hey guys,

so it's not that I've been incredibly busy, however there is just so much going on in my life if that makes sense. Mostly all good things too. School is going well, my personal life is going well and I'm possibly going to be stepping onto the ice again real soon.

I played ice hockey as a goalie all four years in highschool. Since then, I haven't stepped onto the ice, not even for a second. I miss it so much and can't wait to start playing again. The only thing really stopping me is that I have outgrown my old goalie skates. Most of my other equipment fits me still and I can use it, but I need new skates. The new skates aren't exactly cheap, so it's not just as easy as running out and picking them up.

On top of that, I'm about to get a new job with Aflac. As part of the training process and becoming licensed in the state of Pennsylvania to do the job, I will need to shell over $350. That's a ton of money to any college student, especially myself. So that amount of money is going to make my goalie skates purchase delayed for the moment. I will get them soon though.

That's all that I can really talk about at the moment. There's a lot more to tell, but i'm not sure this is the proper venue for some of these things to be honest. haha. So we'll leave those for another time and place.

Hope you enjoyed, and I promise next time will be sooner. I know you're all dying to read the next entry.

Until then...

Posted by Russ G at 11:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well guys sorry it took so long to put up another post, I've been super busy. A lot happening in life as well as in school. Just finished a big test on Monday in my history class that I hopefully did good on. School though, you don't want to hear about that.

Now the Pittsburgh Penguins, that's something more interesting. Pens are in a bit of a slide and if they don't pick it up soon they'll be playing golf come May instead of chasing the Cup. The trade deadline is fast approaching, with a March 4th date. The Pens are expected to be big buyers this year just like last considering our position on the outside of the playoff race looking in.

I have no idea what will actually end up happening, but I do expect a bit time scoring winger to be brought in for Sid to work with. My suggestion would be to bring in Martin St. Louis from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Get rid of Whitney and Staal. Whitney is easily the odd man out with our over full blue line. Staal is also cheap to other teams, signed at $4 million for 4 years, and he is of no value to us on the 3rd line center. Also, bring in a seasoned veteran, such as Bill Guerin or Keith Tkachuk. I'd prefer Tkachuk and would love to see him brought in as well.

We'll see what happens, either way it should be interesting and exciting.

Until next time

Posted by Russ G at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, over Christmas break I had a life changing experience. First, I need to set up the story.

It involves a band, my favorite band. The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. My older brother was a big fan of them when I was little, before I was into music. I always remembered him listening to the Bosstones. By the time I got old enough to get into music, the Bosstones had went on a "hiatus" in 2002/2003. I was upset, thinking I was never going to get my chance to see them live. In October of 2007, they announced they were going to another Hometown Throwdown, which is an annual show they used to do every December in their hometown of Boston, Massachusetts. The show took place at various venues around Boston, but the main venue was and still is The Middle East club in Cambridge. I didn't have the money to make it to the 10th annual Throwdown last Christmas, and was very upset.

As I mentioned in another blog, I saw them over the summer and again in October in Buffalo. When they announced they were doing an 11th annual Hometown Throwdown, I was ecstatic. I HAD to make this show. I made it my #1 priority. I worked and saved up money and got 4 tickets to 4 nights in a row at The Middle East. I scored my plane ticket and got a hotel room in the Double Tree Suites near the club.

I should also mention that I am apart of the Bosstones message board with a bunch of other loyal fans who love the band. The group of loyal fans, we call ourselves the "737", because back in the day, the Bosstones P.O. box # was 737, and they used that to write and get mail from their fans. So when I got into Boston on Dec. 26th, I met up with the 737 and met a GREAT bunch of people. I made new friends for life. I had the time of my life there. I went to all 4 shows, from the 26th-29th of December and had a blast. I was up front each night and it was amazing.

The 2nd day I was there, the 27th, the Bosstones had a meet-up at a Boston pub called McGreevy's. I went there with the 737 and got a chance to meet all the members of the band and got pictures with all of them. It was amazing. Every member of the band was incredibly nice and were the most modest and kind people I've ever met. It was such a nice time hanging out with them, I felt instantly like I could call them my friends.

I could go on and on about every little experience I had hanging out with the Bosstones and the 737, but I could be here for days writing. To sum it up, it changed my life. I made new friends, and started a new tradition, as I, along with the rest of the 737, plan on all getting together every December to go to the Hometown Throwdown. It was the best Christmas present i've ever received.

I feel very fortunate that I got to experience, and hope that everyone else can experience something equally as important to them.

"See you soon and until then, 737 is a real big part!"

Russ

Posted by Russ G at 6:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As most of you know, the majority of students at RMU do not live on the campus. There are a lot of reasons for this. One of them is the fact that there is a lot to do off campus that can be more enjoyable than what goes on around campus sometimes. First let me talk about a concert I went to on October 11th in Buffalo, New York.

First, I must set up the story for you. The band I went to see, is my favorite band, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. They are an amazing ska band and have paved the way for many other bands in and out of their genre. I got into them because my older brother would listen to them when I was little (they have been around since 1988). Throughout the 90's and 2001/2002 they did a set of shows every year in their home town of Boston, Massachusetts. The show is called The Hometown Throwdown, and would usually take place in December. It consisted of 5 nights in a row of shows, recently from Dec. 26th - Dec. 31st. In 2002, the band went on hiatus and I feared that I would never see them play a live concert. However, last October, they announced they were reuniting and doing a 10th annual Hometown Throwdown. Needless to say I was ecstatic. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the last years throwdown.

All was not lost however and over the summer they toured with the Dropkick Murphys. I was able to fly down to Columbia, Maryland and see the Bosstones at the Merriweather Post Pavillion with a buddy who lives just outside of Baltimore, Maryland. I had the time of my life and needed to see more. So on October 11th, I went to see the Bosstones headline in Buffalo, New York. I was helped financially by people I met through the Bosstones message board online. I was able to get into the front of the line because of them and made new friends that day. I had never met them before that concert, but had the time of my life with them at my side. Surely it can't replace the friends I have that I see everyday, but it certainly doesn't help to add a few more that I can share an amazing band with.

More great news came when the Bosstones announced an 11th annual Hometown Throwdown just after this Christmas. I was able to buy tickets and will be going to 4 straight nights of the Bosstones playing in their home town of Boston. It will be amazing and I am so happy to have this oppurtunity. So that brings that story to an end.

Another great way to enjoy life off campus is to try and attend a Pittsburgh Penguins game down at Mellon Arena. Earlier tonight, me and a group of 5 other friends went down at 2pm to the arena to camp out in the student rush line for tonight's game against the Philadelphia Flyers. We were worried that we wouldn't get in, as the line was VERY long when we got there. Oh and by the way, the reason the line is so long, is because the Pens are now a great team in the NHL, along with that prestige comes a lot of bandwagon fans. If you're not familiar with that term, it refers to the fans who turn a shoulder to the team when they are bad, but once they get good will be the most overly enthusiastic fans you have ever seen. It can be quite annoying to us real fans. Anyway, getting back on track since I've already written way too much, getting closer to gametime a person working for the Penguins came out and was counting everyone in line. We asked him if we would get in, and he said yes, and that we would be fine. We were pumped. We did a lot while waiting, from chanting chants that can't be repeated on this blog because of inappropriate words, to burning the hat of a Flyers fan (I don't recommend this to anyone else). In the end, we were told there were no more tickets. We were extremely unhappy and felt we had been lied too. If we didn't have such a great time standing in the line, we would have been a lot more angry. So we can't call the day a total waste of time, just a minor one.

Despite kind of calling the day a waste of time, we had a blast. So it just goes to show you simple things can make a day great. It's our experiences that we will remember forever, and this was definately one of them.

So that's my two most recent off-campus experiences that I thought I would share with you all. Hope you enjoyed the incrediably long essay. Talk to ya soon.

Posted by Russ G at 11:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well hello there everyone, my name is Russ Godek. I'll be keeping a blog about life at RMU, on and off the campus. I will even be posting some video shot on a nice Flip Video Camera, courtesy of RMU once again.

It should be a good time, and I certainly have a lot to talk about already, not to mention as we get closer and closer to the end of the semester (the best time of the year). Mid-term's just ended, and i'm proud to say I got through them without much trouble, hopefully you all did as well.

Check back soon as I will be hopefuly be posting pretty frequently, and I will do my best to make it as entertaining as possible. Until next time, see ya RMU students.

Russ Godek

Posted by Russ G at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)