Great Story from our Vacation to PHX...

Okay, so over the holidays we made a trip to PHX to see my parents in their gated old folks community. It was nice since we missed a few big snow storms and some real cold weather here in Regina. Anyway, whist we were there in AZ, I got a good story to tell you.

It started one day as we were headed into the city to do some sight seeing with the kids. As are with kids, I heard "Are we there yet?" 25 times and "I'm hungry" around 50. So I take the car off the highway and start looking for some food. I see a BK on the other side of the road. I need to divert into a neighborhood to turn around. It is not the best hood in PHX. As I am making my illegal U turn I see this car full of, lets just say, latino hoodlums. I love that word, I am bringing it back. Feel free to use it two or three times today. It is one of those words like Sheboygan, that just makes you feel better for saying it.

Anyway, as I am turning the driver of the hoodlum car is giving me the stinkeye. BIG TIME. I wonder what I did other than make a U turn in his territory. He was glaring a hole in me bigger than the grand canyon. I felt a bit uneasy after this. No big deal. We moved on to the BK and were happy to be there.

As we walk into the BK I notice that everyone in there is latino AND giving me the same stinkeye. First I think, "What? Do I have a booger hanging out of my nose?" I was a bit dumbfounded. So we order from a nice lady at the counter, that again gave me a funny look. We go and sit down to eat and as I am eating I am growing uncomfortable by all the looks I am getting.

The day before I had bought a great new hat at the flea market. Three bucks and it looked good on my bald ass head. I of course was breaking it in so as we are sitting there I take it off and bend it a bit. As I do this I remember that the hat in question had in big bold letters on the front. US BORDER PATROL. Then it hit me like Barry Bonds hitting a roid filled home run. All these people in here think I am with the border patrol and are going to run them out of the country. Nice. Way to make friends and influence people Chris.

I took the hat off so we could all eat in peace and after that I got no more dirty looks from anyone in the BK. I had to laugh about it later but man was that an uncofortable lunch.

I read in the paper that the sherriff down there had been taking his crew on raids all over the valley. He would just roll up to business and arrest everybody. So the Latino community was a little on the edge.

My dad thought it was funny and wanted to take me, AND the hat out and roll up on the groups of guys who hang out at gas stations looking for work, and watch them scatter as I jump out of the car. No thank you, I had so much 'fun' at the BK that I was not looking for anymore 'fun'.

Have a great day, and GET BACK TO WORK!!!!

Phoenix was nice....

Hello, this is a pic of Jordi and me when we were in Phoenix on Monday. Self Portrait. I love those. Yes I know there is a cactus growing out of Jordi's head but I meant to do that.

Before I get into the week that was I have an email to share with you. It comes from the Nordic Man who was also there when Marty uttered those infamous words....


Nordic One and me at the Vikes game.


"Chris,

I finally got around to reading the love for the last two weeks. I couldn’t help but roll on the floor laughing my ass off. To this day I still can’t play poker without listening to Dennis Leary “Asshole” on the way there or if it is at my house during the game. It is a must! to start it off. Also the Dee Snider comment haunts me every time I play cards. At one point that night I thought my lungs had collapse and tore every muscle in my gut. The timing for that comment could not have been any more perfect. Thank you Marty for scarring me for life! I really do miss cards with you guys. It just isn’t the same, no matter how many pretzels, dorritoes, funyons, dip, etc... you eat and drink.

NordicMan"

MMMMMMMMMM Funyuns. I had the opportunity to partake of a bag of the 'Man Snack' this week. It is like heaven on earth. Jordi passed on the Funyuns though. Wuss. Whenever I go to the states always at the top of my list is to hit a store and get Funyuns, Dakota Kids (if I am in ND), Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch, and YoHoo. All things that I cannot get here in Siberia.

Funny thing though, the only one we haven't heard from about the "Dee Snider Incident" is Hauser. He must be really F'd up about that. Good job Marty.



In fact I brought two boxes home with me on this trip of PBCC. McKenna loves it.

Okay. Let's take care of the birthdays for may. First off this month is Sonya Heitsusan. A fine Reporter who works at a Dead Moines station called WHO.


Happy Birthday Sonya, May 8th

Second in line we have Derek Venckus Scmenkus. He works as a flack in Tennessee. Memphis I believe. Used to work at NBC 26 in Green Bay.

Venckus birthday is on May 24th.

Marty also has a May birthday, so Marty, on May 17th, I tip one for you pal. Happy birthday. Stay away from Dee Snider.

Last but not least, Jordi Weidman my partner in crime for the Score had a birthday on Tuesday, while I believe I spent the longest day travelling ever. Airline travel just plain sucks.


Happy Birthday Jordi.

So back to business. We went to Phoenix on Sunday, to cover the Steve Nash MVP of the NBA conference. It was very short notice and we weren't there very long but it was nice. We got to interview Steve Nash, and go to game one of the second round of the playoffs. Now, you may ask "why did those lucky bastards get to go to that?". Well I will tell you. Since Steve is Canadian, everyone in Canada really cares. There were almost more Canadian media there than local. It was kinda madhouse. Steve Nash was a nice guy, the weather was about 90-100 degrees both days, and I got to see the Phoenix Gorilla dunk. Very cool.

We stayed at my parents resort house. My parents 'winter' in Phoenix. Yeah, lucky. So that is basically why I went. If we would not have had free lodging, Chris would have stayed in Siberia. Lucky I have connections in the states. Let that be a warning for all of you in the states. If something big in the sports world is going on in your town, you better believe that I will be pushing to go because I can stay for free at your house. Believe that.

On our way back we had to fly to Denver, wait for almost two hours, fly to Calgary, sit for another two, and then fly to Edmonton. Bad enough we had to be IN Calgary, but we had to sit for two hours while they had 'mechanical' problems. I hate Calgary. Anyway, since it was such a wonderful trip I thought I would treat you to a slide show.

Without further ado.....MY TRIP TO PHOENIX....


Here is a pic of the plane we flew from Denver to Calgary on. If it isn't the smallest plane in the world it is close. I hate small planes.


Here is a shot of the Rocky Mountains near Denver. Looks like we are flying over Edmonton with all that snow. Snow Sucks.


Denver airport. Nice airport, but airports still suck.


Here is what I saw mostly from Jordi on the way down. He is a great conversationalist, when he is not sleeping.


Bank One Ballpark. Home of the Arizona DiamondBacks. Big park. Funny thing though they had the roof closed the day before and it was about 90 degrees. I don't understand that. If they had a roof on Lambeau (God forbid) they would open that sucker the minute it hit about 33 degrees.


Here is a shot of all the cameras at the presser for Mr. Nash's MVP. Most of the cameras were from Canada.


Here is Steve when he called his teammates up to the podium to accept the award with him. Okay, I am still learning how to run Donna's Digi cam. I know I am a photog, I should know how. I suck. Get off my back.


Here is one hell of a good looking guy and his camera. Wow. Jordi takes the pic and it works, I take it and it doesn't. Get off my back, I suck.


Jordi standing next to a big ass cactus.


This is the clubhouse at the place where my parents own a small house. There is also a par 3 golf course there and a really nice pool.


Gratutious Sunset shot.


Okay now to the game. This is a pic of the Mavs bench. The guy with the green shirt standing up is Mark Cuban the owner. He is yelling at the team. I took this from a long way away so, okay, I suck.


Here is the Gorilla's Harley. I believe that it is a OCC bike. Made by the Tutels. I wonder if they almost missed their deadline on that bike. Oh wait, that is what they do on EVERY bike. Discovery channel joke. I am really grasping at straws.


The Gorilla. Rick Reilley did a story in SI just a couple of weeks ago about him. One mascot that I do not mind.


This one is for the Fellas. The Phoenix Sunsations. Enjoy, if it wasn't so out of focus. I suck.


David Stern holding a press conference. The Canadian media can get hockey out of anyone. He briefly spoke on the NHL. Amazing how obsessed Canada is with Hockey.


Here is the media seating at the game. That screen in front had real time stats on it. Pretty amazing. Great seats for the game. Those lousy media scumbags taking up good seats that fans should have. I had a pass for the floor, but I did not use it because we had a early flight and I had packed the camera away. Loser.


We did actually work while we were there. Here is Jordi writing his story. No really. We did not pose this picture up, we actually did work.


Finally this is a pic of us in Calgary with Sean Fleming. He is the kicker for the Edmonton Eskimos. CFL. He hates Calgary also.

Well that is all I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed the pics. I certainlly had a good time taking them, even though I am bad at it.

Have a good day and GET BACK TO WORK!!!