JasonPafundiOnline.com

In Memory of Arnie

Yesterday morning, Arnie died after a long courageous battle with cancer.  He was one of BAHP and Ted's best friends, someone they've known over 30 years.  It has been a difficult couple of months for Ted and BAHP knowing that their friend was sick and didn't have much time left to live. 

I will always have fond memories of Arnie, and a lot of them have to do with sports.  He was a huge Gators fan, and as families, we watched many Super Bowls and other big sporting events together.

Arnie was very intense as a sports fan, and that intensity translated to the basketball court.  It was Arnie who always tried to get me to be a tougher player on the court.  He told me I settled too much for jump shots, and instead I should've been driving more to the basket. 

We played many games in our driveway in Eniswood, and played many times together at Palm Harbor Middle School.  When he would check the ball in, he'd always say "He's got it!"  I'll never forget and I'll always be appreciative of how he helped me become a better basketball player.

My thoughts, and the thoughts of everybody at JasonPafundiOnline are with Maddi, Jessica, Teresa, Ryan, Shawn and the grandchildren.  Arnie will certainly be missed.

Colleen's Wedding in Review- Part II

Here is the rest of the weekend in Key West for Colleen's wedding.  Enjoy!

Sunday Morning
I woke up on Sunday and was planning on going snorkeling, but Colleen called early and said that Thomas wanted to rest and that the weather wasn't ideal for submerging ones self underwater with a snorkel.  Instead, i relaxed until everybody else woke up. After we were up, we decided to go to Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, which has a beach that Bri and Deanna have apparently been to. We headed out in two separate cars and arrived at the beach. It was cloudy, with a hint of a storm out over the Atlantic, it was super windy and the water was seemingly about 40 degrees.  I turned on jerk mode, because we weren't going to swim, and the weather was horrible, so I didn't want to stay.  We ended up staying until the Disney Magic cruise ship passed by and docked.  I was able to get some pretty good pictures, despite the bad weather, so all wasn't lost.  As we were about to leave, Ted decided to go see the fort.  I wanted to go, I got mad and Ted said I should start walking, which I actually did.  After 20 minutes, they were done at the fort, and we returned to the "hotel".

Sunday Afternoon/Night
I was really upset at this point because I wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch with Jen. Instead, we went back to the hotel and got ready, because Ted, BAHP and I had to be back at Colleen's hotel for the rehearsal at 3pm.  The rehearsal went well, but when we were done, we had over an hour to kill before the rehearsal dinner, which was at 5:30pm.  I was hungry and figured I wouldn't eat enough at dinner, so I sat at the Sunset Pier bar outside of the Ocean Key and had two grilled cheese.  They were amazing.  The rehearsal dinner was very nice, complete with a slideshow of Colleen and Thomas' life, well, not all of it, because that would've been forever.  My chicken was blackened, spicy as can be, but very, very good.  I had lots of soda, which I enjoy, but my stomach deals with it.  Colleen presented gifts to those in the wedding party, and others.  I got a drawer caddy engraved with my name, a keychain with my initials, and a golf club luggage tag, all three wonderful gifts.  After we left the rehearsal, Jen and I were still somewhat hungry, so we stopped at Hard Rock Cafe and got take-out.

  It was a good way to end the night.

Colleen's Wedding in Review- Part I

KEY WEST----
  Well, the wedding weekend in Key West has come and gone, with lots of memories to be had by all.  I hope you enjoy the review of the entire trip to Key West as we celebrated the union of Colleen and Thomas. 

Friday
We picked up Jen from Kinkos and we were on our way to Miami.  The ride wasn't nearly as boring as I expected, and that was probably aided by the fact that I watched Changeling (with Ange(lina) for about 2 hours of the trip.  BAHP had pre-purchased Publix subs, and we ate those along the way.  We arrived at the La Quinta Inn in a town south of Miami.  We were the only white people in the hotel, and possibly the entire town.  The room for Jen, Ginger and I had two beds that barely fit one of us.  We slept in separate beds in the same room for the first time in our history.  Bri and Deanna arrived a little while after us, and they got to share a room with BAHP and Ted.  Unlucky them.

Saturday
We woke up early in the morning, loaded up the van and headed out.  I had never driven to Key West before, so I wanted to stay awake.  We were pretty much surrounded by water for the entire trip, including on the famous Seven Mile Bridge, though I'm not sure what the big deal is since the Courtney Campbell Causeway in Clearwater is like 11 miles.  Ted, in all his infinite driving wisdom, decided to go speeding through a construction zone, and the red and blue lights began flashing.  A state trooper, who Ted would later name Snickerdoodle, issued a speeding ticket, but claimed he didn't cite Ted for the construction zone issue.  Lucky Ted.  As it turned out, we were only about an hour outside of Key West.  We then continued on to Key West, and when we got there, we immediately went to Timmy's Tuxedos to pick up my tux.  We met Colleen and Thomas there, along with Jenn Bai Rossi (Colleen's best friend) and her nephew Daniel.  After trying on my tux, we headed to our "hotel", which was a two-bedroom condo on the complete other side of the island.  I was in total "jerk" mode, overreacting about everything while refusing to eat lunch or go hang by the pool.  Instead I staying inside with Ginger and watched the Rangers game.  We then got ready and headed to meet everyone at Colleen's hotel for the Sunset Cruise.  Bri, Deanna, BAHP and Ted went to dinner themselves and walked around the town, while we enjoyed the "Commotion on the Ocean".  The live music was good, the cheese plate appetizers, along with the meatballs, was very good, and the sunset was absolutely marvelous.  We had a good time with Colleen's family, including her Uncle Joe and his partner Scott, her sister Heather and her boyfriend John, Jenn Bai Rossi and her fiance Brian, and a few others.  Jen and I were still hungry after the cruise, so we stopped at the grocery in our condo complex and had Boar's Head sandwiches.  The weekend had only just begun. 

Colleen's Rehearsal Dinner

Here is a picture just taken of a close-eyed Colleen during the beginning of her rehearsal dinner. Tomorrow, she will marry Thomas Tang, a lawyer from Boston whom she met while serving jury duty.

Colleen's Wedding trip begins

We are currently in our stylish Dodge Caravan with Ted behind the wheel, Jen in the passenger seat, and BAHP and Ging next to me in the back.
yesterday's drive down to South Miami wasn't as bad as expected. I was able to somewhat comfortably watch "Changeling" with Angelina Jolie, and it was a veey good movie. Jolie is a wonderul actress, among the best, man or woman, in the business right now.
We had Publix subs in the van on the way down, and shortly before 10pm we arrived at our hotel. This was not the Ritz-Carlton, not even the Holiday Inn. It was a La Quinta in south central Miami, and there were bars on the window and security guards all around the premisis.
We are driving right now to Key West for the official start of the wedding weekend.
Please check back at the new website for updates throughout the weekend.

Update

Happy Easter!

Later this afternoon, there will be a new webisode of "Pafcenter" along with the first movie review on this new website, a review of Nicolas Cage's Knowing.

The Masters

Today was the start of what is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious sporting events of the year;  the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National in Georgia.  It is the first major of the golf season, and the one that Tiger Woods most wants to win every year (he has already won four of them).  This tournament has everything, and it means everything to all the players lucky enough to participate, but you'd never know that based on the TV coverage. The powers-that-be at Augusta National, the stuffy Southerners who feel that "less is more", take that cliche to a new level.  They put such a limit on TV coverage that when ESPN went live at 4 pm, Tiger, who was in the second-to-last group, was already through seven holes.  The final threesome teed off around 2 pm, giving them a 2-hour head start before ESPN came on.  For comparison, the US Open is shown starting at about 11 am each day of the tournament, allowing fans not lucky enough to attend to see all the shots from most of the big players. The Masters is always known as one of the hardest tickets to get in all of sports, so why do they make it so sparse in terms of TV coverage?  Tomorrow is the second round, and Tiger tees off sometime before 11 am, meaning fans won't be able to see one of his shots live when ESPN's coverage begins.  This, to me, is ridiculous. The problem is the people that run Augusta, they haven't adjusted to the times of the Internet and the wide-ranging spectrum of media that would enhance their tournament even more if they just would embrace it. ESPN shows "Sportscenter" live over and over again starting in the morning throughout the afternoon.  They wouldn't be losing any ratings if they had a couple of extra hours of live Masters coverage.  The PGA Tour wouldn't mind the extra exposure during their premier event of the season. So cmon, Billy Payne and your Confederate flag-waving cohorts, move into the 21st century and let the world see more of your beautiful course and beautiful tournament. **Come back Saturday morning for the next episode of "Pafcenter", including thoughts on the first two days of the Masters, the opening week of the baseball season, and the upcoming NHL playoffs**

"Pafcenter"- Opening Day and more

My prediction of the Mets winning the World Series is looking pretty good.  The Amazin's defeated the Cincinnati Reds this afternoon 2-1 behind ace Johan Santana and the new-and-improved Mets bullpen.

New left fielder Daniel Murphy hit a solo homer, and new closer Frankie Rodriguez got the Reds 1-2-3 in the ninth for his first save of the year.  Last year, Santana watched the Mets bullpen blow seven games in which he left while leading, so it's nice that this new Mets bullpen closed the deal for him today in chilly Cincy.

In other news, the Rays and Red Sox game was cancelled due to poor weather, but then, that is what happens when you play baseball games in the Northeast in early April.  Why couldn't this series have been played in Tampa to avoid the possibility of a rain-out?

Lastly, tonight is the NCAA Championship Game for basketball, but I just don't have much interest.  Jack Bauer and 24 is certainly more compelling than UNC-Michigan State, especially when you consider the Tarheels already beat the Spartans by 30 earlier this season at the same venue.

My laptop should be ready on Wednesday, so there will be more to see on the site in the next couple of days.  Bye for now!

Computer Issues

JasonPafundiOnline.com Update

My laptop, which contains all the important stuff relating to the management of this website, has been taken into the repair shop as of this morning.  It has a problem with the LCD cable and screen, and it might cost upwards of $400 to fix, though it's still cheaper than a new laptop.

I'll try to keep this site somewhat updated for the time being, though, so expect to see a new blogpost sometime tomorrow.  And there will be a "Pafcenter" on Saturday morning, and some upcoming movie, tv and music reviews, as well.

That's all for now.

Airfare Issues

It doesn't seem to make sense that with the economy in the shape it is in, the price for airfare still hasn't dropped to levels that most analysts expected.

I was looking into flying to New York for Spring Break, which I am currently on.  Granted, it was a last minute decision on my part to even consider traveling, but even though it was only a few days in advance, the fare should've been reasonable.  It wasn't.  Round-trip from Tampa to New York City's JFK was $350 on JetBlue.  It was even higher on American and Delta, and those flights weren't even direct.

Southwest seems to be the only airline that offers its majority of flights non-stop.  American makes you stop in Dallas-Ft. Worth.  US Airways has you stopping in Charlotte, and Delta makes you stop in Atlanta.  These are all the "hubs", but there should be a certain list of cities that, provided you are in a top-20 city, you can get there non-stop.  I shouldn't have to stop from Tampa to New York City, or Tampa to Chicago.  It is totally ridiculous, and it's out of control.

Check back tomorrow for another post about Spring Break and ways to make it better.