T-shirt #304: Dracula Costume

Happy Halloween!

This seemed like a good shirt to save for today, one of my favorite holidays when I was growing up. I think I dressed up like Dracula one year for Halloween and other years I was Darth Vader, a devil, Indiana Jones, a rock n’ roller (see video), and when I was older just a monster mask and a white sheet were enough for me (see picture, I’m on the left with my friends Dave, Adam, and Andy). All of my costumes, of course, were hand made (or put together) – never store bought…thanks, Mom! Back then, we were able to roam all over Westboro as far as our legs could carry us. We Trick or Treated at night without cell phones, and nothing bad ever happened. I would get back to my parents with a brown paper shopping bag (or pillow case) full of candy, and empty into my parents’ living room floor. I would then try and trade with my siblings for as many Peanut Butter Cups as I could, and be proud of the bounty that I had collected. I’m sure kids today would experience fun and safe Halloweens even if they did trick or treat in the dark, but I guess it’s a different world today…

Even with the changes in Halloween celebration, it still remained one of my favorite holidays.

When I was in high school, the church youth group I was in put on a haunted house in the basement of our parish center. My cousin Katie was in the first room dressed as a fortuneteller, and told visitors of the horrors they were about to encounter. In the second room, my brother, cousin, and friend Matt had set up a scene that included a strobe light, scary music, Freddy Krueger (me), and a mad doctor (my cousin) cutting off the arm of a patient (my friend Matt) who had pumpkin guts spilling out of his stomach. It was so upsetting to a lot of young kids who were walking through that some of them started crying and having to leave after the second room. Katie started coming in to warn us whenever a family with real young kids was coming through so we could “tone it down” a bit. We had a great time, and I know we made Jesus proud.

My first year out of college, I was still living with my parents and thought I would assist with handing out the candy. I bought a black hooded cloak and the scariest mask I could find (it was a black skull with purple eyes that lit up). I also got long black fingernails and black makeup to put on my hands. When the neighborhood kids knocked on the door, I opened it, didn’t say a word, and pointed to the candy. One girl from across the street started crying, so I had to de-mask and tell her I was sorry. Still, unlike the days of my youth, we only had about 10 trick-or-treaters.

I was happy when I moved to Waltham that people in my area felt safe taking their kids all over and even to houses of strangers. Kids were usually impressed when I made comments that told them I knew who they were dressed up as. We would also get the occasional teen who was just walking around for free candy. For them, my rule was simple: If you couldn’t tell me what you were dressed as, you didn’t get any candy. Most kids came up with something clever on the spot, so I gave them a break.

We also had a couple of huge Halloween parties when I was in Waltham. Highlights from those include my friend Carl dressed like a woman, my sister Megan as Queen Elizabeth, and when my friend Patrick (Superman) started courting the love of his life Bryanne (Britney Spears)…(I will look for some pictures from these later to post at some point)

I hope everyone had a great Halloween this year, and still lets themselves act like a kid as much as they can!

(My mom said I look upset because I had to trick or treat with my family instead of friends!)

Halloween, 1984 MJ from Megan McGrath on Vimeo.

T-shirt #303: FREE HUGS

I thought when this shirt was given to me (thanks, Jess!) that a good place to wear it would be somewhere with a lot of people. Today, Washington, DC is that somewhere. It’s The Daily Show’s Rally to Restore Sanity, and there should be hundreds of thousands of potential huggers there. I have been looking forward to today since Jon announced it on the show, and will report more later…

Off to THE RALLY!!!

Wow. For a Rally to Restore Sanity, that was pretty insane. The estimates put the attendance at over 200,000 people, and I am very happy that I was one of them. There were a lot of funny signs (http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/the-100-best-signs-at-the-rally-to-restore-sanity) , great music, the usual Stewart and Colbert hilarity, and yes, some huggers! Hello to all my new friends who cashed in on my t-shirt for today! We were worried that when the girl with the “Free Hugs” sign and I hugged that there might be some sort of universal chain reaction explosion, but we all survived it. What made the shirt well worthwhile was the young girl from the last picture saying “I love hugs” as she walked away right after the picture.

Thanks for a great day Jon, and thanks for being a hero who inspires me every Monday through Thursday night…

Also, you should check out this:

T-shirt #302: Chewbacca costume

I thought this would be the perfect shirt to wear on Halloween week on the day I am making a trip. I’m hoping Washington, DC won’t be blown away like Aldreaan (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Alderaan) when I arrive for the Daily Show Rally to Restore Sanity (http://www.rallytorestoresanity.com). Off to the Rally!!!

If you’d like to read up to Chewie, here’s a peak from http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Chewbacca:

Chewbacca (or "Chewie", as he was known by his friends) was a legendary Wookiee from Kashyyyk and co-pilot of Han Solo's ship, the Millennium Falcon. He was the son of Attichitcuk, the husband of Mallatobuck, and the father of Lumpawaroo. Chewbacca carried with him the name of an ancient Wookiee hero, the great Bacca, first of the great chieftains of Kashyyyk, and the creator of a sword that denoted leadership among the Wookiees. This name placed Chewbacca in a noble lineage, which was further supported by his role in the Battle of Kashyyyk during the Clone Wars and during the Galactic Civil War.

Chewbacca was a wise, sophisticated being of great strength and loyalty. As technologically savvy as the brightest Academy graduate, he was also a skilled mechanic. Chewbacca, like many Wookiees, was able to understand Basic, but he could not speak it due to his species's vocal structure. He instead spoke Shyriiwook, the main Wookiee language, composed largely of growls and grunts, to his non-Wookiee companions who typically replied in Basic.

He later died during the Yuuzhan Vong War.

And here's the Chewbacca song by Supernova featured in one of my favorite movies of all time, Clerks:

T-shirt #301: HOLY CROSS HOCKEY (Pink at the Rink)

A few things I never thought I’d be writing: 1. This is the fifth Holy Cross shirt I have worn this year and the second that’s Holy Cross hockey (http://www.uscho.com/team/holy-cross/mens-hockey, http://goholycross.com/sports/m-hockey/index ) 2. There’s more Holy Cross to come on the blog. 3. This is the third pink t-shirt I have worn.

Here are my previous Holy Cross and/or pink t-shirts:

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/02/t-shirt-42-holy-cross-hockey.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/03/t-shirt-71-whos-your-paddy.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/05/t-shirt-133-holy-cross-crusaders.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/10/t-shirt-280-sader-nation-pink-cancer.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/09/t-shirt-262-acting-my-shoe-size-since.html

I wore this one today because it was a Thursday night that the SPUD (Student Programs for Urban Development – see also: http://www.holycross.edu/departments/publicaffairs/hcm/spring08/features/feature2.html) group from Holy Cross came over to visit Hope Lodge. This shirt was also donated from a former SPUD volunteer…thanks, Ari! Pink is also the official cancer color for October, so I wanted to wear this one before November started. Pictured with me are two of the volunteers who also happened to wear pink tonight…I think pink works a little better for them!

Tonight, we had another rousing game of Apples to Apples and for the first time in a while, I won! Who would have thought that hiccups were so global or that spontaneous combustion was more corrupt (I think that was the word) than Richard Nixon? It was one of those nights when even my throwaway cards were winning…I got really lucky. Win or lose, Apples to Apples always a fun game to play and a great way for guests and the Holy Cross students to mingle…even when the “Dave’s Ass” card isn’t drawn!

Looking forward to more fun Thursday nights with the SPUD crew!

T-shirt #300: Doctor Costume

Sweet, I made it to 300! Of course, I couldn’t have done it without the help of my family, friends, Hope Lodge guests, Facebook friends, and t-shirt company sponsors. But, before I even got around to starting this blog, I had a lot of help from doctors along the way…

I vaguely remember being in the hospital when I was really young, like 3 or 4. I think it might have been pneumonia, but I’m not really sure. I do remember one morning feeling like I was surrounded by doctors and wondering where the hell my mother was. I did make it out in one piece, ready for my next medical experience.

That began when I was in 3^rd grade and playing basketball at recess. I fell down on my ankle, and it hurt…a lot. I managed to limp around on it the rest of the day, using the desks to shuffle myself around in class. When I got home, I told my mother what had happened and she had a look. My ankle was enormous, and we immediately went to the doctor. The x-rays showed it was broken, and I had a cast put on it. I would end up missing the most of my first rec basketball season, but I still showed up with my team t-shirt and crutches to every game when I was injured. I was able to play the last game, but put up zero points in my league debut.

It wasn’t until freshman year in high school that I would end up in the hospital again. Like my ankle, I let the pain go on too long, and didn’t go see a doctor until I was unable to stand up straight without a sharp pain in my side. After my regular pediatrician thought it was just indigestion (yes, I did omit the fact that I had been having symptoms for a while), my neighbor (who was also a doctor) took a look at me when the pain wasn’t going away. He thought my appendix was about to burst, and said I needed to have surgery that night. What was supposed to be a 45 minute removal of my appendix turned out to be a 4 hour removal of 1 ½ feet of my small and large intestines and a diagnosis of Crohn’s Disease. Good news, they knew what I had. Bad news, I would have it the rest of my life, and I would be in the hospital for Christmas that year. Good news, I was 14 and there were a lot of hot nurses taking care of me…(see also: http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/05/t-shirt-126-i-love-nurses.html)

I learned to live with my Crohn’s and had gotten very used to being around doctors, nurses, having blood drawn, getting various tests like CAT-Scans, GI tests (the ones where you have to drink nasty crap, but are pretty cool because you can watch it on the screen), and having to answer question after question about my history, symptoms, and yes, poop. In a way, my Crohn’s Disease was a blessing because it got me ready for an even bigger medical challenge…

It was my senior year of high school and I was about to turn 18. I started having nasty headaches and double vision, and neither were going away. Learning from my Crohn’s, I told my mother right away that I was having problems and we went to my eye doctor to see what was the matter. He didn’t know, and neither did the doctor he referred me to. At the fourth doctor (a neuro- ophthalmologist), my mother and I were about to leave and my mom asked him if we should call if my headaches got worse. He looked at my file with a questioning stare as if he wasn’t aware of one of my TWO symptoms. He ordered a CAT-scan, and they found my tumor. I stayed in the hospital that night, after the doctors had told me they were “pretty sure” it wasn’t cancerous. They did give me some steroids (decadron, I believe) that relieved the pressure of my tumor and made the headaches go away. Because I was at UMass (where my Crohn’s was taken care of), I was confident the doctors would figure it out, treat me, and I would be fine.

It wasn’t until a few weeks later that they found a marker in my blood that told them what it was….cancer. Although the news must have shocked and worried everyone else, I was just glad they knew what it was. Knowing is always better than not knowing when it comes to medicine, I think. The bad news was that it was cancer. The good news was they knew what kind of cancer it was and how to treat it. The even better news was that they assigned my case to the pediatric oncology team, so I was on the pedi floor instead of the adult floor (cuter nurses here). The funny news was that it was made of the same kind of cells as testicular cancer, proving to all that I was a “dickhead”.

There were three on my team of oncologists, and the woman on the team was the doctor that seemed to see me the most. She was also the one that seemed best cutout to be a doctor: she was friendly, funny, and always kept me informed. When I was about to be discharged after my first round of chemo, she came to talk to me about one of my chemo meds. She wanted to remind me that it had the possible side effect of hearing loss, and wanted to know about the concert that I was going to that night. I told her it was Pantera and Skid Row, and laughed when she asked me if they were loud bands. She didn’t think I should go, but saw it in my eyes that there was no way I was going to miss the show. And, I didn’t…

Six grueling months and rounds of VP-16, carboplatin, and bleomycin followed, but I made it through. The oncologists had initially said I would need chemo followed by radiation, but after my sixth round they said they had no explanation and that I did not need radiation. I didn’t argue, and was glad my battle was over.

I would get 3 month, 6 month, and yearly checkups after that and had so many neurological tests done on me that I could have performed one myself. The female oncologist always got a kick out of it when she would cover one of my ears to test my hearing and I would respond with “What?”. I really had learned that the best way to deal with all this medical crap was to laugh as much as possible.

Which is why I don’t understand any doctor that I have run into that has no sense of humor or “people skills”. I am glad that these doctors have been the minority in all of the MDs I have come to meet, but I wonder why they became doctors in the first place.

Since my cancer, I have also been in the hospital for getting hit by a Ford Bronco, kidney stones (twice), and my Crohn’s again two years ago. I have been blessed to live in Massachusetts and therefore be treated by what I think are some of the best doctors around. Also, UMass has always sent me home much better than what I got there. Every doctor at UMass that has treated me has done their job and has hopefully handed their wisdom to all the UMass med students.

I know a lot of people are fearful of hospitals and doctors. Yes, it does suck a little to be in a hospital and have doctors ask you all those personal questions. Sometimes the so-called “little pinches” or “bits of pressure” hurt a lot, but tests aren’t always easy. My advice (if you fear hospitals and doctors) is to get over it….But when you do go to the doctor:

1. Ask a lot of questions

2. Remember that the doctors are working for you, not the other way around

3. If you don’t like your doctor, get a new one (my Crohn’s doctor is freakin’ great)

4. Use laughter as a medicine, it helps the other medicines work

5. When you’re in the hospital remember that even though doctors are the ones “in charge”, the nurses do most of the work

T-shirt #299: Ghostbusters Costume

This shirt was picked out for me by my nephews (thanks, guys!), and I thought would be a good one for Halloween week. It is my second Ghostbusters shirt, so for all my Ghostbusters and ghost related stories you can check out that blog at:http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/06/t-shirt-158-ghostbusters.html

Ghostbusters has many, many great scenes and great quotes, but here are some of my favorites:

[Inspecting Dana's refrigerator for paranormal activity]

Dr. Peter Venkman: Oh, my God. Look at all the junk food!

Winston Zeddemore: Ray, when someone asks you if you're a god, you say "YES"!

Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.

Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"?

Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of God type stuff.

Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.

Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!

Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...

Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!

Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!

Dr Ray Stantz: I think we'd better split up.

Dr. Egon Spengler: Good idea.

Dr. Peter Venkman: Yeah... we can do more damage that way.

Dr. Peter Venkman: We've been going about this all wrong. This Mr. Stay Puft's okay! He's a sailor, he's in New York; we get this guy laid, we won't have any trouble!

Dr. Egon Spengler: There's something very important I forgot to tell you.

Dr. Peter Venkman: What?

Dr. Egon Spengler: Don't cross the streams.

Dr. Peter Venkman: Why?

Dr. Egon Spengler: It would be bad.

Dr. Peter Venkman: I'm fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, "bad"?

Dr. Egon Spengler: Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.

Dr Ray Stantz: Total protonic reversal.

Dr. Peter Venkman: Right. That's bad. Okay. All right. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon

Dr Ray Stantz: Listen... do you smell something?

Dr. Peter Venkman: Alice, I'm going to ask you a couple of standard questions, okay? Have you or any of your family been diagnosed schizophrenic? Mentally incompetant?

Librarian Alice: My uncle thought he was Saint Jerome.

Dr. Peter Venkman: I'd call that a big yes. Uh, are you habitually using drugs? Stimulants? Alcohol?

Librarian Alice: No.

Dr. Peter Venkman: No, no. Just asking. Are you, Alice, menstruating right now?

Library Administrator: What's has that got to do with it?

Dr. Peter Venkman: Back off, man. I'm a scientist.

Janine Melnitz: Do you want some coffee, Mr. Tulley?

Louis: [to Egon] Do I?

Dr. Egon Spengler: Yes, have some.

Louis: [to Janine] Yes, have some.

Walter Peck: And may I see this storage facility?

Dr. Peter Venkman: No.

Walter Peck: And why not, Mr. Venkman?

Dr. Peter Venkman: Because you did not use the magic word.

Walter Peck: What is the magic word, Mr. Venkman?

Dr. Peter Venkman: [looking surprised] Please!

Dr Ray Stantz: Your girlfriend lives in the corner penthouse... of Spook Central.

Dr. Peter Venkman: She's not my girlfriend. I find her interesting because she's a client and because she sleeps above her covers... *four feet* above her covers. She barks, she drools, she claws!

Dr. Egon Spengler: It's not the *girl*, Peter, it's the *building*.

Dr. Peter Venkman: oh, wait, wait, i've always wanted to do this! and...

[he yanks the tablecloth off of one of the tables, upsetting and breaking everything except a vase of flowers on the center of the table]

Dr. Peter Venkman: [shouting while offscreen] the flowers are still standing!

And the scene my brothers, cousin, friends and I quoted the most:

T-shirt #298: The Caitlin Raymond International Registry

The Caitlin Raymond International Registry (according to their website, http://www.crir.org), a pioneer in the establishment of procedures and practices for stem cell donor search, is the oldest coordinating center for bone marrow, peripheral blood stem cell and placental cord unit search in the United States. Affiliations with 99 international registries and cord blood banks in 46 countries enables us to access nearly 8,000,000 donors and more than 260,000 cord blood units.

CRIR is a non profit organization of the UMass Memorial Medical Center in Massachusetts. CRIR was originally established in 1986 as a unit within the Division of Hematology-Oncology of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center specifically as a coordinating center for conducting national and international searches for unrelated donors. Today, an average of 600 patients each month are submitted for search by physicians from all over the world.

What the CRIR tries to do is find people that can help other people with the following conditions: Various types of chronic and acute leukemia, aplastic anemia, lymphoma, myeloma, radiation poisoning, and some genetic diseases can be treated by stem cell transplantation.

Registering to be a potential donor is easy and only requires a simple swab inside your mouth. I would register if I could, but the “rules” and guidelines won’t allow anyone who has ever had cancer donate (speaking of, thanks to Jess for this shirt…she’s the actual registered donor, not me!). And I guess I understand not wanting “cancer donors”, but if it came down to no match or a match from a cancer survivor, wouldn’t the patient rather get some sort of transplant?

Anyway, if you would like to see if you could help someone that needs a donor match, you can do so by going here: http://www.crir.org/registerdonor.php

Also, I am glad to say I know someone who has done this, was a perfect match for someone, and saved her life! Katie is one of the Holy Cross students that comes over every week to Hope Lodge. The story of her heroic story can be seen here: http://www.necn.com/pages/landing/?site_define_args_1=landing&site_define_args_2=&blockID=222063&feedID=4669 Way to go, Katie!

T-shirt #297: IT'S GETTIN KINDA HECTIC

I will admit, I needed to do a little internet research for this one. The point of this t-shirt seemed to be an old pianist playing a song with lyrics that didn’t fit his age or the piano, so I started with “It’s getting kinda hectic”. What I found was The Power by Snap. It’s a song that’s most likely remembered for its line “I’ve got the power”, but if you check out the YouTube for the video below at the 1:50 mark, you’ll find the hectic line. This shirt also reminded me of the elderly woman rapping in The Wedding Singer, and you can see that below too.

Thanks to Busted Tees (http://www.bustedtees.com), I didn’t have to pay anything for this shirt (http://www.bustedtees.com/gettingkindahectic)…Thanks, Busted Tees! Almost at #300!

T-shirt #296: Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye (Black Crowes)

Today’s blog is all about sharing. Tonight, I am going to The Black Crowes (http://www.blackcrowes.com/2010) show at the House of Blues in Boston. I am going to see one of my favorite bands with one of my favorite buds. Although I haven’t seen them nearly as many times as my younger brother Tom (whose first show was in 1992, when he was 15), I have seen them enough to they are one of the best rock bands and best live performers of my generation. Even though I could never replicate what going to a Crowes show is like, I’d like to share one of my favorite songs by them (and one that will eventually be on the soundtrack to a movie I wrote!). The first YouTube link is the complete song and the second YouTube window is the video version (please play close attention to around 3:53 of this one!). Enjoy, and have a wonderful day!

Oh yeah, I made this shirt especially for the show – just one of those ideas that popped into my head (yeah, make a rebus for a Crowes song…)

With my winter time

My idols and stage fright

In another night

Where the lights are loud and bright

One dream from waking up saved

Too shy to hold in the rage

I know no luxury

Of knowing what your eyes read

I know one million ways

To always pick the wrong thing to say

A love that you never gave

Always one time zone away

It's not out of spite

I just know what's right

Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye

Sometimes a memory

Only sees what it wants to believe

And what's filled in between

Are days and nights that don't mean a thing

It’s such a simple suicide

They call it a second chance never tried

And I hope you’d understand

I need a helping hand

Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye

So you think that you've seen it all

Is that a fact?

So out your mouth a dictionary

Spouts about this and that

You got your do's, your don'ts

Because and why

I don't trust no one who don't

Take their own advice

Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye

T-shirt #295: 8-Bit Stickup

My name is Dave, and I love playing video games. Here, for your reading pleasure, are all the video game related t-shirts I have worn so far:

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/01/t-shirt-2-video-games.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/03/t-shirt-78-know-your-mushrooms.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/05/t-shirt-142-astrosmash.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/06/t-shirt-155-super-mario-brothers.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/08/t-shirt-226-if-this-shirt-is-not-sweaty.html

http://davestshirts.blogspot.com/2010/09/t-shirt-253-up-up-down-down-left-right.html

I know wearing these certainly doesn’t help me in the “dork” category, but video games have been a part of my life since before I was 10 (read: a long time!).

Even though this shirt suggests that the arrival of Nintendo marked the downfall of the arcade, I still remember enjoying arcade games at the same time I was playing Nintendo. As a youth, summer trips to Hampton Beach meant hours and hours playing in all the arcades. Okay, so I did the same thing this summer, too. The difference was then the games we played were all “new” and we had to wait for them to be released on Nintendo; this year we were playing mostly retro games like Tapper, Pac-Man, and Kung Fu. I’m not sure if I should admit it, but the excitement walking into each arcade was pretty much the same as it was over 20 years ago.

Today, there was more video game excitement for me as I attempted to tackle another level of Harry Potter Lego with my “Little Brother”. We finished off the huge snake in year 2, and will be starting our 3^rd year at Lego Hogwart’s next week. Looking forward to that, and more video game hockey with Carl tomorrow…

Thank you to Psycho Reindeer (http://www.psychoreindeer.com) for donating this shirt (http://www.psychoreindeer.com/t-shirt/8bit_stickup)!

If you need a fix of Nintendo games, you will really enjoy this site:

http://www.nesplay.com

Have a great weekend!

T-shirt #294: BOSTON BRUINS - I BELIEVE

I BELIEVE:

* Hockey is the best sport to play, watch on TV, watch live, and play on video games

* The Bruins are overdue for bringing the Cup back to Boston

* The way the playoffs ended last year, this year would be the perfect one for the B’s to win it all

* If this 2010-2011 team plays to its potential, they are going to be hard to stop

* No matter who is starting in net this season, that goalie gives the Bruins a chance to win just about every game he plays

* Adam McQuaid should be up in Boston

* Cam Neely is the best hockey player I have ever watched play

* The Wideman trade already has worked out nicely

* In calling the new building “The Fleet Center”…There was only one “Gahden”

* It was okay for Ray Bourque to go to Colorado – he deserved it

* I will never again see a game like the one I saw one my birthday in 1991 (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Nilan: It was March 31, 1991, when Hartford played at Boston. Nilan was penalized a record ten penalties; six minors, two majors, one misconduct and one game misconduct, for a total of 42 penalty minutes)…thanks, Dad!

* The number of fights is inversely proportional to the number of cheap shots

* My parents are two of the biggest Bruins fans you will ever meet (they have a “Bruins Corner” in the family room, people)

* The Bruins – Canadiens game I went to on April 21, 1990 (http://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/199004210BOS.html) was the best one I’ve been to…thanks again, Dad!

* Chara has turned into the leader this Bruins team needs

* It was perfectly normal to ask the ER doctor if I was going to be able to watch the Bruins game (it was the playoffs!)

* Fred Cusick was the best play-by-play announcer he has ever listened to, but loves how much Jack Edwards gets into the game

* My family is one of the few who unanimously decided to call their dog “LB”

* The B’s – Habs is the best rivalry in the NHL

* Going to the “Last Hurrah” with my family was one of the coolest yet most difficult things I’ve done

* This is another shirt I made specifically for an event and I am excited to go to the home opener tonight!

* This is the year!

(Feel free to add your own “Bruins Beliefs” in the comments!)