I don’t know how things went for you guys, but yesterday and the night before (aka, Christmas Eve) were a complete blur.  And I mean blurrier than how things normally are for me.  You know what, throw Monday in there too.  I realized that Christmas has become a giant pain in the ass!

The first thing I did on Monday was get in the car and drive to Salem NH. (Why on Monday? Because naturally I hadn’t done ANY shopping yet) This turned out to be a not-so-original idea.  I walk into TSR, and I see Rich Devaney.  Walk into Buchikas, see Paul Harty.  Walk into Sports Authority, see Asst Commish Bob Landry (and his lovely wife Lynn).  Walk into the NH State Liquor store, see EVERY GOD DAMN PERSON IN THE STATE.  Seriously, what the hell was going on at the NH State Liq store.  There was no place to park and when I walked in, the scene reminded me of what the streets of Los Angeles must’ve looked like when the Rodney King verdict was announced.  It was complete Chaos.  Somehow I managed to get all my shopping done amongst this rioting chaos.  Amazing what a Badger can do when he sets his mind to it.   After the Liquor store, I went to Barnes & Noble…. saw no Badgers there.  (Shocking)

So the wife and I went through our routine on X-Mas eve, wrapping gifts last minute and trying to keep the kids in bed so they’d have some surprises in the morning.   Plus we had to get to bed before Santa came.  Obviously.    And when the morning came, we had three excited and appreciative kids down by the tree.  (Well two kids excited and appreciative.  The other is now a teenager)  Good times, and all somewhow worth the pains that had to be endured.

Tonight marks the return of EL Toro, aka EL Capitan.  I think I’ve been away from Badger hockey for 4 weeks now, so despite how eager I am to return, it won’t be pretty.  I HAVE however been conditioning myself in over indulgence, so the apres portion of the skate is where I’ll once again excel.

I hope everyone had a great Chistmas.  Of course, I should be “PC” and say “Happy Holidays” to cover all those who are Jewish (do we have any Jewish Badgers?).

Anyway, I know you guys must be excited about my return.  The same kind of excited you see 32 seconds into the video below.    See you tonight.

Well, it’s that time of year.  The Holidays are upon us and we find ourselves gathering with family and friends to wind down 2013.  We’ll have some laughs and reflect on the great memories that were made during the year, but we’ll also pause to remember all the crap that came with lucky number 13.

Amongst the crap, we had a Marathon Bombing, a Typhoon in the Phillipines, 3 women were found after being held captive for 10 years in Cleveland OH, and North Korea was threatening to conduct Nuclear missile tests.   Our sports teams won another World Series (this was good), lost in the Stanely Cup Finals (crap) and sent one of it’s players to jail on murder charges.   Some of our fellow Andover-family members discovered they have cancer and are now fighting for thier lives, and the community joined together in sorrow for the family of David Vaughan.

All of this gives us good reason to look forward to 2014, but in case it wasn’t enough, last Wednesday our community was kicked in the nuts one last time.  My good friends The Harty’s, lost their 8 year old son to Mitochondrial Disease.  Matthew was an incredible kid, who brings a smile to my face whenever I think of him.  If you had a chance to meet him, he would’ve instantly made you feel like you’d known him for years.  He’d climb on your lap and tell you to help him with his video games, or he’d ask you to do something with him.  Matty was a Honey Badger.  Doctors said he wouldn’t live very long, but he proved them wrong.  He raised the bar for mitochondrial disease.

Paul and Sarah are very special people who know that they were blessed to have Matthew with them for 8 years.  They have something I call “The Harty Effect”.  It’s their ability to make you want to be a better person because you see their values and you see the impact they have in life.  Going forward, my personal goal is to work “The Harty Effect” into my repertoire.   (Hopefully I’ll be half as effective as they are)

I wanted to share this with you guys because we “Badgers” are family.   We’re macho on the outside, and we’re mommas boys on the inside.  Paul has played with us on Thursday nights in the past and you can count on seeing him again in the future.  Don’t treat him different because of this.  Treat him like a Badger.

Here’s to 2014.  (And 2013, Fuckin Suck It.)

Happy Holidays ya Jerks.

To learn more about Mitochondrial disease, go to: http://www.mitoaction.org/   Donations can also be made to the organization in Matthews name.

And finally, below is a tribute to Matthew.  It was put together by one of Paul and Sarah’s friends.

Being EL Capitan has it’s privileges, there’s no arguement.  Lisa remembers your drink order, you’re always surrounded by friends, and sometimes you get to hang around with famous people.

This was one of those times.    What you are about to hear (the video was taken very late at night, and on a boat, so there is no light in the video) is a private discussion that took place between a few Badgers, and a prominant business owner in the New England area.   (He’s asked me to not reveal his name due to his celebrity status)

It was originally recorded in June of 2013.

You know who drinks more than Honey Badgers?  Everyone in England.  They drink at lunch, and they drink after work, every day.  And it’s not like you go into a bar or pub and there’s a few people, it’s packed.  So packed that everyone spills out into the streets, and the pubs actually build shelves onto the outside of the building (this is pretty cool).

Since landing here on Sunday morning, I think I’ve been on a 5000 calorie/day diet.  I’ve managed to run a few times in the morning, which is an event itself.  My head has to be on a swivel so I don’t get flattened by a double decker bus.  These bus drivers think they’re in a porsche, and they all like to drive about a foot from the curb at all times.  Someone has to look up the stats for how many people get killed by busses in London per year, it has to be a hefty toll.

Tonight, EL Capitan is stepping it up a notch, and will be attending a Black Tie event.   It’s actually the company Christmas party.  Surprised EL Capitan owns a tux?  Think Dumb and Dumber.  I’ve got the top hat and everything.  It’s really going to be brilliant.  I’ll have someone take a picture.

Cheers, Badgers.   Can’t wait to be back on American soil.

Thanksgiving Day took on a new look this year as the Badgers took to the streets.  Nice work boys.  Btw, the picture at the bottom is of John DeSanto’s foot, which he rolled during the race.  It quickly swelled to the size of someones knee cap, but he finished the race. (the 5 mile).

I can’t remember who sent the email out (Patten?) but great call on throwing on the sweaters for the race.

And an equally great call by Bucci on grabbing a Bloody at the clubhouse after the race.  Smells like a tradition to me.

Reunited with some of my Junior Badgers after the race.  Sweet.

And, below is the Elephant mans foot.  Just a flesh wound.