We hit the wall last night about 6 p.m. No more turkey. No more stuffing. No more pumpkin pie. Football was watched, naps were had, families were visited, thanking was done. We think at one point were even pulled a Roberto Duran and muttered “no más.” This morning, we woke up and the first thing, nay the only thing, we wanted was more turkey. Cold turkey and cold mashed potatoes. Is there any better thing on Black Friday morning.

Special thank you to all the volunteers locally who helped serve meals to those less fortunate. Bellies are full this morning because of your dedication. At the Marketplace Grill over 1,000 meals were served, and places like Pio’s also dished out plenty of bird. That’s awesome – you rock.

If you’re reading this after braving the stores, more power to you. We hope you got incredible bargains. Here’s a little special Black Friday sale for you. With the ever increasing price on energy Bay Harbor Insulation wants to help everyone on lowering their energy bill while increasing their property value. To that end, they are offering a 15% discount on their 2lb closed cell spray foam insulation to all new customers that read Erie Blogs. The discount will only be applied if they mention Erie Blogs when scheduling their appointment for an estimate. This event is exclusive to those that read Erie Blogs. For all sales made within this time line, BHI will donate 5% of the discount to the Second Harvest Food Bank, and the City Mission. For more information on Bay Harbor Insulation please visit www.bayharborinsulation.com or call them up at 814-452-FOAM.

Whether because it is a slow news day or there seriously are more fires, Thanksgiving always seems to have a disproportionate number of fires reported on.  Yesterday was no exception.  Here are a few rules of thumb for the clueless.  Don’t bring your turkey frier inside to cook.  Brave the cold and use your propane based cooker outside (garages do not count as outside).  If you insist on using a kerosene heater inside, use it in a safe location.  Don’t place it next to curtains or directly on a really shaggy carpet floor.  Don’t pull a Griswold and overload a socket with 10 or more plugs.  Seriously, find another outlet for those phone chargers, christmas lights, and microwave oven plugs.

Philip Friedman, attorney for Teri Rhodes, will be in court on Monday morning to attempt to reduce the sentence his client received. He will also seek to get Rhodes out of solitary confinement, where she had been placed by prison officials who had concerns about her emotional well-being. We have a really good discussion about this case going on here. Please share your thoughts. Should the sentence be reduced or set aside?

Pat Kelley, superintendent of the Northwestern School District, will soon ask the school board to ban events such as the donkey basketball event that was recently held at a fundraiser. The district received an email from PETA before the event happened. The event raised $2,000 for the girl’s basketball team. Girard High School also held a similar event a few weeks ago.

The “Season of Giving” is in its sixth year at the Community Blood Bank. In anticipation of a seasonal blood shortage the CBB has its annual holiday promotion up and running with some great gifts for our blood donors! Through the holidays the first 50 donors every Tuesday will get a holiday gift and donors all week can enter to win a great raffle. Last year local businesses donated over $5000 in goods and services to the donors.

Sports

Matt Tipoff netted the game winning goal plus two assists to lead the Belleville Bulls to a 4-2 win over the Erie Otters in an Ontario Hockey League game played tonight in front of 3,804 at the Tullio Arena. Eric Tangradi and Nick Palmieri also had a goal and an assist in the game while Bryan Cameron rounded out the scoring. Belleville moved to 18-6-2-2 on the season with the win. Brandon Biggers and Luke Gazdic scored for the Otters, who dropped their third straight and are now 11-13-1-0 on the season. 

Tonight the Erie Otters are away as they play the Mississauga St. Michaels Majors (say that five times fast), and will return to the Tullio to play the Majors again on Saturday night.

Strong Vincent continues its playoff run tonight at Veterans Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m. Best of luck to the Colonels as they face Thomas Jefferson.

Events

Musician Jon Abrams and friends will present a brief performance at the Vukovich Center for Communication Arts at Allegheny College on Monday, Dec. 1 at 12:30 p.m. Abrams, who founded the Billy Joel tribute band “The Strangers,” majored in music at Allegheny and graduated in 2006. He currently stars in the third national tour of Movin’ Out, Twyla Tharp’s dance musical setting of 26 Billy Joel songs. A question and answer session will follow the performance, which is free.

Gannon University’s annual Social Work Club Christmas Dinner and Wellness Fair aims to make the Holiday season a little brighter for those who otherwise may not have much to celebrate. The always-popular event, which includes a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, is expected to attract an even bigger crowd this year partially because of the ongoing economic downturn. Organizers plan to serve close to 1,000 meals at the dinner, to be held Sunday, Dec. 7 in the University’s Hammermill Center, Peach and South Park Row. Doors will open at 10 a.m., and meals will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Santa will come to visit with children at 12 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, and free clothing will be available to all attendees.

Erie Bloggers Get Together (Panera’s Yorktown, 2501 W 12th St, Erie PA) will be held on December 9 at 7 PM. If you can, please consider bringing a nonperishable item to donate to the Second Harvest Food Bank of NW PA. You don’t have to be a blogger to attend! Anyone with an interest in Erie, blogs, or technology is welcome to come and hang out and meet some local Erie bloggers. For more info, contact Michael Mahler at (814) 456-9833 or info@eriegaynews.com.

Gannon University President Antoine M. Garibaldi, Ph.D., will confer some 327 degrees at the University’s Winter Commencement Ceremony, to be held Sunday, December 14. The ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. in Gannon’s Hammermill Center, located at the corner of Peach Street and South Park Row. The graduates include one student receiving a doctor of physical therapy degree, five receiving doctoral degrees, 256 receiving master’s degrees, 59 receiving bachelor’s degrees, and six receiving associate’s degrees. The ceremony’s keynote speaker will be the Very Rev. Ronald D. Witherup, S.S., S.T.L., Ph.D., Superior General of the Society of the Priests of Saint Sulpice. He attended Gannon from 1968-70, during which time he resided at St. Mark’s Seminary in Erie.

View this past Sunday’s comprehensive events list to see a list of events for the week and months ahead. If you would like your event posted here, please contact us via our online form.