Brennan Duffy

Well after making us wait for 13 days past his due date Brennan finally decided to make his appearance. On Dec 12th at 7:33pm to be exact, 8lbs 12ozs. Everything is going really well and hopefully Brennan and Mom will be home Saturday or Sunday, then the real commotion will begin. He seems to have his days and nights backwards but we're really hoping that he gets that figured out soon. The red hair was a nice suprise, truely Irish,(Grampy Jack would love that if he were still around) and he keeps getting a lot of attention for that. So far he seems really content and when he gets worked up he likes his cheek rubbed. I don't allow that we will have too much trouble finding a babysitter with three sets of Grandparents looking to give as much attention as we want to. It's quite a rush. I have a feeling that this may turn into a baby blog now, but you never know...

Quick but long update.

Well I see that two months have passed and we have just finished recovering from the destructive Wind Gust that destroyed our gazebo, emotionally that is, physically it was just the gazebo that got hurt. Unfortunately Mitch Murphy ruled that we were ineligible for disaster relief, so oh well shit happens.

Just a note that we will be without the interweb for a couple of weeks, we are heading to Montreal for a little vacation, and we have to send the computer out to get a CD burner replaced while the warranty is still in effect.

Some exciting times are coming up I can officially say that I am out of retail, I just got a job at the Airport with Westjet and Sunwing working on the runway. very cool, or hot I guess apparently the pit as it's called gets very warm. Erin is officially done of her classroom work and now she just has to finish her case study and she will finally have her Masters Degree in Education, that's cool, golf clap everyone, don't want to wake the baby. Speaking of the baby we have the ultrasound pic and it will be posted at the end of this note, let me know if you think it's a boy or girl and we're doing the name thing again.

We're looking forward to seeing our friends Patricia and Blair when we get to Montreal, and hopefully Kim and Mike if we can make it to Ottawa or they can make it to Montreal.

Anyways if there is no response from us by e-mail or whatever is done by computer for the next couple of weeks you can blame Futureshop warranty repair.




Please save the "and what a boy" comments it's only funny when Homer says it. But seriously I've seen these pictures and said wow I can't make out anything. We're pretty lucky that we got one where you can see bone ( the bright white lines) and facial features. Isn't this crazy?

Wind Gust Wal

It's never easy to cover a natural disaster, especially when it's in your own backyard.

Last night after coming home from a shopping trip for maternity clothes for Erin, we quickly realized that we were the victims of an uncaring and ruthless gust of wind.

" When I saw our Gazebo thrown into the trees my little heart just broke" was the exasperated lament from Erin. I too was left wondering what type of a world do we really live in anymore? When there are children starving, gangs revolting and a war in Afghanistan and Iraq, now you can add Johnston's River to the list of places in the World that just aren't safe.

And while PEI Provincial Treasurer Mitch Murphy is remaining non-commital on disaster relief for the plight of the Duffy's. Our local chapter of the HoGi's Missionary group, Josh Duffy rolled up his sleeves to get his hands dirty and help pull the gazebo from the trees. Risking the itchy scratches from the trees he bravely went to work.

With the clean-up nearly finished the only question left is where are these poor brave souls going to spend their summer now?

News unleashed...

Well I guess I can finally say why I'm not returning to school right now. Erin and I are going to be having a baby sometime in late November. I really didn't want to put an extra financial burden on us right now, so a raise and a promotion to Inventory Overlord will do for now. We are very excited and are taking any suggestions for names, cool Irish names are the ones that we are looking at, Marmaduke is not one of them.

It looks like I have to wait until around January to have the surgery on my shoulder, hopefully I can have enough recovery time to play at least one more year of baseball.

Well Detroit did not fare out to well, being eliminated in the first round was not what I expected. It looks like Manny Legace will be looking for a new team next year. which is too bad he did have a lot of potential, and I think he would be a great pick-up for the Philadelphia Flyers. Eh Josh. So it looks like I have to re do my Western Conference picks. I have decided to pick the team from Alberta to go to the cup to lose to New Jersey. The Edmonton Oilers will be the Western team to beat now.

In a couple of weeks I'll probably be making new picks but it is fun, I hope nobody put money down based on my advice, and if you did you're stupid.

It's Playoff Time

OK being a Penguins fan and not having a chance to cheer them on this postseason, I'm going to take a chance and try to predict the Western and Eastern Conference finals then the Stanley Cup Finals, so here goes.

The West to me is the hardest to predict since here on the East Coast we don't get to see them a lot, we just get to read up on them and that's not the same but in spite on San Jose playing as hot as they are I'm going with Calgary and Detroit in the Conference with Detroit going to the Finals. Calgary has the best goaltending but I think that Detroit's special teams will take them to play for Lord Stanley's Cup.

The East is no less complicated just better known to me, and being a former goaltender myself how can anyone bet against Marty Brodeur and the NJ Devils. It's strange but I'm going against the formula I used in the West to pick the East's Champions. I believe that Buffalo's special teams will get them to the Conference finals but NJ's goaltending will get them to the Stanley Cup. So it's Buffalo and New Jersey in the East.

Now onto the Stanley Cup Finals where I think that the Cup will go to the Detroit Redwings as Steve Yzerman will get the sendoff that pretty much everyone thinks that he deserves. Now all I need to make this come true is for Manny Legace to pull it all together this postseason.

Let me know what you think and who you are cheering for, personally I'm going for all my former Penguins in New York, how wrong is that?

You know it's spring when...

Oh yeah It's Spring when the Cincinnati Reds start to hit the ole cowhide outa the park and their pitchers serve up gopher balls like they're on a tee. Baseball is back and I'm excited. Of course I won't be taking part in any baseball this season as I have to wait approximatly 8 to 12 more months for surgery on my shoulder. I have a torn or seperated Labrum fun stuff. Although I do plan on going out and taking some pictures of the Senior League home here. If I can't play I might as well watch and document.

There's lot's of stuff that has been happening lately, I'm getting a promotion, I'm officially not going back to school at this time, reasons will be announced in about 3-4 weeks. We have a long lost relative coming to visit the family in May or June which is very cool, we all look forward to meeting them for the first time ever.

It's spring and I'm doing my best to keep My Bro' from going insane while he contemplates where he's off to next. Minor distractions like sports , wrestling and video games only go so far. Hopefully we can find some other stuff to do as it gets warmer.

After being cooped up for a very unusual winter what does everyone plan to do with their spring?

1978 Intermediate D Champions

In 1978 Pierre Elliot Trudeau was Prime Minister

Members of Jim Jones' People's Temple commit mass suicide in Guyana

Pope John Paul II becomes the first non-Italian pope in centuries

Ted Bundy is captured in Florida

The first computer bulletin board system is created

Garfield debuts in newspapers

Ashton Kutcher, Kobe Bryant, Usher, Clay Aiken, and Nelly Furtado are born

New York Yankees win the World Series

Dallas Cowboys win Superbowl XII

Montreal Canadiens win the Stanley Cup

Saturday Night Fever and Grease are the top grossing films

"Night Fever" by the Bee Gees spends the most time at the top of the US charts

Diff'rent Strokes and Mork & Mindy premiere

Oh and I won my first baseball/softball championship. I love this picture, you can just barely see the stubby beer bottles that the guys in front are holding. Everyone including myself are either wearing jeans or shorts. This stuff is great. Jeff Bell, the one with the blue and white striped shirt, once told me a story about my father in '78 who isn't pictured. The Town teams always hated to play against the Murray Harbour team because there was no uniforms everyone was drinking, and it bugged them that there were hard to beat when they didn't try and impossible to beat if they did try. But they had the last straw with Dad, and his rubber boots.

You see come gametime the guys would leave from the wharf and go to the ballfield in a group or a pack partying the way to and from. Apparently Dad was late for one game during a tournament got off the boat arrived at the field just in time to start the game, a thirdbaseman. Well the Charlottetown team was pissed that this team from the Harbour could never organize itself well enough to come up with uniforms so when Dad got to third base in rubberboots they had enough. The week following the Tournament the league council held a meeting giving the guys short notice, hoping they wouldn't show up I guess, But Jeff and Mitch Weibel, back row blue shirt red and white stripes on sleeve, did make the meeting. There was many complaints against them and they managed to keep things pretty much they way they were, except they had to bend on one new rule change. Still known today as the Rubber Boot Rule and thanks to my Father no-one is allowed to wear rubber boots on the field during a game.
And here's Dad Mom and Myself at my wedding, no Rubber Boots here, I think... I would also like t o mention that as I got older I played Ball with all but two of these guys in either the Kings County Baseball League or the Central Kings Softball League.