How do you say thank you?

Hello. My name is OhCaptain and this is my blog. It's been a while. Just a little bit longer with a project at work and life should return to normal. I'd love to write about work but I like it that they pay me.

So, what's up? I understand that the Microbiologist has won a Nobel Prize. NukeDad is holding Flat Weaselmomma hostage. Terri burnt her finger on the clothes iron. Tismee2 and Kat got snow. BusyDad got screwed by an airlines. I could keep going and going and going. Everyone seems to be living life and writing. Yeah! I miss y'all!

I've been living life too. I just haven't been able to write about it. Tuesday was my one year anniversary at work. Yippee! After one year on the job, I'm busy as hell. That's not to say I didn't have any fun this week. Quite the contrary. Today I'm going to tell you a story in with a lot of pictures. 

Tuesday, my OhCountess reminds me I need to ask a friend to accompany me on Wednesday night. Where are we going? We've got two tickets to the Minnesota Wild hockey game. For those of you that are unaware, we live in Minnesota. I understand that the popular belief is that this is Canada. Unfortunately, that is not true. Minnesota is in fact on of the 50 states. But like Canada, hockey is about as important as breathing in some parts...but I digress.

I have to friends that are HUGE wild fans. Much more so then I am. I grew up playing hockey, but found that I really am not a fan of watching it on TV. Years and years of having the best seat in the house (in goal), and I starve to wath the action up close. "Honey," my wife says, "these are seats in a suite.'

This isn't funny. HOLY CRAP! 

I have to pick ONE friend and ask them to join me in the best seats in the house. This is going to suck. It's like asking me to pick between my kids. There was no other way to do this, so Tuesday morning, in my cubby at work, I flipped a coin. MumblingSages get first dibs.

It took him all of a second to blurt out "Yes."

As big a fan as he is, I've been to more Wild games then he has. This will be his first...

After making the drive to the Twin Cities, our instructions were to go to the "V.I.P. Will Call" They have such things? Here's a photo of MumblingSages. He's crying with joy.

This place is amazing! All of the suites have this private concourse. Gate 5 is for V.I.P's only. It's carpeted. And beautiful and has no waiting to get in. Wow.
Xcel Energy Center was constructed using materials from the area. This lovely wall is limestone. Yes, hockey is that important here.
We found our suite. Dang! Plenty of room. Free beer and food. I think we died and went to heaven.
That smile was fixed. It never changed. If you look closely in his eyes, you can see a 12 year old boy. I think he was a happy 12 year old boy...did you see him?
This is our view. Note the location of center ice. We picked seats that seemed to line up directly with the center line. Holy crap. This are the best seats in the house! We called my wife. Both of us took turns saying thank you. At this moment, we weren't sure that was enough. Nope. It probably wasn't
MumblingSages took this picture. That would be his favorite player. You can't really see it in this picture but he's 6' 9" 257 pounds. He's a big guy who's only job is to beat people up - called and enforcer a wing. Being the not huge fan that I am, I found out he's only got 4 goals in his enter pro career. Most could be accidents. He's really good at his job.
Did I mention free beer and food? The popcorn was fantastic. Those are indeed leather seats and this should provide with an idea of just how good the view is. I think we called the wife again and said thank you. Promises might have been made...the beer was tasting really good.
How do I get to ride on the party Zamboni? Really. I want to know. 
At one point, the host comes up to us and says the desert cart was here. At first I pictured a cart like on the train going to Hogwarts. Everyflavorbeans? Nope. That is one of the best pieces of chocolate cake I have ever eaten...with ice cream. The cake was still warm. Our diet tracking software was turned off. I think that was for the best.
See, he's still smiling.
The hockey game was fantastic. The action was fast a furious and score was close. They were tied 2-2 until there were 71 seconds left in 3rd period. [fog horn] The Wild score!!! Yeah!!! The home team pulls it out at the buzzer!
One last shot before we leave. On the left is the really good popcorn. I couldn't believe it, but several of the people sat at that table most of the game.
The team of 18,000 were victorious. This calls for a trip to the Wild store. Ah, capitalism.
What a fantastic night. We left a little hoarse. Our throats sore from screaming. Our tummies were filled almost to bursting with great food. We a bit more then an hour drive home to burn off the extra energy. It gave us time to wonder if we'd said thank you enough to my wife. She's an angel.

Thank you, honey! It was a real blast.

MumblingSages turns on the game the next night. It tried watching it but it just wasn't the same. He'd been to the best seat in the house. The TV just wasn't the same. I don't think any game will be quite the same.

I could get used to living like that :-D