We attended our second University of Denver hockey game of this season on Friday night. Like we’ve often done, Kim stopped at the box office on her way home from work and scored two seats in the student section on one of the ends of the rink. I guess with students being on winter break, many of their tickets went up for resale, as there were very few students there. This was DU’s first game in the Denver Cup tournament, which included first round opponent Sacred Heart, Dartmouth, and Northern Michigan.

Our tickets were also good for the first round game between Dartmouth and NMU, but it started at 4:30 and we still needed dinner. So we started off the night at Dave & Buster’s for some food and entertainment. We got a little caught up in our horse racing games, and walked into the hockey game in the middle of the first period. The game was still scoreless, but shortly after we arrived DU started putting pucks into the net. Sacred Heart never really had a chance, and DU game away with the 5-0 victory. The shutout victory was senior goaltender, Peter Mannino’s, fifteenth of his career, tying the all time school record. He should have plenty of games left to break the record, and hopefully we can be at the game.

DU went on to win the tournament the next night, with a 5-3 victory over Dartmouth.

The results are in and I lost my championship game in fantasy football to our friend Doni by three points! I made some bad choices in my lineup and could have won, but congratulations to her for beating me and winning it all. I’m still trying to figure out if there is any money for second place or if it all goes to the winner. In my other leagues I finished in fourth and eighth places with twelve teams in both. Not a bad season, and I’ll add another trophy to my fantasy football trophy case. This is the third time I’ve gotten second place in this league, and I also have one third place finish.

With all of the snow outside it’s hard not to think about snowboarding, but I think I’ll rest one more weekend before heading out again. I’m trying to do as many strengthening exercises as I can think of so I can be ready to hit the slopes once again. Did you know that there are still four resorts in North America that do not allow snowboarding? The resorts are Alta, Deer Valley, Taos, and Mad River Glen. But it appears that Taos will remove the ban on March 19th and only three will remain. Burton is giving away $5000 for the best video documentation of snowboarders “poaching” these remaining resorts that do not allow snowboarding.

After a heck of a delay in Indianapolis, we finally made it back to Denver very late on Christmas night (actually early morning on the 26th). Apparently Denver had the highest amount of snow on Christmas day in over 100 years, officially 7.8 inches although I think we had more than that at our house. And after shoveling it all for hours yesterday, the snow is falling again today and should continue into the late hours tonight. We could get anywhere from another 4 to 8 inches. This could quickly become similar to the snow situation we experienced when we first moved here last January. This time I will be sure to stay on top of the shoveling though.

As I work through the pictures I took during our trip to Cincinnati, here is one that my mom took for your viewing pleasure…

Update: our pictures are now available in the photo gallery.

I should have taken today off of work, especially since it seems like everyone else did. Oh well, just another few hours and it will be over until next Thursday! Plus, I get to go to the Bengals game on Sunday, my first home game of the season. Hopefully we can take down the Browns. And don’t forget to cheer the Bearcats to victory tomorrow afternoon in the Papa John’s Bowl. Merry Christmas everyone!

Last night I made a pasta dish that I’ve made many times before and is still on the top of my list. If spicy sauce is okay with you, I would definitely recommend trying this out sometime. I like it so much that I just had it again for lunch today, minus the wine that we had with it last night. After we ate last night Kim gave me a gift for Christmas. I had been wanting a big pot to cook with, and that’s just what I got, along with a bunch of other new pots and pans. It’s a full set of hard anodized cookware from Kitchenaid. I can’t wait to cook again!

We’ve been receiving a number of Christmas cards recently. Many of them are the standard card with the only the senders signatures scribbled in them. This has recently (or has always been) the most common card received. But I really enjoy the ones that come with a personalized note or something extra inside. Just yesterday, we received a card from some friends in Denver that had a small Christmas mix CD in it. Now that’s what I’m talking about! Maybe I will do that someday, if we ever send out cards.

My mom sends her cards with an update on the family that I think many enjoy receiving. I know that some of her friends have started doing the same exact thing, and those are a great way to catch up on what everyone has been up to. Here’s her update from this year, if you are curious as to what everyone in my family has been up to:

How quickly the years pass! Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope you are all enjoying the hustle and bustle of this special time of year. We have been blessed with MANY happy times with family and friends in 2007 and hope the New Year brings many, many more.

What better way to start 2007, by cruising around the Hawaiian Islands with the Hemmelgarns to celebrate Claire’s 50th birthday! Such a beautiful place to spend a normally cold and snowy Cincinnati January! We also traveled to Chicago in February for a friends wedding, Pinehurst in July to Condo shop with the Hemmelgarns, Norris Lake in July for a long weekend with friends, Purdue University in October to visit our niece Lauren, Kansas City with a huge group of Bengals fans for the third year in a row, Minster Ohio for the annual Oktoberfest, and Claire took her her annual girl’s trip in April with her sisters to Ft. Lauderdale.

Ed Sr continues to enjoy running and ran his 11th Marathon in May. Claire is working in a third grade classroom this year with four very active and challenging boys.

Tim received his Masters Degree in Engineering Management at the University of Dayton with a perfect 4.0 GPA. He bought a very nice three bedroom house complete with a huge deck and jacuzzi. After many shopping trips for furniture and supplies, he is out once again and living on his own.

Ed Jr and Kim purchased their second home this time in Denver, Colorado. They are really enjoying all that Denver has to offer, especially the snowboarding, mountain hiking, and music at Red Rocks. We actually get to see them more now than when they lived in Kansas City because Ed Jr, who is working from home for his old company, can actually work from home in Cincinnati too!

We have started our home renovations projects. We took out our patio and added a huge wood deck complete with seats and tables! We added a special angel fountain area just for Bryan! It has been almost a year and five months since he passed away, but we are constantly reminded of him! He sends us many, many signs and we know he is always with us wherever we are!

Best Wishes for a very happy and safe Holiday Season! Love, the Paffs

A quick fantasy football update. I won my game this week against Phil and am now in the final game against Doni. There is $80 in the pot for the winners to take, and I’m not sure what the split was between first and second place or if second is even getting money anymore. Guess I should look into this, but either way I will be paying much attention to my team this week. I lost in the other league where I’m still alive and will be playing this week for third place. Not too bad, if I do say.

My hockey team plays again tonight, but I will not be there. My ankle is healing rather nicely this time, but I still think it’s too early for much walking, let alone hockey. Hopefully I can be off the crutches soon and then back on the slopes and ice in another couple of weeks. If anyone needs any Christmas gift ideas for me, I’d like a wobble board thing, which would help strengthen my ankle once I’m up and moving on it again.

We started off the weekend by going to see SoundRabbit at the D Note in Arvada. We got there early so we could try their pizza that we had heard good things about. It turns out that the pizza is delicious and they have quite an array a vegetarian pizzas. We would definitely head back there often, if it wasn’t a fifteen or twenty minute drive from our house.

The room itself is definitely better suited as a restaurant than a concert venue, although I do appreciate the effort in doing both. The stage is oriented in the center of the long narrow room, so that there aren’t many tables directly in front. The only available table when we arrived was on the far side and directly on the side of the stage. This didn’t make for the best acoustics, but I always enjoy watching drummers closeup when presented the opportunity. As always, the music was great and it was a perfect way to kick off the weekend.

Also, I’d like to point out that SoundRabbit is donating 100% of online album sales in December via SoundRabbit.com to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. So, pick up their latest disc, and support a great cause all at the same time.

Arvada on Dwellable

It’s that time of the year again. Time for another NOW That’s What Ed Calls Music CD. Picking the songs for this years disc was a little harder than in years past, since I feel that it was a pretty slow year in music. Therefore, you will notice quite a few repeats from previous years. There are still some new bands that I think you will enjoy.

1. ALO – Maria
2. Brandi Carlile – The Story
3. Green River Ordinance – Come On
4. SoundRabbit – Hazel
5. Ryan Montbleau Band – Maybe Today
6. The Alternate Routes – Time Is A Runaway
7. Cary Brothers – Ride
8. Paolo Nutini – Loving You
9. Bedouin Soundclash – Walls Fall Down
10. Brendan James – The Other Side
11. Toby Lightman – Holding Me Down
12. The John Butler Trio – Good Excuse
13. Xavier Rudd – Better People
14. Matt Nathanson – Come On Get Higher
15. Brett Dennen – Darlin’ Do Not Fear
16. Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers – Sweetest Goodbye
17. The Villebillies – Rolling Stone

Later this afternoon/evening I will be offering up a BitTorrent download for all of the geeks in the house. This will definitely be a much faster download, if you are patient enough to wait. And obviously the compilation is available for download from edpaffjr.com. If downloading from my site is slow, I hope to have it available from other hosts in the near future (probably tomorrow). I hope you enjoy it and happy holidays!

Edit: I apologize for taking so long, but the torrent download is now available here.

Keeping with the theme of this week, while on a Frontier jet with service to Cancun, I watched the movie Ratatouille, one of the most recent Disney/Pixar films. In general, I think their films are highly entertaining despite being mostly rated G or PG. There is still some humor that appeals to the older generations, and this one is no different. Just as usual, I was extremely impressed with the graphics of the movie. But this one has a plot that goes above and beyond most of Pixar’s other films. It centers around a family of rats, and one rat in particular that desires and succeeds at being a French chef. Do rats have thumbs? If so, they’d definitely give this one two thumbs up.