Head's up - I've been posting a lot to You Tube

Hey folks - while I haven't been updating the blog every week, I have been posting a lot of videos to YouTube.com. The easiest way to find these is to go to www.youtube.com and search for hockeystatman. Doing that should find all the videos I've posted so far.

Eric drops in

Eric was down this way on vacation, and we'd been looking forward to seeing him for some time. The occasional jaunts to catch up with him and then lose money in Atlantic City are now a little too far to do in one weekend, and we're hoping he lands a job in Charlotte soon so we can see him more often.

Eric no doubt praying to be anywhere but Philly in the near future

His visit began with Dale saying, "Dad, there's someone behind our car." I'd just woken up, and we didn't know when he'd be getting here. Well about the time I got up as it turns out.

Saturday night we ventured out for a night in Myrtle Beach. We started at the beach for a little while, and then ventured towards the Pavilion. Around there is any number of tourist trap places, and a few arcades. Eric and I being children of the '80s means we were naturally drawn there. Of course, we're also old enough to not appreciate the new video games so Eric, Julie, and I ended up playing some old Williams mechanical baseball games that were pretty fun.

Each game had its own personality. Some were more slow pitch, some had faster bats than others, and some rang bells when players scored while others did not. My personal high score was I think 13 or 14. Eric kicked ass in the video below by scoring 20 runs. Only 8 short of winning a prize.



Once that fun was complete, it was off to Julie's favorite local restaurant - Cheeseburger In Paradise. When we got there someone got off a bench as we were walking up, and Julie and Eric instantly staked our claim while giving me instructions to "Go get us a table." Uh... okay... I wait in line to get a buzzing thing to tell us when our table will be ready, and I was told the wait was only 30 minutes or so. Not too bad around here.

From there I went back outside and Eric is trying to saw Julie's ear off.

We sat on the bench for our 30 minute wait enjoying each other's company while some guy who's obviously too into fitness for his own good did yoga a few feet away. Naturally we also enjoyed one of our favorite past times - people watching. Managed to get this blurry shot of a guy wearing black socks with shorts.

The real fun was to begin once our table was ready. Our server Sarah had no idea what she was in for. We must have seemed like goofy idiots from the moment we sat down.

Julie ordered a "virgin Coke" because she was driving, and Eric and I went for the margaritas. I gave Sarah free reign, while Eric wasn't quite as adventurous. If there was a problem with my drink it was the fact that I ordered a large, and I got a normal size one. I didn't realize this until Eric received his punch bowl sized drink, so I finished mine and got another.


Dinner was good like it always was at Cheeseburger In Paradise, and we had a good time. I think Sarah enjoyed having this collection of goofy people as her customers. She also taught me something. I now know that Myrtle Beach is AKA The Redneck Riviera.

Sarah's butt

...and for the record Julie took this picture

With this we left, and I learned something more. You know those little concrete barriers they put down in a parking lot to keep people from doing a pull-through? Yeah, they won't stop Julie from doing it anyway...

From here we went home where we sampled some of Eric's mead, and played a game called Riff. It was Julie and Eric against me - I lost.

Sunday was spent at the beach. I have no pictures of Eric at the beach because I was rather afraid that taking a picture of Eric in direct sunlight would burn out the camera.

After the beach it was off to Broadway At The Beach where we thought we'd hit The Fudgery so Eric could laugh about where Julie used to work. No fudge shows were going on, so we passed on there and strolled around Broadway. Dale can't help but jump on the dinosaurs every time we walk by them. It looks like Eric is no exception.

It's also obvious that I've got a lovely couple of coconuts.

From here it was off to the fountain / sprinklers which you can see video from below. Then around to the '80s store where we found far too many bad references to our youth. Not far from there we saw the newly opened Kiss Coffeehouse.

Let's just say that Eric's not a fan...

We then hit a poster store, and thanks to Eric we now have our own copy of "The Kramer". Not far from there Eric got to see what can only be described as "The butt ugly fish of Broadway At The Beach."



I have no idea what type of fish they are, but man are they ugly!

After this it was dinner time, so I made some Japanese hibachi style steak, we played more Riff, finished off the good mead, and watched "Stewie Griffin - The Untold Story".

We had a great time while Eric was here, and we hope he lands something in this area soon so we can see him more often.

...and good luck improving the mango mead.

More videos for friends & family to enjoy

Hey folks - Had a great weekend. Eric came in to visit, and we had a great time enjoying his company. Took a few videos that we know that Bennie and Joann will love, so I wanted to post them right away.

Dale floating in with the waves


Dale playing in the fountain / sprinklers at Broadway At The Beach


More fun at Broadway At The Beach



It rained like crazy one day last week. Here's some video of rain, in case you're bored enough to watch a home movie of something like that.



I'll post more videos and pictures of us visiting with Eric later on.