Saturday night, Anne, the kids, and I went to “Hockey Night in Columbus”. There were several benefits to us for our $106.

• We could have watched the morning skate but did not (kids had soccer games).
• We were invited to the “party on the plaza”.
• We each got a free hat.
• We got to see the game from seats that normally retail for $36 each + $7 convenience fee + $2.50 ticket printing fee + $3 ticketmaster(R) fee + $17 destination fee +$8 landing fee (ok, I made up some of those).
• We got to go to an “autograph session”.

This is a bit of a photo journal of the afternoon and evening.

After we picked up the tickets at will call (avoiding most of the fees), we headed straight for the “party on the plaza” excited for what we might find. The kids stood in front of a big jersey, tried to make shots on a picture of a goalie and then we wondered where the party was.

We went to the Blue Line store, and picked up a couple of mini-hockey sticks for the kids to have signed later.

Rather than fight the crowds (all 6 people) for a couple of chili dogs and $4 light beers at the “party”, we walked to Barley’s. We started with the only sauerkraut dish I’ll eat: sauerkraut balls. Anne really likes them. Anne and I enjoyed our beer and food. The kids shocked me by enjoying Ruebens.

After dinner, we had to stop in at Yankee Trader next door. It was full of crappy plastic stuff, but I couldn’t resist this opportunity:

You can pick your candidate. You can pick your nose. And sometimes, you can even pick someone else’s candidate’s nose.

I had to buy the plastic faux piercing rings: Anne, Emily, Nathan, and I all tried them on. We amused ourselves heartily.

We got to see the game from the upper deck, and it was very exciting. One of the other features of “Hockey night in Columbus” was that a lot of local youth hockey teams were in the crowd that night. We talked a bit with a group from Cincinnati during the game, and it was fun hearing a teenage girl comparing the Blue Jackets with her own style of playing.

After the game, we got to get stuff autographed. The players: Dorsett, Methot, Voracek, and Brassard:

All in all, it was a great time. The kids had a blast and were patient with the amount of time we had to kill before the game (“Daddy got another beer?”) and after the game waiting for the autograph session. Although the Party on the Plaza was underwhelming, the rest of the day definitely made up for it.

Ack! I have something in common with a Rethuglican! I’ve denied candy to kids on Halloween for personal, arbitrary reasons. The scary woman (did she put that make up on just for halloween?) in the video below refused to give candy to kids who have parents who support Obama.

No handouts for Obama supporters, liars, tricksters, or kids of supporters

While I must say that she has a right to deny candy to anyone she wants, I think she’s incredibly petty and small minded. She’s punishing the children for the views of their parents because children of this age rarely hold political views different than their parents (no, I don’t have source for this assertion, yet). I was trying to enforce the tradition of the holiday. Had a kid (heck, even an adult) said “Trick or Treat!” while wearing a McCain mask or sporting a Palin ‘do, they’d have gotten candy from me, despite potential political differences.

While I admit that were I to come up on the situation my self I’d be perturbed at first, I think we’d walk away from the house just like we’d leave a house that didn’t respond to the door bell. “Come on kids. The lights are on, but clearly no one’s home.”