Weekend Recap is Back!
So I finally gave in and picked up a new camera. Its pretty nice. They were having a sale at Radio Shack and I picked up a Canon Power Shot SD1000 - about $30 off list price. I was happy with it, except I thought it took the same memory card as my old one and it doesnt!! Ugh....It came with one and guess how many pictures it could hold? About TWELVE! uh, no!

Saturday we were back out at Brimelow for the second time this month to watch the Hounds annihilate another rugby club. Didnt see much of the game though, mostly hanging out at the playground with Emma...

And Alex! (misti Ill email this one to you)
Pauly said I should change the name of by blog to fortsblogsux.com and I have to agree. It's really taken lame to a new level. Its hard to get motivated with out any pictures. Now I have no excuse!! Here's pauly, talking to Ziggy about how bad my blog has gotten. No, really, thats what he was talking about when I took this:
After the game we went up to Drew's house to make sure he was still running the show.
Here he is yawning. He's either eating, pooping, sleeping or yawning, getting ready to sleep.
He does take a few moments to check in to see how the draft was going.
Awww..."I love Aunt Fort!" Would you belive I took this picture? Ill stop at nothing.
Later we had dinner at Marions, and then headed over to Tracy & Ross's place for her 30th b-day. Good times.
Ross wanted us all to bring a funny story about Tracy and needless to say, there were some great tales. Poor John. He's usually around Stacy and I reminiscing about Athens....and now he had to endure two hours of Fairmont stories. Seeing as Tracy's house was party central, everyone had great stories. I will not post them here, to protect the guilty.
And finally, I risked getting a speeding ticket tonight to catch up to this truck to get a shot of the vanity plate - Kat, Eva, Casey - Dont get any ideas!!!
On a happy note, those of you who have seen my cell phone recently, know that I have been using the same one for over five years. Its a dinosaur....antenna cracked off, its been dropped a hundred times, and a few weeks ago, I dropped it getting out of my car and popped off the volume button and since then, if I want to change the volume on the ringer or the phone, I have to pull my earring out and hit the volume pad through the hole in the side of he phone.

I have Sprint, and Sprint is the company who has commercials to the effect of "All the other wireless carriers screw their current customers and give all the deals to new customers...blah blah blah"

So while I was at Radio Shack I found a phone. I hate the insanity of cell phone sales....."Oh yes! This phone thats worth about sixty cents in material is actually THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS - - but with your 2 year renewal.....you get a HUNDERED AND SEVENTY FIVE dollars off!! - - So now you only have to pay ONE SEVENTY FIVE!!! But our store is offering a ONE HUNDERED DOLLAR MAIL IN REBATE!!! So this Three Hundered and Fifty dollar phone can be all yours for just SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS!!!

wha?

Those are the kind of offers Im trying to digest as Im looking at the display of phones and get SOOO excited when the sales guy says the phone is....you guessed it:

"FIFTY DOLLARS with a FIFTY DOLLAR MAIL IN REBATE!!!"

So, the phone is basically free with a little extra effort. Im sold.

He goes in to punch my phone number in and.....wha?....."Oh, you're a Sprint customer are you? According to this, you arent eligible for your ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE DOLLAR rebate until September....but for now, you only get a SEVENTY FIVE dollar discount."

Oh? Off what?

"The list price of ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE DOLLARS"

So five minutes ago this phone was basically free (For new customers only) , and now its a HUNDRED DOLLARS because Ive been a loyal customer for SEVEN YEARS?? As I found out, yes.

So I went home, called customer service, and tried to explain my situation. The new "upgraded" phone I got a year and a half ago was AWFUL and one night I got frustrated and called Sprint and had them switch me back to my old phone. Never got a replacement, didnt send the old one back. That was my fault, but I think the rules could be bent a little in this situation right?

Nope! Customer service said those were the rules and there was nothing I could do.

I googled "How to get out of a sprint contract" and just didnt feel comfortable with calling sprint and claiming we moved to >insert location that doesnt offer sprint service<. Im not that big of a liar.

Long story, well, long, I called CS ONE more time, and this time said I wanted to cancel my contract and WHADDA YA KNOW??? I got my phone for 50 bucks.

Wow. Im sorry I subjected you to that story. Im a little excited about this new phone.

Whoa, Baby!

So yeah, the blog sucks lately. Blame it on the sudden death of my camera, it has depleted any desire Ive had to blog. Mom sent me these cute pictures....I love the one of dad & Drew!!

So here are some random thoughts of late:

• I am constantly reminded of my old age. This weird reaction I had on my hand has slowly started to heal, yet now my right hand looks like that of 50 year old who has lived a hard life. I hate it. My left hand, which serves as nothing more than a weekend beer holder, looks pristine. Figures.
  
• The new job is still going great. My office is looking good. Have a nice but tasteful tapistry on the wall and some plants. Im really happy there. One thing I really like, is that interesting jewelery is appreciated. I cant wait to start buying more fun necklaces.
  
• I am also reminded of my old age at this new job. I am faced daily with younger generations who are ushering in the new trends, most of which I have a hard time swallowing. Such as: SKINNY JEANS. Why Why Why did you skinny people bring these back? Werent you happy with boot cut? I thought we all agreed that we could collectively go another decade with boot cut. Now we're back to skin tight jeans with TAPERED ANKLES?? Really?



• Well, if everyones going to be wearing "skinny jeans", I guess we cant wear big, bulky boots then right?? What something we could wear....hmmmm......lets dig into moms closet full of old shoes.....whats this? FLATS!!! YES!!! Everyone is wearing flats! Again, another trend that I thought we all collectively agreed was a very bad Idea. Why be 5'7 when you could be 5'9? I went into payless the other day to get a pair of dress shoes.....NOTHING BUT ****ing FLATS!!! And you know what I did the other day at Target? I bought a pair of flats. I havent worn them yet, but its only a matter of time. Im just sayin' America, are all women supposed to be pulling this off? Really?

Uh oh, maybe Im NOT supposed to be pulling this off. Maybe its time to face the facts of my age and start wearing the mom jeans;

So anyway, if uncle sam finally gets our tax return deposited before the weekend, maybe Ill be able to splurge on a new camera and document this weekend...its gonna be crazy!

Work event on Saturday morning, then off to the womens match at Germania, then back to Dayton to see the baby, and then off to see the Rubi Girls at Masque! So pumped.

Again, my apologies. Things are tight right now but once I get a new camera Im sure Ill get motivated again.

Happy Friday!

Introducing my Nephew,

Andrew "Drew" Charles Fortener!!!

9 lbs, 3 oz.

Here's a little slide show for ya. Its late and Im too tired to write anything! Here's Nick and Drew.
Drew and his favorite Aunt! (ok, his only aunt...)
Uncle Jeff!
Pam-maw:
Uncle John:
whaaaaa.....oh this is a funny story. Drew got the machine gun hiccups that wouldnt go away and were still going for 10 minutes. Uncle John was holding him and we were joking that somebody should "scare him". Just then, the nurse walked and was telling meredith that they would be doing the circumcision in the morning. The hiccups stopped almost immediately.


Grandmas!
Sunday we headed out to the presidents cup hosted by the Dayton Rugby Club and saw some good rugby. We grabbed dinner and then headed to the afterparty.

Every moment with Watts is like this....
Man/Women of the match celebrations behind the bar - (thats about 4 mens and womens teams)
Hanging out with the ruggers out back.

Great time....we were home before 11 though. Long day. Sorry, too tired for anything intersting, just wanted to get those pics up! Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Nash Bash 2008

Nash Bash 2008 - The recap you've all been waiting for! John, Patty, Dan and I arrived in Nashville around 730-8, and it was exactly like the last few times we've been there. Dark & Rainy.
The Preforming Arts Center through a rainy window:
Finally we got settled in at the hotel and headed down to the strip. There's Flick in all his glory. The Kelts named this weekend "Stashe Bash" and most of them grew moustashes, and well, some took creative hairstyles to the next level.
So we're walking down the street, and we see this car with all this...sh*t all over it. What's the first thing out of my mouth? "Look at THAT CAR!"....What do you think the License Plate says? "That Car". But it wasnt some weird Nashville thing, It was from OHIO!!! Had a few indicators that it might be from Columbus. Anyone seen this monstrosity??
The Kelts headed out in a massive pack to find a place to eat. Not easy with 18-20 people. John and I soon broke off from the crowd and found our selves at the Wheel, a typical Nashville bar on Broadway. Long and narrow, full of locals and tourists alike, and of course, great live country music being played right by the front door. I imagine country music is to the Nashville strip what prostitution is to Amsterdam. Its always going on right at the front window, enticing you to come in, and a greeter/bouncer stands outside with a smile, looking to boot scoot you right into the establishment:



Friday was kind of a lay low night, so we headed back to the hotel with out getting too wild...

Oops...we're out of order. Here's another picture....a blurry strip:
EBeth, John & Misti at the Sommet Center, home of the Nashville Predators:
Uh-Oh, looks like we headed back to the Wheel with Misti & EBeth...wow. I really hate those moustaches!!!
There's me & Lorna. Lorna and her friend were in town from Wisconson for a work event. Definitely getting the most out of their trip!
Saturday we headed to the fields. John did bring his boots but wasnt too gung ho on playing...but you know how rugby works. Someone is inevitably going to come out, need a blood sub...and there he went. I think this might be the first time he's played in kelts match in years!

My favorite sound in the whole wide world. The collective grunt of a colliding scrum:
YES! Kelts score!
Awww....KJ and Watts looking mighty dapper. Nice face, Aaron.
Kelts have the post-match chit chat while I annoyingly skip around taking pictures after a hard fought loss:
"Please go away Psycho"

That was mens & ladies home base- thanks to Dan & Patty for supplying the tent. Definitely useful on a day like that.
There we are with our hotel roomies:
Look who we found! Other OU ruggers! me, Kyra, Jeff (Came down from Chicago), Watts & KJ. Good times.
Tick Tock Tick Tock Tick Tock, Thats the clock ticking on the life of my camera. I noticed both teams were hanging out and rounded everyone up for a group photos. Seconds later my camera hit the mud, never to function correctly again!!!!

So there's your Nash Bash recap. I also wanted to share with you my latest frustrating encounter with the local morning news.

Cincinnati's Channel 9 & Capital One bamboozle viewers into watching hokey "Reportad".

Im calling it a "Reportad" because thats what it was. It was an advertisement headlined as an actual report. Shame on you!!

It's Opening Day in Cincinnati on Monday. For those of you who arent from around here, Opening day in Cincinnati has the same reverence as any religous holiday. Work absences are excused, Huge parades take place, and of course, local media gets even more excited about it than they were the year before. And this year, a new kind of curve ball was about to get thrown at the audience.

Before the morning commericial break, the newscasters leave you with, ..."and when we come back, we're going to talk to an ACTUAL sports PSYCOLOGIST who claims there REALLY IS something such as "OPENING DAY-ITIS!!" Whooooahh!! What rediculous ground breaking information is this guy going to spew onto the city? I could hardly wait for the news to come back on so I shake my head at this shameless slow news day time filler. "Bring on the cliches", I thought.

I was right. Sort of. They introduce this "Legitimate" Sports Psycologist who starts talking about "opening day itis" and unloads some of the most SHOCKING information:

• Sports fans love to identify themselves with their favorite team
• Sports fans will wear team gear to show this affiliation with their team
• Sports fans emotions are based on how well their team is doing.
• Wow. This guy went to school to learn this? He is a respected DOCTOR with knowledge like this? I could have given the same speech in the fifth grade, along with any other of my CYO basketball or volleyball teammates.

But he goes on!!! Thats not it!

The respected doctor then goes on to let us all know that "Some sports fans are even getting CREDIT CARDS with their favorite team logo on it! Just like the one capital one is offering!"

He then goes on detailed analysis of the new Capital One credit card being offered with your favorite team logo on it! And all about the great rates on balance transfers! And the low introductory interest rate!! Wow! What I was watching as a legitimate report has magically turned into an annoying ad! But its not even commercial time yet!!!

He wraps up and the camera is back on poor Catherine Nero, who I can tell is mortified and embarassed at the whole thing. (She was hiding it well, but I could see it in her eyes. She's got journalistic integrity and I could just tell she wasnt comfortable with selling her soul to the credit card devil) She's all, "So, yeah. We'd like to thank Capital One for submitting that report"...or something to that effect. She was basically saying, "Yeah, we know we tricked you. Its beneath me, but I gotta pay the bills, you know." I felt bad for her. I really got the feeling she was embarassed over the whole thing.

So anyway. Thats my latest beef with local news. I was discussing this with some of my new co-workers and it was suggested that maybe this was done because of the new DVR everyones got (we dont have it yet) and how the advertisers arent getting the views since everyone is fast forwarding through commercials nowadays. And its only going to get worse.

But I can tell you one thing. I wont stand for shameless plugs during an actual newscast. Throw in some product placement during the Hills, and Grey's a la the Truman show if you must, but leave the news alone. Remember the boy who cried wolf? Eventually we wont be able to discern between whats real and what you're selling.

whew!

Baby update! Mere is still at the hospital. Little Drew is just hanging out, no hurry to get out of there apparently. The apples dont fall to far from the tree, in case you've ever seen my brother on a couch, its no surprise his son doesnt want to get movin either.

Expect pics this weekend!!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!