EDITOR’S NOTE: Check out my brother’s new song on youtube!

Now that the Olympics are over, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the games in Vancouver.  Every time the Olympics start, I tell myself that I am not watching and every time I get sucked in and caught up in them.  This year was no exception.  Also, Vancouver has been added to my “cities I have to visit” list.

As great as the games were, there was one moment in particular that I will remember forever.

Last Sunday night, Canadian figure skater Joannie Rochette lost her mother to a sudden heart attack.  Two days before she was set to take the ice, she (and her family) was hit with this horrible tragedy.  Rochette had trained her whole life for these Olympics.  Many wondered if she would even remain in the competition.

I can’t imagine what she went through.  She not only had the pressure of competing in the Olympics, in front of her home country, as a member of the host nation, but also had to deal with the extreme grief of losing a parent.

Rochette decided to continue on and last Tuesday night she took the ice to perform her short program.  Watching her skate that night was as inspirational as anything I’ve ever seen.  She was brilliant.  She nailed every jump and after the performance, she doubled over and began to sob (5:20 of this NBC video).  Seriously, check out the video.  If it doesn’t elicit an emotional response, you have no soul.

After seeing Rochette during her short program, I wanted her to win gold.  Forget the fact that she wasn’t American or wasn’t the best skater in the field – what she had done and overcome was greater than anything any of the other skaters could accomplish.  This is saying a lot; This year’s field of women figure skaters was the most talented group the sport has ever seen.  Thursday night, she skated again and did well during her long program.

What Rochette did last week was an example of why I watch sports.  To see someone triumph on the grandest of stages, under the most dire of circumstances, was a reminder that anything is truly possible.   She epitomized not only the Olympic spirit, but the human spirit.  Furthermore, she is a shining example of the great things we can do – when our hearts are true and our minds are focused.

The best moment of the Vancouver games was not a gold medal performance, but the bronze medal performance by Joannie Rochette.

I enjoyed this when it aired before the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Here’s part two of that awesome Cleveland tourism youtube. Cannot. Stop. Laughing.

Some of you have been asking, so here’s an update on my move to California:

It looks like I am going to be starting my new job in June, so I will be around longer than I originally thought.  This actually works out well because I will now be in town at least up until my brother’s wedding in April.  This also gives me a ton of time to clean up the house.

As an aside (and warning), my future sister-in-law Courtney gave me her scanner.  Over the weekend, I scanned a lot of old pictures that I have collected/found during my house cleanup.  I have seriously found boxes that I haven’t even opened since I bought the house in 2003.

I also have to admit that the thought of moving to San Francisco (as opposed to SoCal) still lingers.  It just seems like SF would be a better fit for me.  I am so much more a Bay guy rather than an LA guy.  No city (other than Boston) has ever elicited a response from me like San Francisco.  No matter what happens, I can pretty much guarantee that I will live there before I move back to this area.

One of ways I learned of this response has been from watching “The Bachelor” recently.  And before you say it: I know, I know – the velveeta quotient on the show is off the charts.  I started watching this season because I was instantly smitten after seeing Ali, one of the girls on the show.  Ali grew up in Western Massachusetts and now lives in, you guessed it: San Francisco.   She is probably going to be the bachelorette in the next show, so I will probably be watching that as well.

Deal with it.

“The Bachelor” has great scenery (heh).  Whenever they show the aerial shots of “The City,” I can’t help but think maybe I’d be better off just moving to San Francisco.  This also happens when hear a blurb about an Olympian from the Bay Area, or hear/read something about the city by the bay.  For some reason, I feel a real connection to that place and have ever since my first visit in 2004.

Time will tell where I end up, I guess.

(Oh yeah…..USA! What a win last night.)

WARNING: Language not safe for work!

I’m a pack rat.  I save everything.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve really stepped up my clean up effort at the house.  During the past few days alone, I’ve thrown out five large bundles of newspapers and four large boxes of “stuff” that I was saving for some reason.  I had newspapers from pretty much every memorable event over the past 20 years.  Most of them were sports related.

I have mentioned before that I save wedding invitations.  I felt like if I just threw them in the trash, it would be a bad omen for the couple.  Over the past weekend, I found practically every invitation to every wedding I have ever attended.  Some of these weddings have even already ended in divorces.  I also found graduation cards, Christmas cards, birthday cards, letters and even receipts – some of them were 15-20 years old.  A lot of the letters and cards were from my college days.  I found letters from family members, friends and even former co-workers.

I spent a lot of the weekend re-reading some of these items, keeping only the most important items, and throwing most of them away.  Hopefully in doing so, I will send no bad karma to anyone’s marriage (if so, I apologize in advance).  Today, I can now officially say that I was a pack rat.  One can’t continue to physically save everything.  We can only rely on our memories and feelings to remember people.

Because of these feelings (and few things that happened last week) and because I am a maudlin sap, it has been a really emotional couple of days.  And because of this, I have recently a few messages to people I’ve known a really long time thanking them for those cards and letters.

Sometimes we need to stop and remember our past.  The clock and calendar never stop moving.

I simply cannot stop watching this.

The announcer is awesome as well, “WHOA, devoured!”

The old raptor is the best mascot in sports, but this one isn’t bad either.

A few weeks ago a friend mentioned the Pit Stop Barbeque on Facebook, calling it the best BBQ in town.  I was surprised.  In this area, most people swear by Blue Ribbon or Redbones.  I had never even heard of the Pit Stop and after googling it, I found out it was in Mattapan.

I’ve been to a lot of restaurants, but the Pit Stop is totally my speed.  There is only one table in there (sans chairs) and the people were so kind.  When they heard it was my first time there, the woman behind the counter gave me a sample rib.  Also, one of the cooks threw a small container of the coleslaw in my bag for me to try.  I totally felt out of place amongst all the regulars, but they made me feel right at home.

Even better than the hospitality was the food.  They have the best barbeque sauce I have ever tasted.  The Pit Stop is a culinary anomaly.  It is a little shack that seems like it should be somewhere down south rather than just outside Boston.  Everything I tried was good (especially the brisket)!

I highly recommend this joint.  If you do go, keep in mind it is only open from Thursday to Sunday.