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10/13/2009 - The Caps held their Season Ticket Holder Party at Six Flags again this year. Colin and I made it there jus tin time for the gates to open. This year we didn't get any autographs. We had too much fun riding the rollercoasters and chatting with the Capitals who rode the rollercoasters with us.

I was lucky and snapped a pic of David Steckel and Colin at the exact same spot as we I did last year.

10/03/2009 - Big weekend! Waterford Fair and Light the Creek on Friday. Colin had two games on Saturday, then it was off to the "In the Street" festival. Spent a few hours at the Jefferson Memorial before heading over to see the Caps home opener.

While walking back to the car at the Tidal Basin, we found a liquor bottle next to a dead rat. Glad we got a pic!

09/26/2009 - Colin and I had a blast at the first Capitals Convention! We met up with several friends and got lots of autographs from alumni for our jerseys; Ken Sabourin, Paul Mulvey, Alan May and Alan Hangsleben. We didn't stick around for current players. Lines were too long.

Colin got to shoot on other goalies and try his shot at an accuracy challenge. I got to meet a few celebrities including Washington Post writer Tarik El Bashir. Colin and I also got pics in front of locker room mock-ups of our favorite players.

09/19/2009 - The Bluemont Fair. An old fashioned fair in a village atmosphere. BBQ, llamas, alpacas and lots of music. My friends Les and Stephanie Thompson played today (One Eye Blind) and Lisa Taylor and Andrew McKnight played on Sunday.

This year, not only did I go to the Bluemont Fair, but I also entered the pickle contest. I entered two types of pickles and won 2nd place for my "Lil' Devils" pickles.

09/12/2009 - My oldest son Jimmy joined us for this weekends adventure. We started off with the Ashburn Farmer's Market, then over to Kettler Capitals Iceplex to get autographs. We got three; Laich, Nylander and Knuble!

The biggest part of the day was spent at Sandy Point Park at the Maryland Seafood Festival. Most of the day had great weather. Only one small shower gave us reason to take cover. Good food, good scenery and great company. Jimmy and Colin goofed off with lip enhancing lip gloss on the way home!

09/07/2009 - Labor day weekend held quite a few events for me. First is was a party with my Sister's family at "the Farm". Next off to Virginia's Scottish Festival where I got to sport my kilt, watch the City of Washington Pipe Band, eat haggis, a bridie and a meat pie. The Glengarry Bhoys also performed.

Found a great place in Brunswick, MD called El Sloppy Tacos for some artisan tacos before catching Andrew McKnight and Beyond Borders at Beans in the Belfry.

08/27/2009 -My birthday brought me more hot sauces. Interestingly enough, three of the six hot sauces I received are duplicates and I make it a rule to eat all duplicates. "Ass in Antarctica" is one of the three duplicates. It scares me! "Professor Phardtpounder's Colon Cleaner Hot Sauce" has got to be one of the funniest sauces. My hot sauce collection is now up to 189 hot sauces.

08/22/2009 - Road trip to Staunton! Bought a hot sauce at Cranberry's, over to Sunspots Glassworks for a glass blowing demo, a walk around town found us at the Staunton Art Center, then a tour of the Woodrow Wilson library (did you know he was dyslexic?), After that, a stop at an antique sports car dealer before getting ribs at the Mill Street Grill. Finally, we caught the evening performance of "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Blackfriar's Playhouse. What a great show!

08/18/2009 - It's my birthday. Kind of an odd one. It's mid-life, it's a not an important number, just a number, but what a birthday! I'm not sure why, but this year had a much higher volume of cards, email, text messages, voice mail and just general birthday greetings. I don't mean just a few, I mean it was a lot! Anyway, it was a good birthday. Thanks to everyone who made it so.

08/08/2009 - Went to Havre de Grace's Seafood Festival today. I've been meaning to get to this festival for years. What a great little waterfront town full of great views and great food.

Sampled everything from shrimp and grits, crab melt on a pita, sweet potato fries and finally.....I found deep fried Milky Way bars! I've always wanted to try one.

08/04/2009 - I got six new hot sauces from friends at work! Dave's Gourmet's President Obama Hot Sauce, Cow-Pie Hot Sauce, Colon Blow Hot Sauce, A Little Nukey, Cajun Heat Liquid Napalm and Big Dick Hot Sauce (barely pictured for a reason).

I'm up to 186 hot sauces now!

08/01/2009 - Donated blood today. I gave a double red blood cell donation. It just took a little longer than usual, but it's worth it and the American Red Cross could use it. This donation was sponsored by the Redskins. I got a yearbook, a hat and my name was thrown in for a drawing for a prize. I won an mini helmet autographed by #99 Andre Carter.

07/26/2009 - If you're ever at the Eastern Market in Southeast DC, get yourself over to Sweet Nuts and be sure to yell out SWEET NUTS! Steve will love the advertising. For a fantastic lunch, get over to FOJOL for some great Indian food.

The rest of the day was spent at the National Harbor.. It seemed empty, but I can expect it to be one of THE spots in DC's future. Especially with Disney coming.

07/24/2009 - Went to the State Theater to see Frontiers, a Journey Tribute band. Jeremey Hunsicker (lead singer) was dead on with Steve Perry's vocal range, but Kenny Seay (lead guitarist) stole the show! This was a really good performance.

07/17/2009 - Colin just got back from Bob Hartley's hockey camp and he said had a great time. He came back talking about nutrition, hydration and some improvements to his goalie moves. Not only did the boys enjoy hockey, but they had batting cages, putt-putt golf and swimming (they were too tired to swim).

Colin is pictured with Eric Perrin of the Atlanta Thrashers, Colin's goalie coach Pascal Lizotte and Bob Hartley, Calder Cup and Stanley Cup winner.

07/12/2009 - Finally got a chance to catch the Keys play this year (and the season is more than half-way over). If you haven't been to a minor league baseball game, you really owe it to yourself.

I was standing there watching Eddie Gamboa throw 88 mph pitches when a man standing next to me said; "That's my son". He said, brimming with pride. We talked for an inning or two and when his son came up to the locker room, I snapped a photo of the two together.

07/08/2009 - I love getting hot sauces! I received two more hot sauces as gifts this week; "Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce" and "Peppers - See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil -Taste the Evil".

Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce has a unique bottle and, apparently it's quite popular in Mexican restaurants in Texas. Peppers - See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil -Taste the Evil for some reason has hand cuffs hanging off the neck of the bottle.

06/27/2009 - My nephews and niece; Noah, Olivia and Joel (pictured from left to right), each did very well in sports this past season. In baseball, Noah got some a lot of strike-outs as a pitcher and doubles as a batter. Joel got the game ball is his last baseball game and Olivia got a double in her first softball season.

06/24/2009 - Have you ever been to the Folk Life Festival down on the Mall in DC? I like it. Especially when they offer really good food. This year, like other years, they had three main cultures exhibited; African-American, South American and Welsh. And like a couple of years ago, I got there too late. Most of the exhibits had closed except for the food vendors. I still had a good time.

06/22/2009 - More hot sauces from friends at work. This time I got Paula Dean's Hot Sauce, Melinda's Original Habanero XXXXtra Reserve, Hyper-Nova Hot Sauce, Dragon-Fire Hot Sauce and Fire Power Hot Sauce.

That brings my total in my collection to 178 sauces!

06/20/2009 - Caught Live Wire at the State Theater again last night. I saw them last September with my son Colin for the first time.

All I kept thinking last night was; "What a great rock show! Everyone I know should come see them". You know, even if you're not into AC/DC like I am, you'll love this performance. I guarantee it.

06/13/2009 - Took a day trip to St. Michael's, MD. Nice little trip just over the Bay Bridge. You've got water, boats, crab houses and coffee houses, and an overall small town feel. You could spend a couple of hours or a whole day here taking in the sites and sounds of this great little town. Great day trip spot for a shutterbug.

05/29/2009 - Colin played for the Ashburn Power Play Selects team this spring season. The team practiced 6 times and the competed in one tournament. The team, a single a division team went to the finals, but lost to the only AA division team playing. Not too bad.

Colin shared the net with teammate Michael Fiedler. Both played well and each had about 90% save percentage.

05/22/2009 - Colin's sixth grade school portrait is in and he's got the long hair draping down over his eyes. He does this because he thinks he's cool. I know when I was his age, I had long hair too (I know hard to imagine), but I kept the hair out of my eyes for portraits.

Yes I know he's a cute kid, but he could move the hair from his eyes.

05/13/2009 - The Caps season is over and it ended on a very disappointing note. I'm not bashing the Caps, just saying that game was not played by the Caps I have been following this past year (or past seven years).

On a high note, Colin and I met Dennis Maruk, a Caps alumni who was there signing autographs and allowing fans like Colin and me to take pictures with him.

04/29/2009 - I got four more hot sauces from my girlfriend; Backdraft Fire Sauce, Trailer Trash Hot Sauce and Marie Sharp's Exotic Sauce. She got me one duplicate; Dat'l Do It Hot Sauce which means I get to add this one to the ones I'm eating these days. I'd better get to it. I have about a dozen I'm eating now.

I now have 173 hot sauces in my collection.

04/23/2009 - The Capitals are in the playoffs and I'm following tradition (or superstition) and I'm growing my beard until the Caps either win the Cup or get knocked out of the playoffs. Check out my progress on the Beard-A-Thon website.

While you're there, rate my beard! At last count, I was rated 2 pucks. I'm shooting for 5! As the Caps move along in the playoffs, I'll update the progress of my beard.

03/23/2009 - Diana and I went to Luray for the weekend. We enjoyed the scenery, but it was the people of Luray that really did it for us. The waitresses at the "Artisan's Grill", "Uncle Buck's" and Elke, the owner of "A Moment to Remember" all made each meal memorable.

Saturday night, we went to see Iona, a Celtic band at the BB&T theater. That's where we met Bobbie and Pops Walker. Pops is an accomplished sound tech (inside joke) and blues guitarist. Sunday, we spent the day at Arrowhead lake fishing and just paddling the canoe around the lake.

03/15/2009 - Colin's travel hockey team won their final tournament of the season. Colin won MVP for the first game of the tournament. He received a t-shirt this time for MVP. The dog pile at the end of the championship game was much better this tournament. What a great way to end the season!

03/10/2009 - What a great day to be a father. Today, two big events happened for me. My oldest son, Jimmy turned 23 and my youngest son Colin's house league hockey team won the championship game (5-4).

Jimmy is doing well. He's happy, full of life and I'm just proud to be his Dad. Colin's house league team has finished their season as champions. His travel team will finish their season this weekend in Frederick with another small tournament.

02/29/2009 - The Caps hosted a blood drive today. Peter Bondra was on hand to sign autographs for those who donated blood. Every donation also received a Peter Bondra booblehead and two free tickets to a game (or a signed Peter Bondra bobblehead).

02/27/2009 - Help make St. Patrick's Day an official holiday! Guinness started Proposition 3-17 in 2008 with one dream: to make St. Patrick's Day an official holiday in the US. Go to proposition317.com, sign the petition and find out how you can help spread the word!

02/24/2009 - I got seven hot sauces recently! Cajun Alligator Pepper Sauce, Whoa Nellie Extra Hot Sauce and Green Bandit are from my girlfriend. Frosty's Demise, Santa's Smokin' Chimney, Rudolph the Red Assed Reindeer and Frostbite Hot Sauce. My Dad gave McCoy's Thick Irish Hot Sauce. I now have 170 hot sauces in my collection.

02/22/2009 - My girlfriend, Diana, and I went to Amish country this weekend on a whim. Well, actually we started out for Rehoboth, but we decided to keep going north. We stayed at The Ressler House in a very nice room. We had a great time, but don't go up there on a Sunday, everything is pretty much shut for the day.

02/16/2009 - Colin had a tournament this weekend in Delaware. His team did very well, they took the tournament title. Colin did very well himself. He brought home an MVP for the first game, he won the goalie skills competition, his team took the championship and Colin got MVP for goalie in that game too.

Three of his teammates were there to cheer Colin on at the Goalie skills. Unfortunately, they were dancing.

01/01/2009 - Colin turned 12 on the 30th . We're having a party for him this weekend with family, but I had four extra tickets to the Caps game, and so I asked Colin to invite some friends along....Brendan, Mason, Robby and Tyler.

We stopped for a bite to eat at Chili's and then off to the game. Caps won 7-4. After the game, we stopped by the White House lawn to see the National Christmas Tree before they turn off the lights for the season. The boys warmed themselves by the fire pit before calling it a night.

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