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Game 7 at the Tank - A Night to Remember

The  morning's papers, hockey purists,  and all the sports talk radio guys are calling the Sharks / Red Wings series one of the best in NHL history.

 Up 3 games to none,   it looked like the Sharks would cruise into the next round.  Detroit battled back to even the series and force the nerve racking, heart pounding game 7 at the tank last night. We had already been to game 5 of the series, a mother's day game where we were hoping to see the Sharks close out the series and move on. Turned out to be a disappointment as our boys lost a 4-3 heart breaker. Another loss in Detroit on  Day before yesterday I got an email at work saying that I had won two tickets to game seven.   Hp has an employee lottery for a limited number of tickets at the HP Pavilion. I've won tickets in the past to regular season games, but have never been lucky enough to score some playoff freebies. Needless to say, we were stoked! As luck would have it though, Barb wasn't feeling it so she offered her golden ticket to John Downing, who hadn't been to a hockey game since 1972.

We headed to San Jose early enough to do some serious game prep.  A little tail gate time, then a short walk to Henry's Hi Life for a quick one before heading to the tank. Needless to say, Henry's was the place to be for pre-game festivities. When we first opened the door it looked like sardine city in there, but we quickly and deftly made our way in and and looked for an opening to the bar.  The energy in the place was incredible. After our quick one we were outta there and on our way to the tank.  Picked up our complimentary rally towel at the door and....let the game begin!!

Needless to say, the game 7 win was one of the most exciting (and LOUD) games I've ever been at.

 

 

Colin in the House

Staci and Colin came for a visit!  You can tell from the picture that he was thrilled to be here. Mali and Bruno didn't know what to make of him. Either way it was great to see the little guy, if only for a while. He was grumpy when he wasn't eating so Staci fed him and tucked him back in the car seat for the ride home. Sure is a cutie pie!

Bryan Adams at the Warfield

How great is it it live in the San Francisco Bay Area? Pretty pretty great!

The Plan. Check into the Parc 55 hotel in downtown SF. Have a nice dinner then walk to the Warfield for  the Bryan Adams  8pm show.

We arrived at Ron and Marie's in Pleasanton, then immediately headed to a local bar to start the festivities. Check in wasn't until 3pm so we did have a little time to kill.  Cruised over the bay bridge and into the city right around check in time.  Beautiful room on the 26th floor looking out over downtown and Union Square.

Dinner and drinks downstairs at the Cityhouse, then the short 2 block walk to the Warfield. Seats were great.  In the balcony but dead center to the stage.

Bryan Adams was GREAT!   The name of the tour was the "bare bones" tour, and now I know why.  The show consisted of Bryan with his acoustic guitar and harmonica and one other guy on a piano. What a great concert!  To see ANYONE at the Warfield is pretty cool considering the history of the place. To see someone we've never seen before with our besties (who are huge fans and have seen Bryan many times) made it even more special. After the 3 hour show it was the short walk back to the hotel for a night cap and goodnites.

Next morning was lazy morning.  11am room service breakfast at Ron and Marie's across the hall.  Checked out at noon then did a mini driving tour of the city before we parked in North Beach and walked off breakfast. One quick bloody mary at the North Beach bar before we headed back over the bridge to reality.

Thanks to Marie and Ron for a great GREAT weekend!!

Finally !! Colin Michael

The MUCH anticipated birth of Staci's little boy happenned early morning on April 1st. Kelly had come up a week before so she could be sure that she was here for the birth. After a couple of  false alarms and even a birth inducing Preggo Pizza from Skipolini's, Staci finally went into labor on the last day of March and had her precious little boy just after midnight. Mom dad and baby all doing fine.

After letting things settle for a week we made the trip to Sacramento to see the little bundle of joy.  Needless to say, Colin is one cute kid. Healthy and strong and HUNGRY little boy.  Barb Kelly and I all got our "Colin time"  while spending some special time with Staci. Shane was sleeping most of the time we were there. Wonder why?!  Staci said that Colin is still not on a good schedule and only sleeps 3 hours max.

No doubt that Colin likes grandpa Flaherty the best!

Angel on Kate's Shoulder

When we went to visit Kate and Frank in February, Barb and Kate went out and got matching angel tattoos on their shoulders.  At the time I thought it was just a kind and touching gesture shared between mother and daughter. Little did I know that that angel on Kate's shoulder would come in handy.

We got the call around 5am one morning a couple of weeks ago. Kate calling from the ER after having been in an accident.   She was on the way to work  early  morning.  It had rained the night before and the roads were slick with plenty of standing water in the road. Kate was cruising along when she came upon an extra deep and extra long puddle,  she lost control, over corrected,  then went off the side off the road and rolled three times.   The truck came to rest on its side, driver's side up, with Kate still dangling in her seat belt.  With the help of good samaritans who stopped to assist, she was able to scramble up and out the driver's side window.  Her only injuries were a sore shoulder (thank you seat belt!!!!) and some cuts on her hands and arms from crawling out the window.

Frank was on his way to work not too far behind her on the road. She was able to call him  (she saved her cell phone!!)  and let him know what had happened and to look for her on the side of the road. Rather than go in the ambulance, Frank took Kate to the ER where they took x-rays and found that it was most likely shoulder sprain. Nothing broken. Whew!

Needless to say its not the best call a parent can get at 5am in the morning.  But hearing Kate on the phone was VERY reassuring,  knowing that she was alright and able to call us herself. It wasn't until later when she sent along some pictures that we realized TRULY how lucky (blessed!) Kate was to come out with only minor injury. Pretty obvious that the seat belt (and grace of God) save our baby for us. And maybe the angel on her shoulder  

Never Doubt the High-Def Doppler

The plan:  the normal 8am ride with the boys. Last ride of winter -  Super moon -  high tide ride with the boys!  We had hopes of seeing a monster high tide that would lap up at the creek trail.

Since most rides these days are "weather permitting", we weren't going to go if  it was raining.  We've got caught in a couple of down pours before and its no fun.

Woke up this morning, looked out the window, the backyard was wet but it wasn't raining.  First thing I did was check the CBS5 hi-def doppler.  Things did not look promising.  Doppler showed no rain over  Fremont but some green and yellow cells lingering over the bay. Looked like the yellow cells  were heading our way,  but it also looked like we could  "thread the needle" and dodge the rain.   Either way, I sent the following text  at 7:19 am :  hi def doppler shows more rain coming. ride later this afternoon maybe. Unless you want to go for it.

So Vandy is at spring training so I know he's out.

 Joe Camello wisely texts back :  no its going to come down pretty good. take a picture.tempted but will pay for it according to forecast.

Now  John Downing, the man I consider the more "sane" one of the group, shot back:   No wind. I wanna. You?

Here is where I could have suggested we wait until later or cancel all together. Instead I text:

OK!!!!

The ride out was actually kind of nice.    Our goal was to make it to the end of the trail, check out the tide, and high tail it back home.  Somewhere past mile marker nine going out to the bay, John says, "hey we're flying!"  Sure enough, we had a great tailwind pushing us out.  When you ride with the wind, sometimes you get in the "vortex" where,  the wind is blowing like crazy, but its eerily calm and quiet.  Because for a certain time, you  match the same speed and direction of the wind. Its very cool.  The last little bend before the end of the trail turned the tail wind into a cross wind, and we knew that it would be a long haul home. But still, no rain!

We took a very  quick break at the end of the trail.  Saw snow in the hills behind Mission Peak and white caps blowing  in the old salt pond. Oh, and not- so- high a high tide.  After a couple of quick pictures it was back in the saddle for the long peddle home. A mile into our ride back, the head wind was brutal,  and the rain started to come down.  Hard.  We made a quick decision to bail on the creek trail and take the short cut home.  Through Coyote Hills, over to Ardenwood farm, and up and over the freeway to Cabrillo.  It was raining so much and the wind was blowing so hard that we took a 15 minute refuge in the doorway of the Coyote Hills visitor center. It was weird because both John and I were already soaked from head to toe. My legs were red like a lobster. But in that doorway of the visitor center, out of the wind and rain, It  felt warm!  Almost good. That's how frigging cold I was!!  Another look at the hi-def doppler (this time on my droid)  showed that the storm was passing. We waited another five minutes and sure enough  the rain stopped.  It was still a cold and windy five miles back to the house, and another mile or so further for John Downing. But at least it wasn't raining!   Needless to say it was one of the more memorable rides in recent memory, and after a nice long hot tub soak and shower, it really didn't seem that bad at all!!

Note- the pictures above were taken  BEFORE the rains came.

 

Happy Birthday Kelly

Kelly turns 24 today!  Where oh where did the time go?

A Good Week -- Coffee and Cable

Our Kuerig coffee maker went on the blink last week.   Since we got this a couple of years ago I figured we were screwed because the machine had a one year limited warranty. I  called the company to see if there was a fix or some troubleshooting I could do. The guy from Kuerig asked me a bunch of questions and took our serial number. he comes back on the line and tells me that the machine is still under warranty!! I guess I answered all the questions correctly.   They shipped a new machine and we were back in action two days later!   Good thing considering we just went out and spent about $50 on coffees that only fit in the Kuerig coffee maker.  We would have had to pay $119 to replace the machine.   Thumbs up to Kuerig!

Cable TV has been giving us problems for months.  Some channels that we should be getting  are not coming through at all. Other channels are so "pixilized" that its impossible to watch. We called Comcast a few times, they did remote troubleshooting but found no problems. We replaced the DVR box and checked to make sure that all was connected properly yet the problems persists.   FINALLY got Comcast to come out and look at the problem. When the tech showed up yesterday, he look at the cable coming into the house and asked when the last time a tech was out. I said never. We've had the same cabling ever since we moved in 25 years ago!  The cable was so old that it could not properly support the new digital signals and hi def programming.  So the tech spent the next 90 minutes running new cable from the outside box to all the bedrooms and living room.   Sweet!   In addition,  I was able to sweet talk the guy into upgrading our DVR to the new HDMI version.  Now the picture is so crisp and clear its almost like having a new TV.

And the coffee tastes great too

Green and Proud

re·cy·cle  (r-skl)

a. To extract useful materials from (garbage or waste).

b. To extract and reuse (useful substances found in waste).

4.

a. To use again, especially to reprocess: recycle aluminum cans; recycle old jokes.

b. To recondition and adapt to a new use or function: recycling old warehouses as condominiums

Almost twenty years ago,  when Kelly and Kate were attending Fremont Parent Nursery school,  I wrote a short article about recycling  for the monthly newsletter that the school sent home with the kids. Way back then, the city of Fremont was just beginning its recycling program by providing residents with two small plastic bins, one for glass and plastic, the other for paper.  The intent of the article was to get  parents motivated to recycle, and in doing so,  pass along the habit to their kids.    I did some sort of calculation that showed if all the families (15-20) in the school started recycling, by the time our preschoolers graduated high school , we would have collectively recycled 1 million items.

I've thought about my prediction every once in a while over the years, and today I am confident in announcing,  that by the time our girls were out of high school,  more than a million pieces had been recycled by the pre-school families!

Today, we Flahertys are recycling more than ever.   We went from one HUGE garbage can and two small plastic bins to a small garbage can and two HUGE recycle cans.  On a typical week we only have one or two small bags of garbage in the garbage can while the recycling cans are over-flowingly full, especially on weeks when I mow the lawn.

With a little more effort we can become a zero waste family!

Part of  parenting is leading by example.  If kids go through the first 18 years of life brushing their teeth, wearing their seat belts, and recycling,  the hope is that these things will become second nature as adults. 

Here's hoping!

Might as well recycle an old joke while I'm at it:

Whats the perfect honeymoon salad?

Lettuce alone.

Still Riding

The Saturday morning bike rides go on.  Here is a great picture from the end of Alameda Creek Trail. Such a clear crisp morning.  The other side of the bay looks so close!