alanmacey.org

This is a test to see if the ping functionality in Wordpress 2.6 will automagically update my Flog on FaceBook.

Found a great link that tracks banking news: BankImpode.com.

Not for the faint of heart. But if you are interested in tracking banking news - like, specifically for whoever owns the paper on your house mortgage - it’s a no bullshit place to find it.

Something is broken. Time for an upgrade I guess.

Well, I think I am going to get back into this Blog thingie.

I will start with the easy stuff.

Hockey

My hockey team started out pretty poorly with a 3-5-1 record. We then went on a 7 game winning streak, and were 1 point away from playoff contention (the top 4 teams in the tier make the playoffs). Of course, we are now on a 2 game losing streak (10-7-1) and are three points out of the playoffs. I have missed the past 3 games due to work and family related conflicts. It looks like I will miss the last 2 games as well. We play a team that is currently 3 points ahead of us this Sunday, and a victory would put us back in contention, but we don’t control our own destiny anymore and it seems to me that my teammates are about to write off the rest of the season. Nevertheless, this has been the most successful season this team has enjoyed in quite a few years, so for them I think it has been pretty good. We are at least guaranteed a winning record (even if it is 10-9-1)…but as the team captain I would have preferred something better, and a playoff berth.

Our biggest problem is attendance - and I can’t really complain too much about it since I have missed the past 2 games and am likely to miss the next 2. But we have had 10 or fewer skaters at our last 5 games. I don’t know how many of you out there have ever played ice hockey, but doing it with two or fewer lines is not all that easy.

Adoption

We are back in the process of adoption after a little hiatus. Things are exciting and I am really looking forward to finally having a child or children around that I can indoctrinate into All Things Al[tm]. Of course, I recognize that this child will be his or her own person and probably not like anything that I like to do, but that’s cool too. Mainly I’m just looking forward to the chaotic and interesting things that a new member of the family will bring. For the record, we are going to do a special needs adoption - which in our case generally means an older child. We are looking at 5-6 year olds, but have discussed as old as 14 if the kid is right for us. It is VERY HARD to figure out what the “right kid” is, though. We wrestle with that every day. Anyway, our home study is being updated and we are attending to our annual training requirements, so we should have a completed home study by the end of April that we can start sending off to social workers…so we might have a new member (or members) to our family as soon as this summer!

Work

Same shit, different day. :)

Politics

I am officially an Obama supporter. I even donated money to his campaign (a first for me). I used to like McCain, but his pandering to the Christian Coalition folks, waffling on right to choice issues, and general McBush Lite policies have turned me off. It’s no secret that I am not really in favor of the Iraq war and never was, and considering the state of our economy, I would like to see us putting the billions we spend per week in Iraq to use in Afghanistan (Osama anyone?) and here at home. So I’m pulling for Change. Yes, I can.

Reading

I am currently reading Tom Clanc’ys The Dragon and the Bear…it’s okay. I finally got to the shooting point. Took a long time to get there.

Working Out

I am officially entering into a healthy life style today. Which reminds me, I need to get to the gym over lunch.

I will try and update more regularly now…at least since my site is still up and working and whatnot.

Peace!

Well, the 20th reunion was last night, and I am very happy that we went. It was great to see so many people from the past and catch up with them. Even Brian “BA” Larson and Bryan Nelson showed up - though both traveled from the coasts to be there (FL and CA respectively). We also learned that some of our classmates live in the same neighborhood as us, and a some others live just a mile or so away. Yes, it’s a small world.

I have some pics to post and will do so soon. Thanks to everyone who was there - it was great to see you!

It’s official. I am old.

In two weeks I will (unless I come to some tragic end) attend my 20th high school reunion. This is a milestone event that, quite frankly, is the first thing that’s really made me start feeling old.

In any case, if you have come to this site from the JMHS 1987 class page, then welcome, sorry that I haven’t updated it more frequently, and I hope you find something interesting here.

Regardless, please post a comment and say hello.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I had an awesome holiday season. Christmas was very good this year - got to see a lot of family and friends, ate a TON of food, etc. New Years ended on a sour note as I was manhandled in Flinch against Molly. I hope to make 2007 the year that I become the reigning Flinch champion.

Hockey is going well - although the second week I pulled a groin muscle (ow) and it’s just now back to “normal.” Advice: now that you are old and out of shape, you require much longer warm-up times and much more stretching. In any case my team is shaping up and I am trying to play a couple of times a week, time permitting.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Well, because I belong to the “screw getting old” club, I decided to start playing hockey again. Yes, I am sure I will get hurt - being a relatively out of shape 37 year old trying to relive my “glory years” and all that. But absent all that junk, there is one thing I can say about hockey:

It is a lot of fun.

I suppose that is one benefit to living in the Twin Cities metro area - there is no shortage of adult hockey around here. The first couple of weeks my legs were a little shaky, but skating is like riding a bike and now after three weeks I feel like I’m starting to get my legs back. My main issue is that I can’t handle the puck very well, and I can’t shoot very well.

Because I haven’t played any hockey or even skated in the past 15 years I joined a beginner’s program - which may have been a mistake on my part. Sometimes it is a little boring but I think it will pick up - the other players have made tremendous progress in the first three weeks and we’re now to the point where we are forming teams, etc. We’ll play a ten game season after five more weeks of practicing and learning the game (or in my case re-learning the game).

When I was a kid playing hockey, I had a love/hate relationship with the sport. I always thought it was fun and enjoyed it, but the politics of youth hockey in MN is daunting, and there is a lot of attitude shifted from parents to kids in the game. I can see a little bit of that bubbling up even among the adults, but for the most part everyone out there is just there to have fun and not cause any headaches it seems.

Hopefully a certain someone will come to my first real game and take some pictures so I can post a snapshot or two. Until then - Happy Festivus!

Once again, I was fortunate enough to go out for the buck-only shotgun season in Minnesota with my dad and my brother. We had a successful hunt - we saw a lot of buck, and quite a few “shooters”. I managed to harvest a nice 8-pointer in one of the big swamps that we like to stumble around:

I will be heading up to Northern Wisconsin this weekend to try my hand in amongst the bogs and lakes with my father-in-law and brother-in-law.

Well, we closed on our house in MN last week and are in the process of packing up the place in WI - we will be full-time residents of MN by Saturday.

I am excited to move back to the Twin Cities area, but I will miss WI. I will mainly miss the trout streams and miles and miles of paved backroads. I suppose they are still only 4-5 hours away, though.

Anyway, I need to spend more time on the blog. So much stuff going on in the world right now and you have to believe I have opinions on all of it.