Pacers/Pistons Brawl Backlash....

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1935140

"...a lawyer for the Pacers told detectives that none of the players would agree to be interviewed by police. "

My initial reaction was "Well, that's obvious. The players are still upset over being suspended and the police may rile them up and get them to say something stupid and incriminating". But then common sense prevailed. It's the smart move to do. The police have basically the entire altercation on tape. Why in the world would they need to speak to the players involved? They know exactly who hit whom, and how many times.

And to touch on a previous point. Will the players involved be convicted and face jail time? Will the prosecuter cut them a deal? Will the prosecuter refuse to cut them a deal because of the high profiled nature of the situation? If the players are convicted, can the Pacers organization then use the "moral clauses" in the player's contracts to cut the players? Of course, the answer to that last one is "no". They'll trade them before they cut them.

3 Days Later....

Here's a picture of the cut tonight. It's becoming a bit of a pain in the ass to keep it wrapped up all day long. But that's what the instuction sheet says to do that the hospital gave me. I always thought that some fresh air always helped cuts heal. Am I wrong about that?

9 more days until the stitches get taken out.....


Day3

You know.....

you're turning into Tim "The Toolman" Taylor from TV's "Home Improvement" when.....

... you don't want anything but tools for xmas or your birthday.
... you go to Home Depot to go window shopping.
... the first flyers you look at in the Sunday paper are Home Depot, Lowes, and Sears Hardware.

I don't know how I got this way, but I love doing projects at/to my house. I never really helped my dad out when I was a kid living at home. My little brother Adam helped him a lot more often than I did. I guess it's when I became a homeowner and had to do the work myself that I fell in love with doing projects.

Ar, ar, ar, ar, ar.......

Last Night's Aftermath....

My memento from the emergency room:


Matt's ID Tag

Last Night's Aftermath....

Since I'm new to this blogging thing and I haven't yet figured out how to add more than one picture to a post, this and the next post are pictures that speak for themselves.....


Matt's Finger

Am I In The Wrong Line Of Work?.....

I sit here typing this post without the use of my left pointer finger. Which, of course, makes for slow typing. In a freak accident I sliced open my finger while helping my brother and father work on the ductwork in my dad's house. It was a 6" tee that I barely glanced with my hand, but hard enough to slice right thru about 2" of skin which unfolded quite nicely. After washing out the wound for a few minutes I gave into temptation and took a ride over to the Holy Name Hospital Emergency Room. It was actually a very pleasant experience. Went thru all the motions very quickly and was back to my mom's in time for dinner.
And now for the meaning of the subject. I love watching those reality shows on TLC and The Discovery Channel about surgeries. I can't get enough of them. So, of course, I watched as the doc stitched me up (6 stitches in all). Maybe I should have gone into some sort of medical field. But then again, with how I feel about school, I would have never have lasted very long in school.

Top Movie Quotes.....

From CNN....

"
The American Film Institute is surveying Hollywood types for the top 100 quotes from U.S. movies, with contenders including Bogart's "Here's looking at you, kid" from "Casablanca," Schwarzenegger's "I'll be back" from "The Terminator" and Nicholson's "You can't handle the truth!" from "A Few Good Men."

....

Other contending quotes include Clark Gable's "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" from "Gone With the Wind," Mae West's "Why don't you come up and see me?" from "She Done Him Wrong," Tom Hanks' "Houston, we have a problem" from "Apollo 13," Cuba Gooding Jr.'s "Show me the money" from "Jerry Maguire" and the "Star Wars" gang's "May the Force be with you."
"

What about:

"Go ahead. Make my day." -Dirty Harry.
"Bond. James Bond."
"I dare you. I fucking double dare you." - Pulp Fiction
"Every man dies. Not every man really lives." -Braveheart
"I ate his liver with some fava beams and a nice chianti" -Silence of the Lambs
"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die." -The Princess Bride
"Say hello to my little friend" -Scarface
"I'm your worst nightmare" -Rambo
"He beat me. Straight up. Pay him, pay that man his money" -Rounders
"Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker." -Rounders
"Hey, that's a hell of an elk!" -Rounders

Part Of The Minority.....

Minivans.

What's your first reaction to reading that? Disgust? Family vehicle? Uncool car? I'm sure if you polled the public, most men would not react positively to a minivan. I, on the other hand, think minivans are great. All those seats and cargo room! Especially now with the innovations they've been coming up with in regards to the seats. They're much easier to take out or even fold down into the floor panel so it's like they're not even there. I'm very excited that Jennie and I are going to be shopping for a minivan soon. I'm partial to the Dodge Grand Caravan (although I'm not sure why). Jennie is partial to the Toyota Sienna and the Honda Odyessy. I don't really care which one of the three we get, as long as Jennie is happy with it.

Life's Uncomfortable Situations....

Everyday at 9:50, we get a coffee break here at work. There's a coffee truck (or "roach coach" as it's commonly called) that stops in here on most days. The guy's attendance record is not close to 100%. But he's been coming here for about ten years. Today's occurance was very strange and uncomfortable. Unbeknownst to him, someone decided that we needed a new coffee truck service and called in another guy to show up. So we had two trucks in the lot at 9:50. Obviously the original guy was very confused at first why there was another truck at "his" spot. I'm assuming the new guy informed the old guy that he was called in. This made the old guy extremely upset. Here's where it got uncomfortable. I had to get morning fix of caffeine - yes I needed my Diet Coke. What was I to do? The two trucks were out there and the old guy was complaining to everyone that he was being shafted and that he's been doing it for ten years, etc..... What was I to do? Go back inside and ignore the situation? Do as everyone else was doing and ignore the old guy and buy from the new guy? Difficult choice.....

Fantasy Basketball

I'm in a fantasy basketball league with a bunch of friends. I've been in first place for the last week or so. Mainly because I've been using up my roster spots as fast as possible. This helps accumulate stats very quickly, thus my lead in the standings. I'm looking forward to staying in the lead while I slow down on using up my roster spots.

A great aspect of our league is that you can set up your roster for weeks in advance. But here's a great tip for all you kids out there who play in a league and set up your roster in advance: You should check in everyday anyway and look for injuries. I've already wasted a few games with DNP's because of injuries that were reported in advance of the game being played. DOH!

Children are great....

I can't imagine any better feeling in the world than the love of one's children. Coming home from a hard day at work and all feelings of anger, frustration, etc. are just melted away when you look at your kids. (I'm not saying I come home mad from work, just saying it could happen)

It's also amazing how different kids are from each other, how early their personalities become defined. But life would be boring if all kids were the same anyway.

An update to a previous post - All my reservations and hesitations about wiping my daughter are all gone. Glad that didn't last too long.

The Jets Suck....

Paul Hackett should be fired.

Enough said.

I have no clue....

I quickly realized that I have no clue what to do with Alexis. After having 2 boys, I thought I knew what to expect with a baby girl. Wrong!

Let's start with the simple things:

• How do I wipe her? All the 'manuals' say "front to back" is the only way to do it. But what happens when her poop is all over the place?
• If Alexis is crying* in the middle of the night and no one is awake to hear her, is she really crying?
• Who (and when) decided that blue would be designated a male color, and pink a female?

More complicated issues:

• How do I raise her? Do I roughhouse with her like I do with the boys?
• Changing her diapers now is fine, but at what age is it not o.k. for me to see her without undies? Same with the boys, what age?
• How do I keep boys away from her when she hits the teen years? (anyone with good suggestions, please leave me a comment)

I've delved into some touchy (no pun intended) subjects here. I'm sure there are tons of books out there that deal with these questions, but I'm too lazy to find them. Granted, these are all subjects I should have thought about before having kids, but too late now.....

* - Speaking of crying, my wife is upset that Alexis doesn't cry "enough". Alexis is very laid-back, just like her daddy. I think my wife is crazy for wanting her to cry more.

They're back

My girls have come home finally.....

Everyone is doing well. The boys really like their new little sister, so that should be good. We just have to watch out for them trying to pick her up and toss her around. We'll see how it goes.....



Alexis - Home

And In The Pink Corner....

Hailing from Bergenfield, New Jersey....
Weighing in at 7 pounds 4.8 ounces.....
Standing (laying) 21" long......
Born @ 9:16 pm, on Tuesday November 9th, 2004....

Alexis Helen Dabney


Jennie and baby Alexis

You can see more pictures at:http://photos.yahoo.com/mjdabney in the "Alexis" album

The Waiting Game

UPDATE: Jennie will be induced tonight at 6pm. I'm hoping for Jennie that it goes very quickly.


My wife, Jennie, and I are expecting our 3rd child. We got what we wished for when we found out it's going to be a girl (after having 2 boys), so we're both very excited. It is now 3 days past her due date. Our other two kids were both late, so this comes as little surprise to us.

First Post

Well, I'm trying my hand at blogging. I've been reading my friends' blogs (http://www.joegrossberg.com/ http://chuckjerry.blogspot.com/) for the past few years and decided to have a go at it.