Ava Art

My daughter is an aspiring Van Gogh (minus the whole “cut off my ear” thing). She LOVES to draw and I often catch her scribbling on blank sheets of paper, creating designs and coloring in hearts, stars and balloons. With the recent spring cleaning event, some of them had to be…ahem…removed to make room for many more (I’m sure). But I didn’t want to let these go without giving them their due. Here are some of Ava’s finest creations…including a “booklet” that she created for her brother. As much as they can squabble, this REALLY tells the story…

And Then “Toy Story 3″ Happened…

Christopher & Teddy

You remember the storyline of “Toy Story 3,” right? If not…let’s recap. Woody and his pals are put in a box and are ready for the junkheap because their “boy”, Andy, is all grown up and has no need for them. That is the premise and there are great adventures and eventually, the toys find their way back to Andy for an emotional ending.

Cue to MY house.

I decided it was time for spring cleaning. Had to happen because BOTH of my kids had been neglecting their rooms and, quite frankly, they were a disaster. Also our downstairs living room (which doubles as a kids playroom) had apparently been hit by a tornado so…dad went to work. And as always, there were casualties. The random Happy Meal toy…GONE! A stick from some backyard adventure…GONE! A couple hairbands with strands of hair attached…GONE! A Barbie shoe without a double…GONE! Pillows were fluffed and beds were made. The vacuum found its way out of its hiding place and floors were swept. Needless to say, I was a busy beaver for about 6 hours. Everything was looking good. I had about 5 garbage bags of trash ready to go when the kids got home from school and admired my handy work.

Ava was happy with my cleaning job, proclaiming me her new hero and she even told me that she had never seen her room so clean!

In Christopher’s room, Christopher was looking over everything. I told him I had put some things up in his closet, rearranged some of his playthings and organized his trophy shelves and such. He looked around the room and then did the unthinkable. He went over to his bed and, in one fell swoop, gathered up his 6 or 7 stuffed animals that he ALWAYS had in their place on his bed and handed them to me.

“I’m too old for them now. Can we just put them up in the closet also?”

I wasn’t sure what to say. Obviously this HAD to happen at some point but I hadn’t expected it to be so sudden. I imagined they would fall behind his bed and then would be left there or maybe Stella would start picking them off one by one, chewing on limbs or fins or whatever. But not like this. This was too easy! He wasn’t even blinking at the idea of putting them away and for whatever reason…this hit home with me.

“You sure, buddy?”

He looked over them as he handed them to me. He glanced at the cast of characters that had been decorating his bed for so long. Barkley the dog (the namesake of our REAL dog), a dolphin, 2 teddy bears (minus his favorite, Teddy, who is still down in the laundry room waiting to be washed from some art work disaster), a small stuffed pug and another dog of which I have forgotten its name. He glanced them over…

“Yeah…I’m sure.”

I took a deep breath and held his animals in my hands. “Okay…well…I’ll put them up here and if you ever want them, you can get to them, okay?”

“Okay dad. I wonder if AJ or Erik might want them (his cousins).”

This idea was a good one (see “Toy Story 3″) but for whatever reason, I don’t want that to happen. These animals are HIS childhood. So I’m pretty sure, they’re safe. These pals of his won’t be going anywhere out of our house. But I tell him that’s a good thought and I start to close his closet door when I stop for a second.

“You absolutely sure?” I look back at him and I see he’s thinking about it. I don’t know why, but this actually made me feel better that he was considering the whole situation. Then…

“Ya know…can I have Barkley back? He’s my favorite and the first stuffed animal my Grandpa gave me. I’d like to keep him with me.”

“Sure thing, bud. Here ya go.” And I reached up and handed Barkley back to him. Barkley is in serious need of some work. His stuffing is flat and his fur all matted but this is HIS. If anything can sum up a childhood, it’s a child’s favorite stuffed animal and so…for now…he keeps a little of that with him. I know he’s 10 and I know it’s time but still…I’m glad he held on to that one animal, just for now. It tells me I still have a little time. He’s not all grown up just yet…and with that thought…I took a deep breath and went on with my day.

Barkley & Barkley

Tee Box Philosophy

What is it about golf? There’s something about hitting a little ball with a stick that brings out the best in my Dad. In our family, it’s hard to get a word in when my siblings and I are at the house. But when we’re on the course (usually Jaycee’s Golf Course in Zanesville), my Dad becomes a literal fountain of knowledge, spouting out advice on everything from golf grips to golf swings (use your hips/wrists/shoulders MORE!) to cooking tips to money advice. Funny thing is…I can’t remember him actually verbalizing his philosophy on life until today. It was in on a beautiful sunny day on the 17th tee box, Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 when, out of the blue, he says this to me while we’re waiting for a group ahead of us to leave the green on this pretty little par 3…

“Here’s MY philosophy: Enjoy life. Treat people the way you want to be treated but don’t let them take advantage of you. Don’t listen to a word that politicians say. Oh…and (as he takes a giant swing) hit down on the ball.”

Sounds like pretty sound philosophizing, if you ask me. Could have used this…oh…maybe 20 years ago but hey…better late than never, right? And then I went and made my only par of the day. So at least ONE of those words of wisdoms ring true (but I gotta believe they ALL apply).

Um…how am I supposed to get out from behind this tree?

The fans went wild after I hit my par putt!

Mom bought the GOOD stuff!!!

 Meet Drake! My new nephew!!!

Double Digits!

Of ALL the birthdays my kids will be having, this is the first of the big ones for Christopher. Turning 10 is like reaching a milestone that you’ll never reach again. You go from 1-9 and have single digits and then…you have to wait another 90 years before you go triple and you’re back to where you were at the age of 1 (you know…wearing diapers and such). So hitting double digits is a big thing! When asked if he felt any different turning 10, Christopher’s response?

“Yeah…I feel A LOT older!”

So we have been celebrating this historical moment for a little over a week. He had a birthday party with his buddies (who are all turning 10) a week prior to his birthday date, he managed to weasel an expensive pair of headphones out of his mom & I (you don’t wanna know how much we dropped for these bad boys…), pitched in a double header ON his birthday, had sushi for his birthday dinner and got a lot of money from friends and neighbors so that he can buy a pair of shoes that he’s been eyeing that are the “hot new thing!” Here are some photos of this week-long celebration that ends today with doughnuts for his entire classroom…

Hope the teacher doesn’t hate us for jacking up the entire 4th grade with sugar!

Yahoo! We’re OLD now!

Birthday dinner

Birthday Cake Pops!!!

Spiderman: Turns On The Broadway Lights!

Before I get into this review, I have to admit a few things. Firstly, I am NOT a theater critic. Oh sure, I’ve seen my fill of musicals and performances ranging from “Cats” to “Wicked” to even seeing “Billy Elliott” when I was in London a few years ago (and it put me to sleep) but I would never consider myself a qualified critic.

Secondly, I am a huge fan of U2 AND comic books…so this show is a win-win for me. So, knowing now what you know, you can take this review with a grain of salt. So here it is…

For MY money, “Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark” is as entertaining a show on Broadway as any of the others for all of the reasons I stated above. It’s a show about a superhero…with a soundtrack by an awesome alternative rock band (that just came off one of the greatest money-making tours EVER) …and it’s a LOT like watching a science fiction, special effects laden movie (a la “Dick Tracy” mixed with “Spiderman”… oddly enough). There are MANY critics who have railed against this show, calling it non-Broadway like. Saying it’s incoherent and loud and obnoxious. They say it’s not up to par but I disagree. This is very MUCH what Broadway is now about. There are all kinds of shows near Times Square that serve a purpose. Some are serious drama, some are comedies (I saw “Spamalot” there a couple years ago and it was hysterical!), there are musicals and hipster art and on and on. So why not a musical about a superhero that is set in New York? It seems appropriate enough and, for me, it works! It’s funny and dramatic and I liked the soundtrack (didn’t love it though). I thought the art direction was awesome and the actors and actresses were great. All in all, I had a great time! And really, sometimes thats all I need when spending $100 to see a show in NYC. I just wanted to have a good time and Spiderman is definitely that!

If you have kids or just want to go and have a good time, consider “Spiderman: Turn Off The Dark.” And don’t listen to the critics. Just go watch, relax and be ready to duck! ‘Cause Spidey and the Green Goblin do some flybys! And THAT is pretty cool!

I didn’t take it but I WAS this close!

My seats were stage left, FRONT ROW?!?! Talk about being close!

New York Photos (Not Taken By Me)

“Starry Night” featured at MoMA

Having been to The Big Apple several times and written about it several times, I’m kinda waiting for my NEXT visit (in a few weeks with my high school buddies that traveled to Seattle with me last year!) to bust out another “NYC is awesome!” blog. But on this trip, I’ve run across some cool pictures NOT taken by me of this great city that I thought I would share. A majority of them came from NYC Department of Records that has recently posted a gazillion photos of old time NY. These are amazing photos and, unfortunately, everyone loves them so much that it crashed their server and now they are trying to get another one to handle the traffic.

Aaaanyhoo…here are some of the pictures that are simply amazing! There is so much history here and these pictures tell a story. In some cases, they’re not happy stories but they are stories that need to be told nevertheless…

The First Of The Best

Yeah, yeah, yeah…I know. The 80′s made us do it!!!

If you’re on Facebook, odds are you are my friend. I’ve made a lot of friends and acquaintances through the years and I can honestly say I have been very lucky to be able to call so many of them my friends. But the fact of the matter is, not unlike so many people my age, there are only so many of my friends now who I truly consider to be my BEST friends. Through the years, I would have to say…after a nationwide tally…I have 14 people I can consider to be my very best friends. They were there when I was a kid, growing up in my small town of McConnelsville, OH. They were there with me through my high school years in Zanesville and my college years. They were with me through my work years in Dayton & Cincinnati. And there is one now who I consider to be my best friend of my adult years. Obviously, not everyone can be your best friend. It takes a qualified person. Someone who gets you in all your glory. Someone who gets you when you’re down. Someone who gets you when you’re an ass. Obviously the one closest to you should be your spouse, and I’m happy to say that she IS one of my best friends. Granted, I drive her completely insane at times however it’s safe to say that if I need to talk about something, Stephanie is always there to listen. But other than her, who are the people who I trust completely? Well…

First and foremost, the reason I’m writing this post is not out of the goodness of my own heart unfortunately. The people who are on the sacred “Best Friends” list ARE my bestest buds however most of them already know this and don’t really need me to post about it. But with that being said, I was told last night that my very first best friend suffered a stroke this week and is in the hospital in Columbus. Mason was the kid next door. He was a year younger than me. But we both had a love for comic books, riding our bikes and exploring in the fields and woods behind my house out on old Airport Road in McConnelsville. We spent a lot of time together in my early years, playing dodgeball with his brothers, listening to records (his brother introduced me to George Carlin and the things you CAN’T say on television) and watching Saturday morning cartoons. His Mom was always giving me food and he had a dog named Major who had a doghouse outside in the backyard and he kind of scared me a little bit.

I remember all of these things in not-so-vivid color but somewhere in the recesses of my mind they all came bubbling up after I received word last night of his stroke. It’s funny how time goes by and you don’t really think about someone until they’re in the hospital. Actually, since the inception of Facebook, Mason and I have been in contact and we play “Hanging With Friends” together. I haven’t seen him in probably 20+ years but I know where he is and what he is up too. But tomorrow I am going to go visit him in the hospital. For the first time since that picture at the top of this post was taken, I will see him in what is probably his worst state and I can’t even begin to say how much that saddens me. Mason is my first best friend and there is nothing that can change that. He was there when we fell in the stream behind our house, got soaked and then both got in trouble for it. He was there when the killer cow charged us as we scampered up a tree in the pasture. He was there when I was too scared to ride the “Spin In A Circle And Get Sick” ride at the county fair. And he was the first to teach me several crude jokes that I can’t even get into here (having older brothers definitely had its advantages!).

He was there for all of it. And now I want to be there for him. I haven’t been around for many years but now I want to see him again. It’s been a long time coming.

As for all my other best friends? I’m going to make more of an effort to see them as much as I can. I plan on having lunch with my high school best friend tomorrow. I haven’t seen Chuck in quite some time (since our last reunion maybe? That’s crazy Chuck!). Next month I’m going to New York with my best friend from college. I see JT a couple times a year if I can and I talk to him whenever he can fit me into his endless stream of conference calls and answering emails. I like to hang with my buddy Newman whenever he can find the time. He lives here in Cincinnati but being a new daddy has its advantages and disadvantages. The “disadvantages” being he doesn’t have much time for himself! But I completely understand this and I know he and I will be hanging out again at some point (although with his wife expecting their first daughter here soon, it might be a little bit longer than I thought! LOL!). I see my “other” wife, Janet, at work quite a bit during the summer months. She has been through a lot in the past few years but she’s an amazing woman and a great friend and I owe her lunch…again…at some point here very soon. Shayne lives in my backyard (actually one street over) and is married to one of my best college friends who has a twin sister who is ALSO a great friend and then he has a brother who is ALSO a great friend but oddly enough, with my work schedule and all of our kids’ schedules, I haven’t seen ANY of them most of this winter. I imagine we’ll be firing up the grill here at some point and things will fall back into place like they always do when dudes get together to eat hamburgers and have a few drinks.

So that’s only 7…right? Well…I DO come from a large family and whenever I truly need a lifeline, I always have my Mom, my Dad, my brother and my 4 sisters to lean on whenever I need an ear to bend. I consider myself truly one of the luckiest guys in the world to have the family that I do and I know if there ever was a time that I needed ANYTHING, they would be there for me. Much the same as I want them to know I am here for them.

So there you go. ALL of my best friends. Some are farther away than others but I consider myself blessed to have them all in my life somehow. And now, I plan on seeing 2 of them tomorrow. One is in the hospital and I can’t wait to see him and I pray for a quick recovery. The other I haven’t seen in a while and THAT needs to change! Overall, this is a fine group of people and I love them all. And to Mason…I hope you have a speedy recovery and a long life. And if you need me? I’m always a phone call (or email) away. Oh…and you were right. Marvel comics ARE better than DC Comics. Just sayin’…

The Age I Am

Today I made a step forward and actually attended a spin class at the gym that I pay for monthly. It’s probably my first time IN the gym since December (or possibly November…or maybe October) and I was…uh…NOT in the best shape of my life. Au contraire…I literally thought for a brief moment that at any time during the 45 minute ride that I might pass out and fall off my bike. After considering the possibility of this happening while spinning to the Goo Goo Dolls remake of the Supertramp classic, “Give A Little Bit,” I realized something…

I am THE perfect age. Right now. At the age of 43.

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve noticed that there are a lot of 80′s songs being played everywhere. In commercials and on the radio (FM radio is chock full of the “oldies”). There are repeated showings of 80′s movies on tv (ANOTHER “Ferris Bueller/Terminator” Marathon on AMC?!?! Count me IN!) and there are plenty of channels rerunning 80′s television classics (if “ALF” is on, I’m watchin’!). Last week the remote control decided to stop on VH1 where they are airing 80′s music videos again (because apparently music videos of today kinda suck) and I must have watched 3 hours of Duran Duran/Whitesnake/A-Ha classics! So today it officially hit me that I am now a part of the age group that is spending its money. To capitalize on this, marketing teams around the country are pandering to my sense of nostalgia, working hard to get me to spend my well earned cash and ya know what? It’s kind of flattering!

I cannot deny that if I hear a song from my childhood in a commercial (OH YEEEEEEAH….Ferris Bueller pandering cars?!?! Love it!!!), I totally watch the entire spot. Does it make me want to buy a new car? Sure. I would LOVE to be able to afford a new car (well…actually I want a larger vehicle. Preferably something that doesn’t sit so low to the ground) even if I know there’s no way in hell I’m gonna go buy one. And those box sets that they market on tv overnight (“ALL THE 80′S CLASSICS! JUST LIKE YOU REMEMBER THEM!!!”) are tempting even if they do ONLY cost $9.99 a month for the rest of your life (although let’s be perfectly honest…I’ve downloaded them all already anyway). I’ll sit and watch “The Princess Bride” with commercials even if I do own it on Blu-Ray AND regular DVD just because I’m too lazy to go put them in the DVD player and I don’t want to miss Billy Crystal’s brief moment as Miracle Max (“Have fun storming the castle!”). I am a sucker for ALL this nostalgia stuff and I am being tricked, manipulated even, as my childhood is being used to woo me to spend my dolla billz and sentz (as the younger generation calls it…I think). But even with this push to get me to spend, SPEND, SPEND! I’m trying hard not too. Today we are in difficult times. Money is flowing like water down the drain and I am trying to keep my head afloat. As a matter of fact, from what I can tell…ALL of us are. Sure…there are the few lucky ones who have extra to burn and to those folks, I wish them all the best. But for me and most of my friends of the 80′s, from what I can tell, we are all treading water and looking for a life raft.

A couple of weeks ago, the MegaMillions lottery was up to a gazillion dollars (or somewhere close to that). Twitter and Facebook were going NUTZ (there I go with that young speak again) with friends posting about wanting to win the big payoff. Every day I can log on and read how my friends, old and new, are all trying to make do. A family vacation here, a little gift for oneself there (I just got an IPad. I’m officially WAY behind the curve on that one) but for the most part? We’re all spinning our wheels, trying to keep up in a world that is, for the most part, spinning out of control with access. It is SO easy these days to go surfing on the world wide web and buy ANYTHING we want! Or there is a Target 2 miles away. Or there are people coming to our doors to sell everything from cookies to lawn care to salvation for your soul (and they even take Mastercard, Visa and American Express!). Everywhere you turn…everyone wants MY money! And there are ways to make me wanna buy without me even realizing it. Until today.

A few weeks ago, I was in Destin, Florida with my family when I noticed that the music being played at the pool was all 80′s. This was interesting to me because you would have thought that more modern pop music would have been the music of choice, especially during spring break. But then I realized…I am the one who has the cash. It was my wife and I who paid for the vacation. It was my wife and I who had made the drive in our oversized tank with an entertainment system in single lane traffic for 2 days in crappy weather that had bought into this condo beach haven as a primo hotspot for our family and all of our friends’ families to visit for a week. It was I who had the cash to pony up for all the toys and bathing suits and sunblock (Mental Note: Sunblock MUST be applied on your feet also) so my kids could go splash around in the ocean for 5 hours before complaining of sand rash (Mental Note: wear biker shorts when in salt water. Ya don’t want your junk getting all scratchy). So…it made sense that the music being blared over the loud speakers near the heated pool (Mental Note: Even in Florida, a heated pool is WAY better than the non-heated pool in March) was a nice mixture of Michael Jackson and Madonna 80′s hits. Does it bother me that I’m the new “It” generation? Nah. I guess it had to happen sometime.

Today I went to the gym for the first time in months. I burned off 1300 calories, shot a little hoop, did 5 or 6 pushups and attended a spinning class. I’m feeling young again…until tonight when I’ll probably make pasta with meatballs for dinner with garlic bread and milk and then I’ll wake tomorrow with my legs searing with pain and my arms feeling numb. But for RIGHT THIS SECOND? I’m feeling young again. I am THE age that I should want to be. And so now I should be enjoying it instead of worrying about it so much. So I’ve made a goal for myself. And here it is…

I want to be able to play an entire game of basketball with my son without feeling like I’m gonna keel over at any second.

That’s it.

I don’t want to be 18 again. I don’t want to be 28 again. Hell…I don’t want to be 38 again. I don’t need ripped abs or sweet pecs or gluts of steel. I don’t want to be able to run the Boston Marathon or cross country like Forrest Gump. With my work schedule and kids schedule and social calendar, I CAN’T want those things. I do not have the time. But to want to simply be in shape enough to play ball with my son or daughter (if she wants to play) is all I really want. My Dad is 73 and he plays golf just about every day and he’s in GREAT shape. That’s what I want. I want to be 73 and in good enough shape that I can play tennis or golf or even shoot around and not feel like I’ve been smoking every day of my life. I think that’s a goal I can manage. So today is the start of the rest of my life, I suppose. It had to arrive sometime. Might as well be today. And then when I’M 73 and shooting hoops with my grandkids, they’ll all be amazed at how great grampy looks! Of course…the only problem with being 73 is that you are no longer a part of the “IT” generation. Somehow I don’t think that will be such a bad thing but I WILL miss the videos on VH1. Those are simply the best…

The Masters 2012…Tear Out Day

So another great Masters this year with Bubba Watson beating Louis Oooooothisoozen for the green jacket. As I sat watching from our tv truck as Watson hit this crazy hook out of the rough to land about 8 feet from the pin and a win, I had only one thing on my mind…on Monday we had to strike the tv compound.

Ugh.

Here’s the thing…on MOST tv events such as basketball games or baseball games or football games, there is 1 or maybe 2 trucks. In the case of The Masters…there are literally hundreds of trucks (ok…THAT might be stretching but it sure SEEMS like it) in our compound. And on Monday we get to tear out all the cables, all the cameras and get the equipment back in the trucks so they can move on to other events (such as The Heritage…where I am now). Since I’ve already written about Augusta & all of its magic, here’s the dirty side of what we do after a large event such as this. Exciting cant even begin to describe it!

No wonder I have back issues!!!

Here are some OTHER blogs I’ve written about Augusta. It really IS a beautiful course…

Augusta 2011

Augusta 2010

My Lee Trevino Story

A Tiger Sighting

A Quick Florida Vacation

The best part about spring break is my kids get to recharge their batteries and enjoy a little downtime from homework and school. The bad part? Spring break falls on a week during a little event called The Masters. This, in turn, is an issue because I make some pretty good bank working in Augusta, so for me to NOT work it would mean a pretty hefty financial loss. This year though, I was able to get to go on vacation for a couple days and enjoy some quality time with my family AND several of our friends and their kids! Needless to say, if you have kids and are looking for a good place to hang your hat for a few days, the Edgewater Condos in Miramar Beach ain’t a bad place to go. I only got to go for a couple days but managed to see the Kentucky Wildcats win the NCAA National Championship (which made my fellow Kentuckians very happy. I was rooting for the Buckeyes but Kansas knocked them off in the semifinal), got a case of sunburned feet AND enjoyed searching for seashells with Ava. All in all, it was 48 hours worth the trip. I set my phone/camera down (for the most part) so I could relax however I did take a couple pics and my friends sent me a couple from a luau they had later in the week that I was unable to attend that I HAD to share! Enjoy!

Boston, MA

Or…as they say it here…Baaaaahston. I have only been here a few times and this week, with the East Regional being played at the famed (and somewhat bland) Boston Garden, I had a chance to wander around with my co-worker and get a good tour of this historical city. If you are one to wander, like myself, you can follow the Freedom Trail, which is a red line that takes you to many historical sites. I look at this as nice way to keep everyone in line so that the locals don’t have to repeatedly point tourists in the direction of Paul Revere’s house.

As you can imagine, with Boston being one of our country’s oldest cities (it was founded in 1630), there is a unique combination of old and new. The downtown area has plenty of historical sites (the first schoolhouse in the country, the first courthouse in the country, the first tea party in the country, etc.)  mixed with many new places to visit, most which are brewpubs and Dunkin Donuts.

The top of The Old State House…site of the Boston Massacre. Aaaaand some big buildings.

If you like to eat, Boston is a great place to visit for the seafood. So much great crustacean & fish  here with crab shacks and high end restaurants that serve some delicious chowdah!, lobster & crab. One night, Erin and I wandered into The Barking Crab. We had some delicious crabcakes and Rockefeller oysters. Delicious!

Another great thing about Boston? Beer. Now I’m not a beer expert however, when you have a burial ground in the middle of downtown that has one of the most famous malsters ever? Then you KNOW the city is big on its beer! Of course, Sam Adams did other stuff also…but this ain’t a history lesson so…have a pint and go to Wikipedia for yourself!

Here lies dear old Sam...

We toasted in his honor.

If you like to walk (and you WILL need to walk after drinking all that beer), you can hike it around the Harborwalk. There you can get some pretty views of the Financial District and go for a quick swim in the Boston Harbor. The Harbor is where they had a famous tea party in 1773. Apparently the colonist decided they wanted more beer…NOT more tea so they chucked a bunch of tea bags it into the water there. That may…or may not be what happened. You can read about it here. And as far as the “swimming” in the Harbor? Just kidding about that. They frown on midnight skinny dipping here…(or so I hear)

Another fun thing to do in Boston? See dead people. This city has 3 hugely popular cemeteries (and I’m sure there are plenty more but we WERE following the red line here people…) that are the home for a lot of possible zombies. There are haunted tours and some of the headstones look to be hundreds of years old and the trees, with their withered branches, only add to the ambiance. Now…if only we coulda found Paul Revere’s headstone. Maybe I should have asked a local…

The Green Dragon Bar. Where MANY dead guys drank back in the day…

To sum up Boston…there’s plenty to do, lots to see, lots to eat and lots to drink. If you’re ever looking to get a good look at our country’s history but also want the comforts of our modern world, Boston is definitely worth the trip! Oh yeah…and go get a Boston Creme Pie at the place where it was originally made in 1856. “The Last Hurrah” at the Omni Parker Hotel is said to be that place. I have to say…it was okay but could have been a little creamier. But that’s just MY opinion…

My head is ALMOST as big as the jumbotron in the TD (Boston) Garden!!!

Sushi! & A Smart Cookie

Tonight we all piled into the station wagon (with the wood siding…remember those days? LOL) and headed out to Ava’s favorite buffet place. The reason she likes it so much? The sushi…of course. And since no one else could decide (I didn’t care, Christopher wasn’t that hungry & Steph just didn’t want to cook), we went with Ava’s gut. And I gotta tell ya…when the girl is hungry for sushi, get outta her way ’cause she had a craving of epic proportions tonight!

So we get to the buffet, order our drinks and Ava takes off. I see her somewhere between the rice and the egg drop soup and she already has 3 or 4 different foods on her plate and she hadn’t even stopped at the sushi bar yet. After filling my plate, I head back to our seats where Christopher and Stephanie are seated and eating. I look around and I kid you not, I see Ava at the sushi bar, literally eating stuffing sushi rolls into her mouth!!! It’s an all-you-can-eat bar! She can go back all she wants but she is EATING AT THE BAR?!?!

So I call out to her and she looks over at me and smiles with her mouth full of sushi roll and I can’t help but laugh at her. What a great kid she is…and what a sense of humor!!! And what a stomach for sushi!!!

After dinner and a quick round of sushi sword fighting, the waiter brought us some fortune cookies and Christopher’s said this…

I’m not sure if this was meant for Christopher or for me but it works either way. I told him he should frame that because honestly…it’s the most truthful fortune cookie I’ve ever seen!

Oh yeah…and here’s what sushi sword fighting looks like…in case you were wondering…

NOW We’re Dancin’!!!

ONIONS!!!

What a magical tournament it has been for Ohio and the Cincinnati region! In the Sweet 16, every regional local team that made the tournament is in and the Ohio Bobcats (my alma mater) are the lowest seed to get in since 2006. It’s also the first time the Bobcats have made it into the regional semifinal since 1964! With strong wins versus Michigan (gag) and a tough South Florida team, Ohio definitely deserves to be where they are! So the matchups in the regionals look like this…

In MY regional in Boston, OHIO STATE takes on the CINCINNATI BEARCATS in what should be a very physical game. It’s also a matchup that has happened only 3 times since 1961. Considering their proximity, you would think these 2 teams would face off a little more often. Either way, in 2006 OSU won 72-50 and then before that it was for the National Championship in 1961 & 1962 (both Cincinnati wins). In the 2nd game, Syracuse faces off against Wisconsin. If Ohio State & Wisconsin win, it will be the third time these 2 teams have seen each other with both teams winning on the other’s home courts the first go around. Should be an interesting game heading into the Final 4!

In St. Louis, THE OHIO BOBCATS take on the North Carolina Tar Heels who lost point guard Kendall Marshall with a wrist fracture. This bodes well for the Bobcats because our point guard, DJ Cooper, has been on fire in this tournament and that could possibly be a difference maker versus the talented Heels team. Either way, look for the Bobcats to adapt to whatever style of play the Baby Blues decide to throw at them and give them a good run. Then in the 2nd game, 11th seeded NC State takes on the Kansas Jayhawks in what will probably be a good game but I don’t really care because I’ll be focused on the Bobcats game.

Down in the South Region, the KENTUCKY WILDCATS are HOT right now. With Iowa State on an emotional high and tied 42-42 on Saturday, the Wildcats went on a tear and ended up blowing out the Cyclones. It might have been the fastest I’ve ever seen a team turn on a dime and just click and the Cats have got the best starting 5 in the country. They will be taking on the only team to beat them in the regular season, Indiana. Will the psychological stress get to the Wildcats? Can the Hoosiers return to their glory days and upend the most talented team in the country? We shall see. Then in the other matchup, the 10th seeded XAVIER MUSKETEERS look to advance to the Elite 8 vs a tough Baylor squad. The Muskies had a tough road with wins vs 2 scrappy teams. Notre Dame pushed them but their speed prevailed in the 1st Round and then Lehigh, fresh off their trouncing of Duke, gave them a good game until X took over at the end.

Down in Phoenix, Michigan State takes on Rick Pitino’s high-flyin’ LOUISVILLE CARDINALS, another pleasant surprise in this year’s tournament. I actually thought the Cards would be a quick upset out, but here they are! And in the other game, Marquette takes on Florida, who absolutely obliterated Norfolk State in their 3rd round matchup. That one should be a pretty good game actually. Marquette proved they deserve to be here with a good win over a talented Murray State team and could be the surprise team of the tournament after this game.

So the matchups are in and I have to say, I can’t recall ever being so excited about this tournament! I love The Madness but this past week has taken it to new heights with so many local teams getting in and with the Bobcats playing so well! So…GO OU!!! And here’s hoping we see an Ohio, Ohio State, Xavier, Louisville Final Four? That would be AWESOME!!!!

Buuuut…it might be a stretch…LOL

The Most Wonderful Day Of The Year!!!

March Madness is here! And what a tournament it SHOULD be. With ALL of my favorite teams making the field, I should have plenty to cheer about this season. Now it’s just a matter of placing them in one of the various sites in the tournament. For MY money, I would LOVE to see my Ohio Bobcats in Louisville, KY. That is where I will be for CBS this tournament and tonight is the Selection Show that will fill in all the blanks. For me, the Selection Show is a lot like Christmas because it does 2 things…

1. It tells me what teams will be playing at my designated site.
2. It tells CBS where it’s gonna send it’s production teams and usually I hear from one of my co-workers Sunday who we will be working with. This is always fun because we find out who our director, producer, graphics coords, etc will be.

So watching the Selection Show is a LOT like opening presents on Christmas morning. You already know you’re gonna be getting something from grandma…you just don’t know what it is yet! So here’s to the Ohio Bobcats (who won the MAC tournament), the Ohio State Buckeyes (who face Michigan State AGAIN for the Big Ten title today), the Xavier Musketeers (who play St. Bonaventure for the Atlantic 10 title today), the Cincinnati Bearcats (who lost in the Big East Championship to Louisville) and to the Kentucky Wildcats (who face off against Vanderbilt for the SEC title today). Possibly 2 of these local area teams could get a #1 seed in the Dance (Ohio State might be the long shot but if they beat MSU today…it could happen!) and I’m hoping to see possibly 2 of them in Louisville for the 2nd & 3rd rounds! That would be awesome!!!

Gotta LOVE the Madness!!!

By the way…anyone see the sweet uniforms the Bobcats wore last night in the MAC Final? Cool threads, OU…

EDITORS NOTE: So…the Selection Committee has done the most SENSIBLE thing and placed Kentucky and Murray State in Louisville. But unfortunately Ohio isn’t there. They are, instead, a little farther southeast in Nashville where they SHOULD get a decent turnout as they face the HATED Michigan Wolverines! I say they can win that game just like when they beat Georgetown a couple years ago! Go CATS!

As for the rest of the teams I’ll be watching, Marquette will face whoever wins the BYU/Iona matchup in Dayton, Kentucky faces off against whoever wins the Mississippi Valley St/Western Kentucky matchup (who WOULDN’T want to see 3 KY teams in Louisville?), Colorado St is up against the Racers and in the “who gives a crap matchup” of this site, Iowa State vs UConn. So…not exactly the best Christmas ever but it’ll do. And if there ARE 3 Kentucky teams playing, it should make for some good crowds in Cardinal City!

What The Heck…Words With Friends???

Kicking & screaming I was dragged back to this stupid IPhone game and I DEMAND to know how I can’t play the word “OZ” but my friends can use words such as the following and get points out of it…

• Gen
• Zori
• Ager
• Nop
• Sau
• Ag
• Virl
• Pi
• Touse
• El
• Jo
• Pugh
• Ef
• Fa
• Za
• Kob
• Shea
• Goy
• Nits

So I can understand how people get strapped for words and they need to bail themselves out with a RANDOMLY MADE UP WORD…but I don’t understand HOW they get away with it? Ok…so maybe SOME of them aren’t made up. “Gen” is an informal term for information. “Touse” means to pull. “Jo” is a SCOTTISH term for a sweetheart! It’s NOT in the English language! A bunch of these other “words” are slang or, in the case of a few of them, are a note in the music scale! THAT’S NOT FAIR!!!

Meanwhile, I’m stuck with 2 V’s, 5 vowels and an X.

SCREW THIS STUPID GAME!!!!

Oh…alright…I’m gonna pass just ONE MORE TIME…

I hate this game…but…do you wanna play? How about “Hanging With Friends?” LOVE that game…