chileanseabass

Sci-Fi/Horror is definitely not my cup of tea. Anything fantasy related for that matter. I don't like any of the Star Wars movies, Star Trek, LOTR, etc. I just can't get into them. Historical fiction might be something. I remember reading The Killer Angels in history class in High School and I really enjoyed it.

Ok, since so many of you are readers, I'll pose this question - "what should I read next?" First, some background. Other than a few books I had to read for school, I have only read one work of fiction cover to cover ("Confederacy of Dunces") and that was over 10 years ago. For whatever reason, I can't "get into" fiction. I'd love to, but whenever I've started one, I lose interest and never go back. Non-fiction books, for whatever reason, are different. I've read plenty, from sports books (Moneyball, The Game) to Bios (Frank Lloyd Wright, Theo Fleury), and everything by Anthony Bourdain. I've also read everything by David Sedaris, but his is sort of a fiction/non-fiction mash-up. In two weeks I have to fly to Japan for a week long business trip. What should I read? I'd like to see if anyone has a suggestion for a novel that may actually be able to keep my attention.

Pretty much. I used ground chicken instead of beef, and added a whole bottle of Frank's Wing Sauce in addition to diced carrots, celery and onions. Also added a can of Great Northern Beans, a little tomato sauce, and a jar of stewed tomatoes. If it's too thick, just add some chicken stock. And to top it off, some crumbled blue cheese.

Last night I made some buffalo chicken chili. I love home made chili, but get bored with it after a while. This was a good switch, and combined two things I like to eat... chili and wings!

I have a habit of starting many books and never finshing them, but a few I've recently read and recommend... "The Game" by Ken Dryden... probably one of the best hockey books I've read "The Bullpen Gospels" by Dirk Hayhurst... easily one of the best sports books I've read. He has a new one coming out that I can't wait to read. "A Nation of Enemies: Chile Under Pinochet" by Constable & Valenzuela... fascinating look at the military coup in Chile that brought Pinochet to power, which was aided by the U.S., and the 17 years he ruled Chile with an iron fist.

As someone was so kind to point out a few Thursdays back, I seem to have a good bit of drama in my life, most stemming from my soon-to-be ex-wife (gotta love NC divorce law). I was looking forward to the start of 2012, to turn the page on 2011 and leave all that crap in the past. At 8:00 Sunday morning, my ex-wife drops my son off at my house, and proceeds to tell me that she's got big news. She is now engaged to her new boyfriend (they met online and have been dating for two months), and she proposed to him on Christmas Day. We've been separated since August 1st, and our divorce won't be final until July 25, 2012 at the earliest. By the terms of our separation agreement, he isn't allowed to spend the night when she has our son unless she (or I if the situation is flipped), have been with the other person in a serious committed relationship for more than 6 months. That is her verbiage that she wanted added to the separation agreement. So she starts asking me for my permission to let him move in with her ASAP. He lives 30 minutes away but works in the town we live, so it's a "waste of money" for him to go back and forth. This comes just 3 months after she gave me a lengthy discourse on how marriage is old and completely b.s., and not necessary in this day and age, going so far to say she would never ever subject herself to "the chains of marriage" ever again. Her wedding is scheduled for June 22, 2013. I don't care about her, I fully realize she's flipped her lid and, as Ben Folds says, "the bitch went nuts," but... I do worry about my son in all of this, and it's not fair for him to get attached to her boyfriend's son (he's 4 days older than my son), and then lose him because his mom is an impulsive moron. I'm literally bombarded daily with text messages asking if I've made up my mind about letting the guy move in, and I finally told me ex I didn't want to talk to her about it, if he wanted to do this, then have him come talk to me one-on-one. The guy's a bodybuilder so I can do him no physical harm and the intimidation factor just went out the window, but at least I can try to get inside his head a bit. He went to high school with my step sister, and was close friends with her cousin. I asked them for info on him, and they said he runs his mouth a lot and thinks he's hot stuff, a total liar who loves to talk a big game. I mentioned this to my ex, who said "that sounds like me, too." Correct she is. Thanks a lot 2012. 8 hours in and I have to deal with this b.s.

This is true, and I'd like to add that to my complaint list. I don't think I've ever had to deal with so much drama in one year. 2011 has sucked. At least things are pretty well normal with my ex-wife (well, that'll be official in July). She couldn't wait to split up with me so she could be with her old H.S. ex who she cheated on me with, and that lasted exactly one month. Then she was excited to be single and date around. She went on one date with a guy, and now he's moving in with her in February. Boy am I happy to be rid of her.

It's a complicated situation with this guy. He's loaded. His dad has megabucks and he works for his dad. He gets paid mostly under the table, so NC Child Services can't prove that he should be paying more.

Wouldn't be worth my time. No one knows where he is (last we knew he was in Alabama and was planning to join a Buddhist commune in Oregon). He's a total leetch who finds single women with kids, and then warps them into thinking they can't survive without him even though he doesn't work, sleeps around (with men and women), and is physically abusive. My girlfriend got pregnant and didn't want to marry him, and she held out until her daughter was 6 months old, but wanted her boys to have a "man" in the house and her daughter to have her dad. She went against her better judgement, married him, and kicked him out 6 months later. He tried to get back a few times, and when she wouldn't take him back, he told her he would never talk to his daughter again, and she'd be alone with 3 kids. To date he's pretty much kept his end of the deal. My girlfriend is now friends with his other ex-wife (the little girl has a half-sister), and he pulled the same crap with her. Plus there are allegations that have come out in the past year or two that he molested some girls. That's another reason no one knows where he is.

You're right, and he's always tried to include her because he knows she gets a raw deal. He flies to boys out to HI for 3 weeks every summer, and she's always stuck at home with mom. This year he's taking out his issues with his ex-wife on her, which is unfortunate.

My girlfriend has 3 kids, two boys from her first marriage and a daughter from her second. The boys dad lives in Hawaii and sends them crap all the time. The girl's dad is totally MIA and has seen her once in the past 4 years (she's 6). No Christmas presents, no birthday cards, nothing. She's the sweetest thing, who absolutely loves my son. On Tuesday the boys got a big box in the mail with all their Christmas presents from Hawaii. In the past their Dad has included a present for the girl, but this year he didn't as he's pissed at my girlfriend for pulling a child support review (dude pays $1800/mo for his house in HI, and complains about paying $200/mo for his boys who he sees once a year). Needless to say, the girl was devastated, as here her brothers have about 6 gifts each from their dad, and she knows that once again her dad doesn't give a ######. My girlfriend was telling me about how her daughter was flipping out and so upset, so after my hockey game tuesday night, I stopped at the store and spent $15 on a few little "girly" items - some lip gloss, hair bows, new crayons, stuff like that. Got home, wrapped it all up, put it in a box, and made it look all legit with postage and the works, but with no return address or markings to know where it came from. Last night I stopped by and hid it under a chair on the front porch. The boys were in bed, but the girl was still up, so I told her there was a box outside that came in the mail. She didn't believe me, so she went to check. She comes running back in the house with a box addressed to her and starts flipping out. She begs her mom to let her open the presents, and tears them open before she even gets the "ok." I've never seen a kid more excited to get a few little things. All the while she keeps saying "I knew my daddy wouldn't forget me again!" After everything is opened and she's beaming from ear to ear, my girlfriend is cleaning everything up and goes to throw out the box, but her daughter stopped her and insisted she keep it. Why? She said she "always wanted to remember the day her daddy finally sent her something." At this point my girlfriend is bawling, and wants to tell her the truth, but I wouldn't let her. She doesn't need to know. So my complaint is about douchebag guys like that who if they'd only take a whopping 10 minutes could make their kid feel like the most important kid in the world. Crap like that just pisses me off to end.

yes +1000000

I hear ya. As a team, we're all pretty laid back, and probably one of the least physical teams in the league (myself being the exception, but I never throw huge hits in a non-check league), but these guys are out there like they've got something to prove to the scouts in the stands. We won 6-2. I could have cleaned his clock, but instead I went for the poke check and took care of business.

I got lit up Kaleta-style playing in a non-checking C2 hockey league last night. I think my team is tied for 2nd, and we were playing the last place team. They always get blown out and the majority of the guys are new to playing. It was 0-0 just 4 minutes in, and I picked up a loose puck down by the goal line, brought it up along the boards and sent a break out pass to my winger (I play defense). Well, this guy is chasing after me full speed and a good 3 seconds after I make the pass he just drills me from the side. It was right in front of the ref, so he called him for interference since I didn't have the puck anymore, but since it's a non-checking league he could have easily called the guy for checking or roughing or charging, as he skated right through me. The worst part was, after the play is blown dead, the guy starts flipping out, because he doesn't know why he got a penalty. I have no problem with physical play, lead my team in pealty minutes, and was 2nd in the league last season, but I just couldn't understand what this guy was thinking. He took a swing at me later after he hacked my goalie's glove after a save and I put my hand on his chest so he wouldn't come any closer to him. Later in the game I caught him with his head down had him lined up for a big open ice hit, but let him go. Today I'm regretting that more than the two point shots I ripped off the post last night.

Flying to Abu Dhabi today for work, and I'm not back until Thanksgiving Day. Of all the days to get home, my flight better not be delayed.

FWIW, I asked a former NHL goalie and AHL GM about the incident and if he felt it was suspension worthy, and he said he thinks Lucic will get 1 or 2 games, just to set a precedent that goalies are not fair game.

Yesterday I got to bitch about being sick on my birthday, but today I get to say how F'N Fantastic my birthday was. I've been dating my son's teacher for a few weeks now, and she went all out, making me a 4 layer ice cream cake (my favorite), AND she got me a Sabres t-shirt. She knows nothing about hockey (besides going to a game on our first date), but she heard me talk about the Sabres and decided to order me a shirt online for the bday. My ex-wife wouldn't even get me a card, let alone make me an ice cream cake and get me Sabres gear. I can't say enough about her... single mom with 3 kids, works full-time, and finishing her degree online, and she finds the time (4 hours) to make me a freakin cake for my bday. WHAT A KEEPER! Oh, and this time next week I'll be back in Buffalo for the first time in 10 years. :thumbsup:

Today is my 31st birthday. I'm sick with a nasty head cold/sinus infection, and for the first time in my life I feel old.

I started dating my son's teacher. It's nice to be in a relationship and not be treated like $hit for once.

Wasn't gonna pony up the dough to take my kid, but now I just might have to :thumbsup:

I get to leave work early today to get my son from daycare, and then it's 4 days of just him and me. We'll watch the Sabres tonight and tomorrow. He's not even 3 yet and he likes to watch hockey, so I must be doing something right. Plus, since the wife left I've managed to lose 25 lbs (been about a month and a half), and I'm feeling great physically. Of course none of my pants fit me and I look like a vanilla MC Hammer, but who needs pants, right?

Yep, mom AND the soon-to-be ex are both bi-polar. My mom does some RPG programming, but mostly COBOL. Like you, I have no idea what it is, other than that it's antiquated and you can't find a job using it anymore. She's tried to learn Java and stuff like that, but couldn't pick it up. To deal with her bi-polar she was basically a hoarder who just blew all her money on stupid stuff (at one point she owned 3 carpet cleaners and at least a half dozen mattress pads). So she too has no savings or retirement. She's finally getting treatment for her issues (been about a year now I guess), but most of the damage has been done, and now she's trying to get the train back on its tracks. In all honesty she'd probably be a candidate for disability like my aunt (also bi-polar), but there's no way she'd get it now as they'd assume she's milking the system being on the last legs of her unemployment and all. Hopefully this, or some other, job comes along ASAP. I just hope if she finds one she can keep it.

Ah, so you're mom's a programmer too, huh? I wouldn't be totally opposed to her moving in, it would help cut down my expenses, and she'd help take care of my son, but she's also bi-polar and we tried the living together as adults situation before I was married, and after two months I couldn't take it. She figures she can get a little apartment nearby and pay all her bills working 40 hours a week at $10.50/hour. She was making $65K+ as a programmer, but all she wants now is a job where she can have enough money to have her own place.

My mom has been out of work for over a year now, and the state of SC has cut her unemployment twice. She's already had to declare bankruptcy, has her house in foreclosure, and will be kicked out in November. Her unemployment is getting cut again as of 10/1. She's tried to get jobs anywhere, even Wal-Mart and Target, but they're only hiring for jobs she can't physically do. Thankfully she had an interview with a company on Tuesday, and it seemed to go well. I hope she gets the job, becasue if she doesn't, come 11/20 she'll either be homeless or have to move in with me. Just another reason why being an only child sucks.

couldn't agree more