Tom Eppenberger Jr’s blog

Shelly and I both had our moments of serious skepticism during the planning for Saturday, but we managed to pull it off. Brunch at our house for 6, (including my Mom, Shelly’s Mom and Shelly’s Step-Mom), and then dinner at our house for 10 (including my Step-Mom and Grandmother)… on the same day!

We were up at 8 AM cooking for the 10:30 AM brunch. The menu included Banana Walnut pancakes, scrambled eggs, potatoes, and sausage (both real and fake). Most everything went perfect, except for an early snag with the pancake batter. It was a Swedish pancake batter, and it behaved much differently than I expected. Too much water was added, and so we ended up having to use a box and a half of batter…

Lane was a total ham for all his Grandma’s during breakfast, but this is really nothing new…

After breakfast, we all retreated to the backyard, and Lane showed off his mad T-ball skills for his Grandma’s. As Lane went down for his nap, the party broke up and we began cleaning up for dinner.

The initial plan was to make a Mexican dinner, but we (very smartly) decided to get a bulk of the menu from El Torito. Chicken Enchiladas, Cheese Enchiladas, black bean, chicken and beef taquitos beans, rice, corn cake, chips, salsa, etc. For dessert, we got a Leche Cake from a bakery in Hayward.

Most everyone showed up for dinner early, for a change, and so we spent a lot of time finishing up preparing for dinner after they had arrived. No bother, we think everyone had a good time. My Uncle Bruce was down for the weekend as a (big) surprise for my Grandma, and Lane really seemed to enjoy him being there. Well, either that, or he saw it as another person to help get the balls he hit off his T-ball stand…

The weather was decent, so we all ate in the backyard, and, yes, Lane continued to show off his T-ball skills.

After the T-ball action had finished, I was eaten alive by mosquitos in the backyard while talking to my Dad. I thought I had been bitten two or three times, but this morning I awoke with 20+ bites all over my back, face and arms. Why, oh why, do bugs like to eat me so much?

In the end, the Leche cake got mixed reviews, but I sure dug it. Everything else was either finished or taken home by different people.

We all ended up huddled in the living room around our TV watching photos from our Belize trip. It was like a Simpsons episode where Selma and Patty put everyone to sleep with the slides from their most recent trip… really.

I just got an American Express check for $50 from a company as a referral bonus!

If the point of this is to get me to refer other companies to them… it’s going to work…

Returned Zune #2 to Best Buy today and had it replaced thanks to the Best Buy Replacement Plan. Yeah, the replacement plans are a total rip-off, but I am super glad I did it for my Zune.

A little history… Zune #1 was purchased the first day they were released (like the fanboy that I am). 29 days later, without realizing, I took it back to Best Buy because the headphone jack was malfunctioning. The girl working the return counter made a snide remark about how another 2 days and I would have been SOL. Perhaps it was sneaky plan to get me to buy the aforementioned rip-off, but I did so out of fear.

Now, a year and a half later, the headphone jack was again wonky. My two year replacement plan (that cost me just $20) covered the unit, and I walked out with a new Zune. Yay!

The Sharks played 4 overtimes last night before losing 2-1, and thus ending another year in disappointing fashion.

Nabby, who should win the Vezina, made what could be the best save I’ve ever seen…

But, it still wasn’t enough. We lost in the second round of the playoffs… again.

Lots of people seem to want to give them a pass this year because they got down 3-0 in the series, won the next two and then took the 6th game into a 7th period. Huh? Wasn’t this supposed to be “the year?” Wasn’t this the season where it was cup or bust? Well, bust. It doesn’t matter that we made it as far as we did, we didn’t win.

I’ve seen a bunch of media types saying that the fact that we got the series to a Game 6 saved the coaching staff’s jobs. This doesn’t compute to me. How does blowing leads and sleeping through parts of 3 games in a second round playoff series, only to finally show some desperation in three straight elimination games save someone’s job? We liked to believe that the first round series proved this was a different team, with different leaders. Nope. Sorry. The coaching staff is obviously failing, and while the players are to blame, coaches get fired.

I think, and hope, that there will be a lot of changes (for the better) this summer. Both with the coaching staff, and the “big guns.” Can we live through another season of Marleau’s bi-polar play? Do we try and sign Brian “free wheeling (on his skates and with the puck)” Campbell? Can we watch Jumbo Joe disappear from the scoring sheet in the playoffs again? Yeah, I said it, should we look to deal Joe? The phrase “sell high” comes to mind…

Ryan Garner, a Sharks blogger for HockeyBuzz, made a good point in his post this morning:

The most dangerous offensive threat on the ice, Joe Thornton posted three assists over six games. He finished the season fifth in league scoring, but he was outscored by five Dallas players during the second round. I’m reminded of the great line from Wayne’s World 2, when Wayne calls out “Hey, my girlfriend’s in there!” only to hear, “A lot of people’s girlfriends are in there.” Yes, Joe’s effort was there, but a lot of people’s effort was there.

Now, I know that what I think means zero. I’m just another crazy, obsessed fan who is really pissy and depressed today. I seriously doubt that Patty or Joe are going anywhere, but I’m reasonably sure that the coaching staff will look different. I just wonder who would be a better candidate than Ron Wilson.

Ugh, I hate this……………..

I was really excited to attend Maker Faire Bay Area again this year, but ended up being pretty disappointed.

Some complaints (and whining)…

• Tickets at the door were $25 per adult — more than double last year. Looking at the official website for Maker Faire tonight, I see a few other people complaining of the same thing. Found out (after the fact) that tickets online prior to the event could have been purchased for $10 less…
• Craft section was easily 1/4 of last year and was in too small of a building. There were a lot of people in there, both buying and selling, and so I am not sure why they relegated it to that space. Hopefully this gets fixed in the future.
• Lots, and lots, and lots of repeat exhibits and presenters. Why?
• All the coolest stuff seems to have been in the smallest areas. Or, was it the fact that the cool stuff was just really popular and so all the people made it seems smaller?

Some highlights…

• The Infamous Marshmallow Shooter thanks to Howtoons. We could have bought the simple kit to make one for $5, but didn’t. I do see one in our future however…
• LUNAR (Livermore Unit of the National Association of Rocketry) had a cool rocket building setup. We bought a kit for $5 for Lane, but didn’t launch it there. I said “nah, we can do it at home.” Ass! Totally should have done it there. The rockets are multi-use, and Lane would have loved to have seen his rocket get shot up into the air using one of their big motors. Ass!
• 19 foot Tesla Towers — electricity performance… nuff said.
• “Art Golf” — Lane loved playing mini-golf here. The line was a bit crazy, but well worth it.

We had an okay time, but were really put off by the chaos that was the Craft section. This was the main reason that Shelly went back this year, and I have to agree that it was one of the highlights of last year’s faire. Too bad they screwed this up, and hopefully it gets fixed next year. And, if we do make it back for a third straight year in 2009, I’ll be sure and buy advance tickets…