Rants and Stuff

Excuse me while I rant about some stuff that's been bugging me lately

- It seems that lately whenever I go through the drive-thru lane at the local McDonalds on my way home for lunch, there is some dude with a portable power-washer, spraying the drive-thru lane. First, why in world does anyone need to power-wash pavement, let alone doing it at the busiest time of the day? When he sees you pulling up to get in line, you can tell he gets annoyed that he has to stop while the car drives up to place the order, and then again when the car pulls up to go to the window. Don't get me started on the crap that is spraying up off the pavement and splattering all over my car.

- While we're speaking of McDonalds, at this same McDonalds when you go in to eat, they have an old man working, whose job is...I'm not sure. I think they gave him a uniform and a name badge, just to give him a job, and he seems like a nice guy, but he parks himself right in front of the island where the drink machines and condiment dispensers are. As you are trying to fill up your drink, he'll start trying to hand you a lid and straw, while standing in the way of everything else you are trying to get. Again, this happens during the busiest time of day. And yes, maybe I do eat at McDonalds a little too much!

- Over the last month or so at work, there have been painting contractors painting the walls in our office, during the work day. Its annoying trying to work with the smell of paint in the air, and then when you try to walk down the hallway to get to the copier room, restroom, kitchen, elevator, etc..there will be tape up going across the hallway saying you can't get to where you want to go because there's people painting. Really...they can't get someone to do this on a weekend, where the painters don't have to worry about people getting in the way, and when we don't have to worry about hallways being closed, and dealing with the paint smell?

Enough of my rants...onto some random stuff.

- It seems the buzzword of this election season has been "fundamental" or a derivative of that word. I hope after this election I don't have to hear it for another 4 years. I saw an interview with Joe Biden somewhere today and he used the word twice in the same sentence. I'm sure by the time the election process is over, another word I will be sick of (again) is disenfranchised. That seems to be another one that pops up.

- Joe the Plumber from Ohio. Turns out his real name isn't Joe...nor is he a licensed plumber...or an independant....and he was never actually serious about buying the business. If it was possible for a plumber to make $250k a year, I was getting ready to find out what I need to do to sign up. Something tells me he was nothing more than a McCain plant. It reeks of it. Someone saying that they're something that they're not, and McCain jumping all over it. Sounds like he went through the same vetting process that Palin went through. Can't they get a little bit smarter (and less obvious) than that?

- The Lions made a shrewd move this week by trading Roy Williams for three (3!) draft picks, including a first round pick. I had to read that story about 10 times until I actually started to somewhat believe it. For the first time since they drafted Barry Sanders, they actually did something right for once!

- The Phillies win the NL..ick. I really hope the Rays can finish off the Red Sox tonight to go to the World Series. They've been a lot of fun to watch, and it would at least give me someone to root for against the Phillies. If its a Philly-Boston World Series, I don't know if I would be able to watch much of it.

- Tucker has been a maniac lately. We moved our coffee table out of the middle of the living room, to give Tucker a lot of floor space to play in. We moved his toy box in the living room as well, so he can have all his toys in reach to play with whenever we have him down on the ground. We just put up a little obstacle in front of the TV and in front of the fireplace to keep him away from those two areas. What does Tucker decide to do? He plays with his toys for a little while (30-45 seconds) and then immediately goes over to one of the two areas we have blocked off and tries to get through the barriers we put in place. What is it with these two things that makes him obsessed in getting to them? There isn't anything that even remotely looks like anything that would be fun to play with..but he keeps insisting on getting there. At least with all the crawling, psuedo-walking he's doing, its wearing him out at night, and he sleeps all the way through.

- I'm really liking the album "Honeysuckle Weeks" by The Submarines. Its a very catchy album from start to finish.

- 3 weeks from today until we find out what the next kid will be.

Tuesday Night Randomness

- Good riddance Matt Millen....it's about time!!! Really, that's about all that needs to be said about that. Let's just get this season over, and hope that old-man Ford finally gets it right by cleaning house and hiring the right people. Then again, that's asking a lot out of the senile old
man who has made us fans endure suckdom our ENTIRE LIVES. Why would he change now?

- I don't know if I've anticipated watching something on TV as much as I am with the VP debate on Thursday night. After seeing the way Sarah Palin has answered the few (very few) questions she's faced so far, the potential for the unintentional comedy factor is off the charts. This woman is clueless. When SNL has a sketch that makes fun of you, and they use your EXACT quotes to do it...yikes.

- In all seriousness, watching her on TV is one big cringeworthy experience. Between the lost look in her eyes when she gets asked questions (like the Bush Doctrine question) , or when she thinks she knows the answer to a question and gives one long answer that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever once she's finished talking (her discussion about her foreign policy experience with Russia)..its really painful to watch. I get the feeling that I, just doing my everyday reading/watching of the news, and keeping up with the current events of the day, know more than she does, and that's what's scary. I want my leaders to be smarter than me. A lot of negative things had been made of Obama having a Harvard education, at the GOP convention. Is that really a bad thing? Shouldn't we expect our leaders to be well educated and articulate?

- Speaking of SNL and Sarah Palin, I'll have to admit for that for once, I think Tina Fey is actually funny.

- The baseball playoffs are here. I'm hoping that Boston and Philly get knocked out early. Boston, because I'm sick of seeing that city win everything, and Philly, just because I can't stand any of their sports teams. I'd really like to see an unconventional World Series of Tampa Bay and Milwaukee. The side of me that appreciates the historical side of baseball wouldn't mind seeing a Chicago-Boston World Series.

- Yes, I know my last point was a complete contradiction. I think I've been watching the Sarah Palin interviews a little too much.

Randomness

- I don't know how much more suck I can take of the Detroit Lions. I wasn't expecting a whole lot from them this this season..but seriously, getting blown out by Atlanta? 21 points in the first quarter? What happened to Marinelli being a defensive genius, and having all the "right guys" (everyone who ever played with him in Tampa Bay) on the team this year?

- Polio is famous (the video and story at the very top). My buddy and ex-roommate/bunk-bed mate Jeremy Polio, that is..not Polio the disease.

- I won my first week in my work Fantasy Football league.

- It was sort of nice to see Brady go out for the season in the first half of the first game of the season. Hopefully that will be all we hear of the Pats for the season. Last year was over kill..first Spygate, then the perfect season watch, then Spygate again, then the choking in the Super Bowl. I'm sick of Boston sports teams.

- The Daily Show continues to out do themselves during this election.




- And yet another one for good measure:


- I hope Michigan slaughters Notre Dame this weekend.

- We find out if our next kid will be a boy or a girl on November 6th. That's turning out to be an exciting week. First we find out what we're having, then the next day is Tucker's 1st Birthday, then that weekend we'll have a party for him. Good times.

- I'm really liking the Spoon album "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga"

Flip Flop

The amount of flopping the GOP gestapo talking heads have done since picking Palin is humorous. I'll just let the video speak for itself. I wish the mainstream media would point this stuff out.

Randomess While Watching the Convention Coverage

Sara's at work, and I'm bored looking around the web, while listening to the convention coverage in the background. Thought I'd throw some random thoughts around..

- Stevie Wonder just played 2 songs. One new one, and one old school one (Sign, Sealed, Delivered). It got me wondering (and please I'm trying to be as tasteful as possible here)..how does he remember the lyrics to his older songs? Now days I know teleprompters are pretty common for bands who have been around awhile (I've seen Dave Matthews, and U2 use them). Obviously Stevie can't use one of these.

- Whenever I hear Stevie Wonder now, the first thing I always think of is the scene from "High Fidelity" where Jack Black asks "Rob, top five musical crimes perpetuated by Stevie Wonder in the '80s and '90s. Go. "

- Super Right Winged Conservative dude, James Dobson begged and pleaded for all his listeners to pray to God for storms to hit the Denver area for tonight, in order to screw up Obama's speech. Well the weather looks pretty nice from what I'm seeing on TV. Meanwhile, next week when the Wackos..er..Republicans have their convention, it looks like a pretty big sized hurricane is going to hit somewhere along the Gulf Coast, which would probably take away some of the publicity. If the hurricane does hit, is it safe to assume that God is an Obama fan too? I mean it has to be some kind of omen, right?

- Obama fills a stadium of 75,000 people with many more wanting to get in. Crazy Old Guy is giving a speech tomorrow in a place with 10,000 to announces his VP choice...and they can't even give the tickets away.

- How does Michael McDonald have a music career? They don't come very more bland than him. Every song sounds the same.

- I was listening to my iPod today at work and a string of songs that were popular when I was in college played one after the other. Whatever happened to bands like The Verve Pipe, Tonic, Better than Ezra, and Toad the Wet Sprocket? Ok, maybe I shouldn't have listed The Verve Pipe. They may have been more a Michigan phenomenon.

- I hate how the news networks get advance copies of the speeches, and then start reading bits and pieces of the speech, and tell us what the speaker is going to say. I think Matthews and Olbermann spoiled the entire speech for everyone watching their show tonight.

Seriously?

So as our country is going to hell in handbasket thanks to the mis-managment of everything W and his cronies have touched, one would think that the least important issue in this country would be the design (yes, its a Faux News...er..Fox "News" article, but who better to link to, in order to show the ridiculousness of it all?) of the set where Barack gives his acceptance speech tonight. Unfortunately when a crazy old man is running for President, and is grasping at straws, you have to come up with something.

I mean seriously, using pillars as a prop is that big of a deal?! Of all the crap going on in this country, the thing you (and your team) have to scream about is the design of a set? If you really do want to go there, maybe you should do a little backchecking before you raise a stink about things.

Case in point - 2004 Republican Convention:





Woops.

I guess someone could point out to the Crazy Old Man that today is the 45th anniversary of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech, and maybe, just maybe the columns there are as a symbol of the columns that are at the Lincoln Memorial where the speech was given.

Then again, if someone brought that up to him, I'm sure Crazy Old Man would probably say he missed that speech, because he was TV-less, and locked up in a POW camp. Sure the timeline wouldn't fit quite right, but who would call him out on it?

R.I.P. Roi and Randomness

LeRoi Moore, of the Dave Matthews Band died unexpectedly the other day due to complications from an accident on his farm back in June. It was pretty shocking news to me. Anyone who knows anything about me knows how big of a fan of DMB I've been over the years. I used to be able to be talked into going to a show or 49 any time, any place, with little to no notice. While my obssesion of the music has subsided consideribly over the years, I still listened to them on a regular basis, and have always eagerly anticipated their next album, because for the most part I knew it would be something good to listen to. Their first couple of albums were basically the soundtrack of my life for a good 5 to 6 years. I had them on A LOT. If it were possible to wear out a CD, I would have worn out a few. Whenever I listen to some of the albums, I'm immediately taken back to that time period with fond memories.

Roi was one of the quiet guys (if not the quietest) in the band. On stage he just stood off to the right side of the stage, an unassuming figure usually hiding behind his sunglasses. You wouldn't even know that he was there until it was his turn he made his presence known. He was like one of those guys in a group of people who sits in the back kind of taking the scene in, when suddenly he'll speak up and crack a joke that brings the house down, and then everyone wonders who he is, and where did he come from. That was Roi. Some of the best shows I'd ever been to were ones where he completely took them over. Yeah, Dave would be front and center singing, doing his crazy dancing, telling his incoherent stories, but Roi was the one bringing it all home with his sax/flute/penny-whistle playing. After the show was over, Roi would just silently walk off the stage, and no one would notice, because everyone was focused on what Dave was doing, and where Carter was going to throw his drumsticks to.

To me, the day Roi died - DMB died with it. I would say that about anyone of the founding members. Sure the band will go on, and I'll still buy their albums, and go to a show every now and then, but its no longer THE band. I'm sure they'll find a replacement, and that replacement will do fine over time..but it just won't be the same.

To hear Roi in what I think is one of his best performances on an album, check out the song "Lover Lay Down" on the Under the Table and Dreaming Album.

Ok on to random thoughts that have been going through my head lately..

- I really think McCain should be tested for dementia or alzeheimers or something. Actually any one running for President should be evaluated. He doesn't know how many houses he owns? This is a guy who claims that Obama is an elitist, but it turns out he's the one who has at least 7 homes all over the country, many worth over $1 mil, but Obama is the elitist? Then when Obama calls him out on it, his campaign staff says the following "This is a guy who lived in one house for five and a half years -- in prison," Oh good, he's now throwing around the POW card, like Giuliani threw around the "9/11" card when he was running, and losing, in the primaries. Here's a copy of what the "POW card" looks like by the way:

Yes, its a "Monopoly" like card. Apparently life is just a big game of Monopoly to McCain, with all his houses scattered everywhere and whatnot. I mean when I play the game..the board game that is, I lose track of all the property and houses/hotels that I own from time to time.

- Speaking of McCain and his time in POW camp maybe he should stop referring to that so much. According to his buddies W and Cheney, he wasn't tortured in that camp, and no war crimes were committed against him. All of the techniques used against him (stress positions, beatings, sleep deprivation, etc..) are the same ones that the White House knowingly used on people rounded up in Afganhistan and Iraq, and we all know that none of those people are tortured. They just had "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" used on them. There's a much better article written about this point. I wish someone in the media would bring this up to McCain and see what he says.

- Please note, I don't mean to belittle McCain's time in 'Nam. I wouldn't want to trade places with him for nothing. The fact that he lived, let alone kept his sanity is amazing and he should be commended for that. But the more he goes on using the POW reference to rebut anything anyone says about him, the more it looks like he's using that as a crutch, but it looks more like a joke. If's he not going to be serious about it (which admit it..in the context used about the house situation is absurd) then how does he expect anyone else to take it serious anymore?

- I bought a can of Coke from the machine in the kitchen at work today, and got a Santa can. The first thing I thought was "man, they're starting Christmas earlier and earlier every year". I then saw that it was a Christmas 2007 Santa can, which got me wondering just how safe it was to be drinking it.

- I had my first fantasy football league draft last night. I'm not impressed. I guess that's what I get for not following football as closely as I used to. I don't think I have a shot at winning anyways. The same guy has won our league the last 3 years in a row. He's a well oiled fantasy football machine.

- Rumors of the new U2 CD are heating up. Apparently some songs have leaked onto the internet, because Bono was blasting the CD at one of his beach houses really loudly, and someone passing by recognized it was new U2, so they sat outside and recorded it all. I haven't heard the leaks. I want to wait for the full thing to come out and hear it then. I can't wait.

- UVA students moving back into town this weekend. Trying to get anywhere in town is going to be a nightmare. Its going to look like 3,000 Griswold families driving all over town, raiding the stores of EVERYTHING, and clogging up the roads because they have no idea where they're going. Good times.

- The Tigers season turned out to be a bust. I can't get too down on them..the management went out and got the players they thought they needed to contend. Unfortunately some of the players were a bit washed up. I still like the Cabrera deal, and I'm excited to see him in a Tigers uniform for years to come.

- Aadam has decided to start a blog. Its still in the early development stages, and I think he's still trying to figure out what exactly he wants to do with it. There's a link to it up on the right side of the page, and its tentatively called "Legends of the Silverdome". Check it out when you get a chance.

Some EMU Love

Going through some of my sports blogs earlier today I came across the following picture:


Love the George Gervin reference...an Earl Boykins jersey would have been cooler.

Picture Time

Some random pictures taken after dinner the other night, when Tucker decided to get silly.


Tucker showing off 2 of the 3 weapons teeth that he now has.

Gearing up to let out a loud yell. Eating baby food really gets him hyper.

Now he is in mid-yell. He's really into it..fists clinched, eyes focused.

Here he is after he's done being goofy, waiting for me to pull him out of the chair.

Here are couple pictures from the 4th of July:

Sitting in his Exersaucer, making spitting noises.

Here he is letting it known that he's done playing, and wants to be held by someone.

Then and Now

Purely coincidental.

Me at some point in 1977. Tucker a little over a month ago.

Memorial Day Music

These are the songs I've been addicted to lately.

Have a great Memorial Day!

Un-freaking-believable

Just when you think W can't get anymore asinine than he already is he offers up the following nuggets in the same interview.

When asked about the prospects of a Democratic President, who would try to withdrawl from Iraq, he said doing so would "eventually lead to another attack on the United States" and goes on to say "...and it would shake everybody's nerves, and it would embolden the very same people that we're trying to defeat. I don't think it would "embolden" them anymore than his worthless war already has. We wouldn't have to defeat these people if we hadn't gone into Iraq to begin with. Terrorism from Iraqi sources wasn't an issue until we invaded with a horrible game plan and then weren't greeted as the liberators we supposedly were supposed to be. Its been proven that before the invasion, there was no Al-Queda in Iraq.

There's nothing really all that surprising there from a delusional idiot who can never admit fault about anything as he is. He's just starting to apply the Rovian-like scare tactics to help his understudy McCain try to extend W's legacy another 4 more years. Its only a matter of time until they start using the whisper tactics "Obama is BLACK!!! we can't have a black president" and then on top of that start floating the lie that "Not only is he BLACK but he's a MUSLIM...look at his name". Hillary has already exposed that these scare tactics work.

Anyways getting back to my original point - The most ridiculous part of the same interview came when asked about what sacrifices he's made during this wartime. I mean this takes the cake. Not even the satire news site The Onion could make this up:

“I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the
commander in chief playing golf,” he said. “I feel I owe it to the families to
be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a
war just sends the wrong signal...I remember when de Mello, who was at the U.N., got killed in Baghdad as a result of these murderers taking this good man's life,” he said. “I was playing golf — I think I was in central Texas — and they pulled me off the golf course and I said, ‘It's just not worth it anymore to do”

Wow, that's a real noble cause...to give up golf. That's the best he could come up with? Giving up a freaking sport leisure activity. They called Obama elitist..I think giving up golf as a "sacrifice" takes the title of the most elitist. He wants to show solidarity to the families of the 4,000+ soldiers killed for some non-existent WMD's, and the countless more who have lost limbs, come back severely injured both physically and mentally? The first thing he could do is admit he made a mistake, and apologize for it. Doing that would require having a heart, and a conscience, and truly being sorry. It's been long evident that he has neither, and he isn't sorry, and that he'd do it all over again if he knew then what he knows now.

Oh and its already been proven that he gave a totally bogus answer.

"The US president traced his decision to the August 19, 2003 bombing of UN
headquarters in Baghdad, which killed the world body's top official in Iraq,
Sergio Vieira de Mello....Bush's last round of golf as president dates back
to October 13, 2003, according to meticulous records kept by CBS news."

Whoops..can't even get his lies straight anymore.

Election

Its pretty pathetic that in this election season, which is widely regarded as the most important election of most of our lifetimes, it takes a satire news-show which airs on a network called "Comedy Central" to point out the ridiculousness of the excuses/statements coming out of the Clinton character assassination spin machine primary campaign (watch starting at the 2:00 mark):


I realize that its in the best interests of the 24-hour news networks to keep this campaign going on as long as possible, but isn't there someone in the main-stream media, who could rise above this nonsense and call out the Clintons for the phonies they are? Then again, that's asking a lot from a media who from after 9/11 until just recently had been willing participants in the Bush propaganda machine.

Just Quit Already

I think this video sums it up pretty well.

Music

In my quest to find new ways to listen to music while at work, I've found some places online where I can jam out at my desk during the workday, which makes the day go by a lot faster. I wish I could just put iTunes on my work computer and load the library from my home computer onto it, but the IT department doesn't exactly allow that.

One cool place I found is called Muxtape, where people create mixes of their favorite music (up to 12 songs), and other people can listen to it. I decided to give it a shot, and create my own. I figure I could load whatever 12 songs I want to listen to, and then access it at work whenever I wanted. My first mix can be found here. I thought that I'd give them a theme, and for my first one, I call it my "Virginia Mix", which is comprised of my favorite bands/artists from here in Virginia. Check it out..

Friday

- Its finally starting to feel like spring around here, with the temperature reaching almost 80. We've had 2 days in a row now where the weather has been awesome. Of course that changes tomorrow when a cold front rolls through and it goes back into the 50's. If I would have realized just how good it was going to be today, I would have taken the day off and done something fun with Sara and the boys. I was stuck at work, and the 3 of them went downtown and hung out and Blake and Sara had ice-cream.

- They're constructing a new building right outside the window from where I sit. I must say, I'm a bit jealous of the guys that are working. Jealous because for one, they get to be outside, and secondly because they're out there building something tangible, that once they're done, they'll have something to show for all their hard work. Me, I just sit in a cube trying to make things more efficient for my company, in the hopes they can make more money..of which I might get lucky and see a little bit more of once my annual review comes around. As the days go by, the more and more I hate corporate America.

- The Tigers finally won a game the other night. They should have won last night, but the shaky bullpen just showed that its definitely a weak spot for the team. At least it looks like the bats finally came to life. Here's hoping that they can win the series against Chicago this weekend.

- I can't wait to grill out on the patio tonight. I love grilling. I'd cook every meal on the grill if I could.

It's Been Awhile

- I realized today that it has been awhile since I've updated my blog.

- Tucker turned 5 months old yesterday, which seems impossible. It seems like it was only a few weeks ago when we brought him home from the hospital. Its quick how fast they grow. He can almost roll-over onto his stomach from his back. He gets about half-way over then stops and just rolls back. He also has been sampling baby food for a few weeks now. He loves to sit in his height chair and eat with the rest of us at the dinner table. He feels, however, that he should be fed continuously and that Sara shouldn't start eating until he's done. Whenever Sara stops feeding him so she can eat, he'll bang his hands on the tray, and if that doesn't do the trick, he'll then add in some grunts followed by some whining. Its funny how fast they pick up tricks like that.

- Blake's little league season has started. So far they're 0-2 but they've showed quite a bit of improvement from one game to the next. Blake went 2-2 in his last game, and fielded a couple of grounders that came his way cleanly. I think the Tigers could use him.

- Speaking of the Tigers..what can you say? I never in my wildest dreams would have thought they would start the season at 0-7. I've been able to watch most of the games and they don't look anywhere near how good they're supposed to be. They can't get men on base, and when they do they can't do anything but hit into double plays. I'm starting to wonder if I should have not bought the baseball package this year. We bought the MLB Extra Innings package on cable this year (Sara talked me into it...no, seriously), just to watch the Tigers because we thought it would be a fun season to follow. So far its been anything but.

- Sara and I were watching TV one night and saw this commercial. At first we couldn't really believe what we saw, but when the commercial came on again later that same night, we found out that what we saw was real. I bet Elvis is rolling over in his grave. Has anyone else seen this?

- The spring weather can hurry up and get here soon. In March we had some decent weather, the buds came out on the trees, and now the leaves are growing out, but ever since April started the its been pretty crappy. Rain, cold, and dreary for the most part. Its like being back in Michigan, only if it were Michigan, it would be snowing here so I guess it isn't all that bad.

- I saw this on one of the sports blogs I read last week, and thought it was pretty funny (no offense to anyone reading this in Ohio).

- I lost my iPod a few weeks ago leaving work, and now am going crazy at work everyday without it. I used to be able to just go in, put on my earphones and just work all day listening to music/podcasts and it would help the day go by quick. Now I sit in my cube all day in dead silence looking forward to going home for lunch and at the end of the day.

- I'm ready for our vacation to Myrtle Beach. Unfortunately its still like 2 months away.

End of February Randomness

- Sara and I were talking this morning, wouldn't it suck to be born on Feb. 29th? You could only celebrate your true birthday once every four years. The rest of the time you have to decide if you'll celebrate it on Feb. 28th, or March 1st.

- Speaking of Leap Day..when did it become such a big deal? I've heard people talking about it at work today, and one lady even brought in a cake to celebrate the occasion.

- I was reading in the news the other day that Starbucks closed all of their stores for a few hours to re-educate their employees on the "Starbucks experience" in an effort to boost morale, and get them back to help make each customers visit feel special. Personally to me, it sounded more like it was a ploy to get a bunch of free publicity and advertising, because that night on every news show I watched, this was one of the top stories. Like they taught in all of my marketing classes in college - the best publicity = free publicity. I'll still take a Dunkin Donuts coffee over Starbucks anytime.

- Mmm coffee. I'm addicted. I forgot to set the maker to brew some this morning, and as a result, didn't have my cup this morning. By 11:00 I was having withdrawal symptoms as I started to get a headache. Thankfully we have free cans of Coke at work, and that helped ease my lack of caffeine.

- Blake has baseball tryouts tomorrow. He's playing in a different league than he has in the past 2 years. My questions is, since when do they have tryouts for the 7-8year old players? Actually they aren't tryouts, but more "talent evaluations" so the coaches can see the skill level of every player, so they can target who they want to draft pick for their teams. I can see having tryouts/evaluations for the league where the kids actually play to win their league and play in tournaments, but to have that in a league where they're still getting pitched to by a pitching machine..what's the point? It should be interesting. I hope the parents in this league are as laid back as the ones in the other league that Blake played in.

- Spring training games have finally started, and it looks like the Tigers have been doing good so far. I can't wait to get the regular season started. In July, the 4 of us are going up to Baltimore to see the Tigers play the Orioles. I can't wait..I get to see my favorite team in one of my favorite places to watch a baseball game. It'll be Blake's first time going to a pro game (well other than the Richmond Braves), and it'll be Tuckers first games as well. I hope he'll have as much fun as a 8 month old could possibly have.

- I can't get into American Idol this year. I've tried to watch a couple episodes, and I end up turning to something else. Maybe I'll try once they get to the Final 12, but right now I've been completely bored with it.

- Its supposed to be nice out this weekend (50's and 60's). Can't wait to hang out on our patio, and cook on my new grill. I'm for spring to get here and for the weather will be warm on a consistant basis. I want to be able to wear shorts all the time.

- I came across this commercial the other day that wasn't allowed to be shown during the Super Bowl. Funny stuff! (Bathroom humor will never get old to me)

Pictures

This weekend the weather here in Charlottesville was unseasonably warm. On Saturday while Blake was at a birthday party, Sara, Tucker and myself went to Babies R Us to look at some stuff for Tucker. We walked out with a Jeep stroller for the little guy. Yesterday, with the temperatures in the 60, and the sun out, we decided to take Tucker out for a little trip in his stroller. The four of us walked down to Blake's school and hung out at the playground. Tucker seemed to enjoy being outside (it was the longest he'd been outside), and riding in his stroller. It had to believe that Tucker is almost 3 months old already. Here are some pictures..

Tucker in his new stroller:


Blake and Tucker getting ready to leave the house:


Sara and Tucker chilling out:


Blake and Sara swinging:


Me and Tucker trying to swing:


Blake swinging:


Me and Tucker hanging out:


Me and Tucker trying to go down the slide:


Blake, Sara, and Tucker posing for a picture:


Tucker trying his hand on one of the rides on the playground:

Craaaash

Everynow and then I check out the online version of Eastern's online newspaper, just to see what scandal is currently brewing around the campus. Today was one of those days, and to my surprise, the leading story involved the first apartment complex I ever lived in.

Out-of-control car slams into apartment
Driver, residents unharmed; vehicle lost traction on ice

By James Cavanaugh / Staff Writer
MONDAY, JANUARY 28, 2008

Several Ypsilanti residents were surprised by a large boom Saturday evening when a woman driving a beige Chevrolet Cobalt crashed into an unoccupied ground-level apartment in the Brickhaven complex at the corner of Washtenaw and Ballard.

The woman, who was conscious when removed from the scene, appeared uninjured when taken from her car on a gurney by paramedics. The Ypsilanti fire department declined to release the woman's name. No one was in the apartment at the time of the crash and no one else was injured.

According to Ypsilanti fire department Lieutenant Max Anthouard, the woman lost control of her car in the snow while traveling east on Washtenaw Avenue, drove approximately 40 feet across the lawn and crashed through a sliding glass door.

Anthouard also stated that alcohol was not involved.

Eugene Holst, a third floor resident of the complex, was the first person to find the woman and her car — sitting in the apartment.

"I was upstairs working on my computer and there was a large noise," said Holst. "I saw the tracks in the snow and thought it wasn't a good thing."

"She looked shaken up," said Holst. "But she appeared to be OK."

According to Holst, the first thing he did was calm the woman down and then had fellow Brickhaven resident Anita Hargrove call 911.

Hargrove was taking out her trash when the crash occurred.

"I've never seen anything like this in my life," said Hargrove.

Several residents of the complex and surrounding apartments noted hearing the crash, but at first weren't sure what happened.

"At first, I thought somebody was moving a couch and it fell down," said Karen McAdoo, who lives in the apartment complex next to Brickhaven.

EMU technology studies graduate student David Gladding was in his house, two doors down, when the crash occurred.

"I heard something while I was watching T.V.," said Gladding. "I heard the fire engines and was worried my house was on fire."

"It shook the building," said Lisa Hampton, who lives at the Brickhaven complex.

There was no major structural damage according to Lt. Anthouard, but the crash did damage a hot water line that may affect the heating system in the building.

Immediately following the crash, firefighters on the scene advised occupants of the apartment directly above to stay off their balcony. However, according to Anthouard, "the building inspector [later] came and said everything was fine."

I didn't think that Brickhaven could get anymore ghetto than it was the last time I drove by there 4 years ago...I guess I was wrong.

Are you kidding me!?

So I get a daily email from a website called Uncrate whichs finds cool stuff for guys on the Internet, and lists the coolest of the cool in an email. When I got my update from yesterday, this was listed. At first I thought it was an error, and that a product for women mistakenly was listed, but after reading the discription, it is in fact for men.

This brings two questions to mind:

1) Seriously, there are men who would actually use this?
2) There's a big enough market for this product?

Yikes

Dreaming of Baseball Season

Randomness

- Tucker turned 2 months old earlier this week. When I think back to the day he was born, it really doesn't seem like its been 2 months already. In the same hand, it seems like he's been around a lot longer than that. I'm sure this probably doesn't make sense to anyone other than myself. Its been amazing to see how fast he's growing.

- Over the last week and a half I've really seen a change in him. He seems to have found his voice over this time, and really likes to be heard around the house. In the same time he's figured out where his mouth is, and how to get his hand in it, with relative ease now. He also has started forming opinions about things. When feeding him, he does not like to have the bottle taken away from him, nor does he liked to be burped. If you try to do either of these things, he'll voice his displeasure and won't stop until he's got the bottle back. If you try to burp him, he'll pull away from you, and try to break free to get back to the bottle. It's been pretty amazing and fun to see him develop so far.

- Blake's 8th birthday was this past Saturday. For his birthday he wanted us to go roller-skating. After his basketball practice we went over to Staunton to a roller-rink that he went to a few times over the summer with his day camp. Overall I did ok. I started with roller-blades, but after a few times around the rink, I had to switch to roller-skates because my achilles tendons felt like they were going to explode. I didn't fall down once, nor did I run over anyone either. It had been at least 15-18 years since I last roller-skated. It had also been at least 7 or 8 years since I last used roller-blades, and that was when I was run-over by a girl on a 10-speed at Gallup Park back in Ann Arbor. I'm sure that Derek and Mike can still fondly remember that instance..

- You know you're getting old when you can type about something that happened in the past, and say that it happened 15-18 years ago....

- We've had some crazy weather over the past week or so. The past couple days it was in the 70's and sunny. Today, its in the low 40's and rainy. Tomorrow its supposed to be back up in the 60's. The warm weather over the past few days got me thinking of spring and baseball. Spring Training is only like 5 weeks away!

- I love election years. I love watching the whole election process play out, and listen to all the pundits make their guesses, and see who is right and who is wrong. I'm still trying to figure out who I'd vote for. Right now I'm in a toss-up for Obama or Edwards, leaning towards Obama. After 8 years of having the Bush Criminals run the country, I will have a hard time voting for a Republican. The only Republican I would vote for would be McCain, but that would only happen if he were to go up against Hillary Clinton. This country definately needs a new direction, and I think main way to take a new direction is to not have a Presidental string that goes Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton. Obama just seems to have something about him that makes me think that things can indeed be better, and that he's the one that could pull it off. It would be nice to vote for a candidate that I really believed in on election day, rather than going into the voting booth, trying to pick the lesser of 2 evils, as I have the past couple of elections (which unfortunately backfired since the evil one was the one I voted for and who won.)

- While listening to the radio one night last week while driving up to the store, I came across a band called The Kooks, and the song "She Moves in Her Own Way". Very catchy, and the rest of the album is pretty cool too.

Like Father, Like Son

Poor kid. 8 weeks old, and he's already starting to experience the hairloss that runs on the Webb side of the family.