Harry Potter author reveals what we had long suspected true. Dumbledore is gay.

It's finally here. Our first snow of the year. Only 4 days later than our first snow last year.
Forecast Snow: The weather people said to expect 1-3 inches, but I know we have that already and it is snowing like crazy.
This photo was taken at about 7:30 am.

1: New Baby in December

2: Monster Ballads Xmas


Can you believe it? Yes, it IS true. And yes, you may have died and gone to heaven, but this Christmas season is going to rock your mullets off!

After receiving some tame new holiday music from Carnie Wilson and Barry Manilow this week, I was going to begin hunting for more rocking new Christmas music for my collection. Then, my coworker stumbled onto this album and the north star above my head shined bright! This CD features some of the biggest stars of the '80s pop metal scene like Skid Row, Tom Kiefer from Cinerella, and that dude Jani Lane from Warrant. These rocking versions of your favorite holiday tunes like Silent Night, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, and White Christmas make Monster Ballads Xmas a must-hear this season!

1. Jingle Bells - Skid Row
2. Happy Christmas (War Is Over) - Winger
3. Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Jani Lane
4. I'll Be Home For Christmas - Twisted Sister/Lita Ford
5. White Christmas - Queensryche
6. Run Rudolph Run - L.A. Guns
7. Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree - Firehouse
8. Naughty Naughty Christmas - Danger Danger
9. Blue Christmas - Tom Keifer
10. Jingle Bell Rock - Nelson
11. Silent Night - Faster Pussycat
12. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Dokken
13. Happy Holiday - Enuff Z'nuff
14. Winter Wonderland - Stryper
15. Christmas Love - Billy Idol

UPDATE:
After (trying to) listening to this album, I have to take back my recommendation. You have to be a bigger metalhead than me to like this album. Don't worry, if you come over to our house this holiday, you will NOT, I repeat, NOT hear this playing. If I had to pick one song I liked, the highlight was Winger's version of Happy Christmas. Long live Andy Williams. Happy listening anyway.

This week has been quite eventful.

First, the Rockies got into the World Series.
Second. We got blinds/shutters, FINALLY!
Third. Our crib was delivered and set up.
Fourth. Christy's belly got bigger. Our baby girl is growing like mad.
Fifth. Gibson got a new buddy.

Here are the highlights.

It was the Denver Marathon Relay yesterday. It was raining, it was 43 degrees, it was 7.1 miles, and it was awesome! It was by far my best race. I averaged a 9 minute mile and the race was easy until the last .5. And that is all mental. I am convinced that these races, no matter the distance, is all mental. You just have to psych yourself out. It rained all day. I was the 4th and last leg of the relay team. My team consisted of Mike, Sam, another Mike, then me. Having never done a relay, I did not know what to expect or how to really do it, but it made sense one i showed up. I peed like, 4 times before I took the "wand" from mike, more like a computer chip thingy. It kicked ass. My leg started in Wash Park and ended at the end of the race in Civic Center Park. Wish I had a picture. I think now I just need to go shopping for some better running clothes.

Have you experienced this before? Every fall? I love it when you get into your car in the early morning hours, and there is a chill in the air. The first time you turn on the heater and there it is. That smell. I love it. It is just another pleasant reminder that fall is here.

Today I drove to work because I am going to be running the ING marathon relay this weekend and need to meet with my team...for the first time. We are doing a 3-6 mile run and then eating spaghetti. I am doing the last leg of the the marathon which is 7.1 miles. Should be interesting, given it is the morning after our housewarming party.

It's been written about before, but the Babymoon is a wonderful thing. Not only do you get to get out of dodge, but you get to funnel more money into the economy, spend time with your wife and baby-to-come, and see a new part of the state you should have seen years ago but were too lazy or unadventurous to bother.

I have been wanting to see Crested Butte, CO since about 4 years ago in October when I was on my way out to Boston to hang with some friends. I was in the airport and grabbed the two papers I always do while traveling, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. The USA Today had a section on snowy travel destinations. There, in front of me, was the most comforting, snow-filled picture of small town Crested Butte, or as some like to call it, crusty butt. I have always dreamed of living in a place that is both small-town, big culture, progressive, good food, lots of traffic-stopping snow, good coffee, and some form of outdoor recreation -like Burlington, VT. This little 200 pixel-squared picture of Crusty Butt made me warm inside with excitement. Alas, 4 years, a marriage, and a pregnancy later, I FINALLY made it there. WE finally made it there. It was amazing.



We stayed at the brand new Mountaineer Lodgeon Mt. Crested Butte (elev. 9330) The Lodge has not been open more than 4 months. It smelled so clean and fresh, almost as if they are pumping lily-smelling essential oils into the elevators and rooms. We were upgraded to a suite from a studio overlooking the ski slopes and some new construction/demolition. Amazing views, food, and coffee.

Among the highlights:

• A winter-coated fox


• An elk


• Camp 4 Coffee shop


• Nice locals


• Golden aspen trees covering mountainside


• and, last but not least, this one is the real kicker...

We had just gone out to eat and on our way back to the lodge I stopped at a liquor store to grab something cool and refreshing - maybe spritzer-like, maybe a fresca and some bottled water, when I decide to check out their beer selection. BAM! I couldn't believe my eyes. Shipyard Ale's Pumpkinhead beer! No way!

That is the same beer we had in Maine last year that I tried finding here for the entire fall. I made countless calls to the distributors, manufacturers - to no avail. Well, it turns out after talking with the "dude" at the counter, that the owner of the liquor store was from Maine. Go figure. I walked out with all of their three last 6 packs. Happy Halloween!

I just downloaded, well, sort of, the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows from their website. It actually does not come out until October 10, but I purchased it early so that the servers would not crash, however, they are having a few problems according to their website. But why wouldn't they? They are bucking the system and bypassing major record labels and offering their new CD up for grabs at any price their fans wish to pay. It turns out that most fans, not me, are paying over the standard album download price of $10.00. I figured I am not a huge fan, growing, but not huge yet, and since it is offered at any price, I figured I would save a few bucks and pay £ 6.15. You can use a currency converter here to find out how much this is, OR to price your own CD. Way to go Radiohead!

Here is a fact about what record companies and the artists make per sale of a CD.

A band can expect an average of $1.00 in royalties for each full-priced ($16.98) CD sold through normal retail channels.

We are going to the playoffs. I know, I know....

So here is how the night went down in the Gannon household.

I was on the computer doing some freelance. It was about 7:30 and so I decided to see how the game was going ( which I never, ever do), and the score was 5-5. ESPN has this cool "live" animated GUI system that shows the game in "real time" which I think must be at least a 30 sec. delay but you still feel the excitement and anticipation. So I keep watching and working and then Christy says she found the game on TV. Since we do not watch sports, I have not seen sports on our new TV, so I thought it would be cool to check it out on the 42". After 5 minutes Christy couldn't take the pressure and went to read a book. I watched until the 12th inning and finally yelled up to her that we could watch Heroes. She came downstairs, and between DVR commercials, we would switch back to the game. Well, the Padres had scored two runs so I figured they Rockies were done. The next commercial comes and we switch over to the game, and WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT, the Rockies came back and won 9-8.

There were a few controversial plays, but then again, THAT is what makes baseball, baseball. We are stoked. Well, as stoked as two non-sports fans can be.