EDIT NOTE: I was typing away here at the same time Steph was. Just read both.

Not much word here since Thursday, as we've been rather busy. Friday saw us headed off to another Lightning game, which turned out to be another win against Washington. Friday night was Tampa Bay Fights Cancer night at the game. This was sponsored by the Yerrid Foundation. The same "Yerrid" (Steve) that put on the fishing derby last weekend. All the support groups were present. The Children's Cancer Center. The Pediatric Cancer Foundation. The Children's Dream Fund. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Free shirts. Free food. We had a blast, even though we dumped Derry at his hockey practice (his choice) and took my friend Brandon along for the game. A special thanks to a person that donated primo seats in the AFS Club to us for the night. Stephanie manage to find a nice comfy couch where she could see through a portal and watch the game on the massive HD screen the Forum installed above the ice this year. It also allowed her to people watch and visit with her favorite NHL ref, who I think thought Stephanie was up to no good when he saw a strange man sitting next to her (That would be Brandon).

Saturday was a full day as well. Stephanie blew up the vacuum. Me and the boys went on a jaunt to a local store to meet Batista, one of the WWE wrestlers.

What a mistake. I never knew so many people showed up at appearances by these guys. The boys said they didn't want to wait in line for 2 hours to have the guy sign their dvd's. So we bailed after sneaking into the produce section of the market and snapping as good a picture as the 2-hour wait would have provided.

After that, we were off to Derry's hockey game. A minor miracle happened - they didn't lose! They didn't win either, another tie with the Black team, which has an old neighbor on it. Derry attempted to tackle Bryan (the old neighbor) during the game. The refs didn't call a penalty. He also did some smack-talking to another kid. He told us he said something bad to him, but won't tell us what. At least he's starting to play with some attitude, which is always needed in sports but also a fine line to walk.

Rushing home from there, I abandoned the family and headed to the Brandon Foundation's Evening of Hope. These are the folks that made the contacts to get Scott's bed, and are working on some other things for us. It was a swank affair (I had to wear a suit) designed as a fundraiser and recruitment vehicle for the Foundation. It is amazing at the number of folks in our community willing to help perfect strangers. A pleasant surprise. I did barely miss out on my bid for a round of golf for 4 at River Hills. Have to work on that.

Yesterday was "prep day". Stephanie's dad is likely landed at JFK in NY as I write this. He'll get down to Tampa later today for almost two weeks. This meant we had to buy a new vacuum, which the price shocked Stephanie. I told her to remember that if she tried to blow up the new one. She also loved being dropped at Wal-Mart on pre-Thanksgiving Sunday. It took her 2 1/2 hours to shop. LOL. Yard work done. Deck cleaned. I think she's breaking in her new vacuum at this time.

That's all for now. Scott is feeling okay at the time. He seems to have "motor mouth" disease the last several days. Just won't stop talking all day long. We just waiting for Stephanie's dad to arrive. The boys can't wait, as they've not seen him in some years. But also because WWE Smackdown/ECW is tomorrow night here in Tampa, and we'll be back to the Forum to see it. Thanks to the TECO folks for allowing me to purchase tix in their suite. Being in a controlled environment like that makes trips to crowded venues much less stressful.