my family's crest and a brief history of it's name. Turns out, my family comes from County Monaghan in the northern province of Ulster in Ireland. It gives a history of when my ancestors came to this country and what they did, specifically, it gives the most notable accomplishments. As it turns out the most notable accomplishments come in the field of literature. Our family has never been one to make mention of the accomplishments of our ancestors, simply because we come from so many different backgrounds, but me being the most Irish looking (and acting as New Year's proved again), I found an instant bond formed between me and my past family members.

So here I write, trying to stir up what I know is inside me. Finding any and all outlets to keep on keepin' on. Am I a novelist? Columnist? Lyricist? Maybe.....gasp a poet? Who knows? I could end up writing for Hallmark.

The die have been cast.

Valuable lessons learned....

Oh man....bad things.....bad things. I learned a very valuable lesson on NYE:


Getting drunk in your 30's is a lot worse than getting drunk in your 20's. It sort of snuk up on me without any warning. Rum and coke, rum and coke, rum and coke. Any body think to count? Nahhhhhh.....let 'er rip, GDP, let 'er rip.

We started the festivities at Al & Amy's with casual drinking and a sprited round of Scene It. It was me vs. everyone in the room and I lost by the thinnest of margains....Little Nicky will forever haunt me.

We then turned to poker where yours truly was the winner of a $5 buy-in game. I won Amy's metro fare for the evening (which turned out to be important). At around 9:00 we headed out to Polly Esther's and our third straight year of NYE celebrations on 12th street.

Well Ron, Al & I made a rule when we arrived. The rule was.....whenever one person ordered a drink that person would order drinks for the other two. The end result was alot of double fisting. In addition, because we're just all-around great guys and bartenders react well to great guys....we had RUM and cokes and not cokes and rum.....long story short, after about two hours there this is what we looked like:






So we ring in '05 (apparently five minutes late but c'mon, look at the picture.....five minutes late is pretty good, yes?) and about two hours later it's time to hop on the red line and head back home. God bless my wife.....she stayed by me the whole time and got me back to our apartment. What happened after that I'll take to the grave with me.

I hope you had as enjoyable a celebration as I did. Thanks to Doc, Liz, Shawna and Brian for making the trip down and sharing it with us. It's truly the best party of the year (well second best this year).