Dead or Alive?

Don't ask me why this happened at work but the subject of washed up television actors and actresses came up. Guess whose name came up? Yep. Charlotte Rae--you know Mrs. Garrett from The Facts of Life. Never mind that she hasn't been on TV in more than 20 years, we all thought she was dead. Is she still alive?

We checked the site http://www.deadoraliveinfo.com/ and sure enough, she's still vertical. She's only 81...thought she was more like 93. Maybe she's hanging out with Conrad Bain.

In Memoriam

John E. Sabol
July 1, 1987

- Its hard to believe its been 20 years since his passing -

Picture with Ann
Circa 1985

My Summer Wishlist

Since child number two is on the way late this fall, time will become more of a scarce commodity than it is now with a two year old flying around the house with a washable marker in one hand and a pretzel in the other.

Back in early 2005 prior to my son's birth, I made a wish list of things I wanted to do before I became a parent. You know, basic activities like reading 10 books or install an attic ladder or wire the upstairs bedrooms with cable. I actually did all of those. Scary thought isn't it?

This summer, my list is not as outrageous as my first one back in '05 but as with most of my projects, the list is a tall order considering my lack of disposable hours in the day. Here we go:

1. Finish installing the basketball hoop in the driveway.

Even my wife wants this done yesterday. Its been an ongoing event since early May. The quikrete is in the garage. I think this is going to suck.

2. Reinforce the poles on the deck.

Sounds like an engineer is needed here. Nope. Just time to cut a bunch of 4X4 wedges and screw them into the deck. Where is Bob Vila? Does he still have that Saturday morning show?

3. Transfer all of the video I took of my son over the last two years onto my hard drive, edit it and make a DVD.

Um. If my past history of procrastination is any indication, this won't come anywhere close to happening. Okay, maybe dumping the video on the computer is a more realistic goal as long as my two year old doesn't sneak into the computer room and hit the reset button on the computer tower.

4. Finish reading three books. A baseball statistic book, a book on the origins of the Vietnam War by the late David Halberstam and a book on the origins of language.

...Sounds like a evening full of fun, I know. Don't laugh. This is more time consuming than it seems on the surface for three reasons. One, I'm not the fastest reader. Two, these books aren't considered "quick reads". Three, now that I am working a early morning shift, I might have 15 minutes before bed to hammer out a few pages. At this rate, these books will collect more dust in the den than on my nightstand.

5. Watch these movies.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Transformers
The Bourne Ultimatum
Oceans 13
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Live Free or Die Hard
Evan Almighty
Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
Shrek the Third

A few of these came out a few years ago. I realize that. Anyway, look for a synopsis as I finish each of these.


On a semi-unrelated note, the first still photo of the new Indiana Jones movie is out. It tells us absolutely nothing.

Baby News

We are having a GIRL!

Pictures to prove this coming later...

Rosie, Go Away!

Does it get more annoying than this?

Rosie O'Donnell is finding yet more ways to get her mug in the headlines even though she basically has no job. Frankly, I don't know what is worse. The fact that Rosie is so ridiculously annoying or that networks deem it necessary to report on her selfrightrous verbal tirades. Evidentally REAL news that is worth reporting isn't as "sexy" as Rosie opening her huge piehole. Excuse that oxymoron.

There isn't much worse than people who need attention or like to hear themselves talk ALL OF THE TIME. We all know individuals like this. Rosie is one of those people. She just can't seem to keep her piehole shut. Her days on The View are long gone and now, reports are surfacing that she would love the opportunity to host The Price Is Right. What tops it all is Bob Barker actually endorses her! What the hell is going on here?

Look, she has her opinions about the war in Iraq, guns, movies, television, food & whatever. That's fine. I could care less about her political viewpoints. This isn't about her opinions, its about her flapping her gums, period.

Rosie, here's a piece of advice. If you want to run your mouth, do it in the privacy of your own home. If you decide not to heed my recommendation, remember this Rosie when you speak:

No one cares.

Father's Day

Father's Day is still a bit awkward for me because I still think of Father's Day as a day where we all chipped in as kids and bought my dad a few ties, a cigar and took him either out for breakfast or tried to make it ourselves. I still remember when he tried to choke down our "version" of pancakes which consisted of too much of every ingredient listed on the box with a few renegade cheerios thrown in for good measure. Those days are coming for me soon enough.

Now that its early afternoon on this special Sunday, truth be told, the aura of Father's Day is just now sinking in. I'm not one for wanting people to give me special treatment even if it is a day for fathers but its easy to just give into the spirit of the day and relish in the fact that I AM A FATHER and not everyone has this luxury that so many of us take for granted myself included. Just a few minutes ago, my son called me from the other room:

"Da, da?"

It was right at that moment that I realized I am not only a father but there is a bond there that is strong and getting increasingly stronger each and every day. The more I think about it, Father's Day is a time where I see myself exploring those times where the silence of an expression or an embrace speaks a library full. And afterward, I'll take several steps back and you can bet I'll be awestruck by the complex connection that my child (soon to be children) have created together.

Barry Bonds' Homerun Log

In the event that you really want to know who gave up Bonds' 331st homer then this list is for you courtesy of baseball-reference.com. Even if you don't like Bonds as a player, you can still respect the list as it is impressive. It isn't until you reach the bottom that you start to smell a "hint" of steroids and HGH...oops, I mean arthritis creme.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/pi/event_hr.cgi?n1=bondsba01

Cell Phone Scare

My wife and I have similar looking cell phones. We leave them sitting on the counter in the kitchen recharging when we're at home. For whatever reason, my lovely wife took mine instead of hers as she left for work. Of course, I was unaware of this until I was about 10 miles down the road.

I wasn't in the car for more than ten minutes and a sudden, overwhelming sense of nervousness washed through me as I tried to come to grips with my cellphoneless self.

I couldn't believe what was happening. "What happens if I break down? What happens if a family member needs to get a hold of me?" I thought. Never mind that prior to the mid 1990s, most people never had cell phones and if something happened while you were away from the phone, say in the car on a trip, you found out once you got home. If you broke down, you found something called a payphone. What happened to those things anyway?

All of that didn't matter and I still felt naked without my phone.

Over the last several years without even realizing it, that little cell phone had become a part of my day-to-day existence. Granted, I don't use it all that much but still, it was a dishartening feeling knowing that my only means of communication was missing. Imagine your life without a limb? You would eventually you learn to live without it but initially, the shock of having only one limb would be life altering.

So my metaphor is a bit of a stretch but today for about 45 minutes, I felt like my life was significantly altered. What the hell was wrong with me? Was I am becoming the person that I make fun of everyday as I drive to work? You know, FREAKY-CELL-PHONE-USER that has that damn phone permanently affixed to his or her ear. I hope not.

At least I had my PDA on me in the event that had to quickly parooze a PDF file in a pinch.

Big News from the Homefront

...Big News from the homestead. My wife and I are expecting out second child. Here are the ultrasounds to prove it...if you know how to read these things.

Kansas Tornado Pics

A Meteorologist friend of mine just emailed me aerial pictures of the devestation from the EF-5 tornado from early May. Here is the first. Click on this LINK for the rest of them.