Quick Hits

Quick thoughts:

1. Tax Season = Good for Business, Bad for Blogging

2. Baseball season is coming, and can't come soon enough

3. Two quotes from the current U2 album that I enjoy:
-"Every beauty needs to go out with an idiot"
(I'm glad A took this advice some 14 years ago...)
-"Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady"

4. As for the new U2 album, I hear much appreciation for "Magnificent" but I don't share it. The album has pretty good, and not so good, songs on it and it is certainly no "How to dismantle an atomic bomb"

5. There is one crocus bloom in my backyard (even though we planted more than 100 last fall), but I know spring is coming because I saw the ice melting salt on sale...

2 things

Been quiet around here, but we're still truckin' on the do-dah man on this snowy Monday morning.

Two things worth a few minutes:

1. Been listening to a lot of Johnny Cash lately. Read this article and be challenged by the man in black.

2. This video will bring much joy to fans of "The Office."

Good Stuff

1. The "Fiction Family" show was excellent. Go check their website and see if they are coming to a town near you. The music is excellent, and is bettered by the great stage presence of Foreman and Watkins.

2. I wish I was a rock star...should have paid more attention in 6th grade music class.

3. Friday is an outstanding day of the week.

Tonight's Show

Going to see a "Fiction Family" show tonight. Their album has been just ok on my first few listens, but I have high hopes for these two in live concert.

The dark winter

Now that the Eagles have made their all-too-familiar departure from the playoffs, I now enter the deep days of winter - "twenty degrees and the hockey game's on..." to quote Jimmy Buffett.

But there is something oddly enjoyable about the darkness of winter. I read recently in a series of essays by a New Englander that he keeps a sign in his home that says: "In Summer Remember Winter"

Paying Up

Looks like the Miller High Lifes are indeed on me.

We'll still come around

The title to the post is inspired by the Counting Crows song I was listening to at the time of this post.

Here is what's going down:

- Good Christmas in Texas. Good times with family and friends.

- I've been reading a few pretty good books, and may even throw a review or two on here.

- I'm pretty excited the Eagles made the playoffs, and it was especially sweet to deliver a significant beating to the Cowboys.

- A's Utah Utes are going up against a good Alabama squad in the Sugar Bowl tonight, should the Utes win it'll be Miller High Lifes on me.

- I welcomed the new year alone on my couch for the second year in a row. A was very willing to hang with me, but I had mercy and sent her off to bed at 11:15. I watched the ball fall with Dick Clark (he of a recent stroke), and I must say that I'll take a slowed Dick Clark over this Ryan Seacrest guy - whoever he is. Where have all the classic entertainers and media folks gone?

Weekends

What better way to spend a Winter's Saturday morning than to watch your little fellow learn to play hockey?

Learning

Our resident kindergartner, J, has begun to enjoy the ability to read some 2 and 3 letter words. The other day, he went over to our bookshelf and got a book to flip through and look for words he recognized. Here is a picture of him reading his first "big people's book." An interesting choice of first books:

No Excuses

Dear Blog,

I haven't forgotten you. Not to make excuses (but I will anyway), but it seems that three kids is a bit busier than two kids (always blame the kids for one's lack of diligence) and there are a few things to take care of at work (if there are no kids, go with the "work's busy" story). Add in a little holiday fever (if no kids and unemployed, holidays will always suffice), and things get a bit dicey. In the end, the blog loses out. I'll be back, though.

A good looking fella

Our Boy, known as baby G:

My weekend in pictures

To recap:
- One World Series title, after waiting 25+ years for a championship (by the way, J got school off for the parade)
- One happy Dinosaur and one happy bat with over 6 lbs. of candy
- One big 10 lb. 4 oz. healthy baby boy
- Amazing

A Busy Weekend

A few things are going down this weekend, including:

1. A's due date is today. (A point of clarification, the picture below is not the inside of A, but a pic a found elsewhere) However, the spirit of the picture remains, and the baby has a good chance of being named "Series" or "World" (in honor of the great ex-76er World B. Free) or something of the like.

2. Halloween: I will be taking a dinosaur and a bat (think flying mammal, not louisville slugger) around s. philly to procure signficant amounts of candy. A is going as a pregnant woman (maybe). I am going as a dad who wants to snake the "big people candy" (e.g. heath bars and hershey's almond bars) from my kids' bags.

3. That's about it. Let's go Phillies and let's not have another night like this:

Heritage

It appears that I have passed along the curse of being a Philadelphia sports fan, which I received from my Father. Below is a picture, and the arrival should be any time in the next two weeks:

Some are weirder than others

I often have those moments where I clearly see my personal quirks and weirdness. And sometimes I feel that I am stranger than most. And then I hear about articles like this. And then I realize that there are some out there who are crazier than I.

Apparently, people are sending text messages from a huge satellite in Ukraine to a faraway planet, with the hope of getting a text in return in about 40 years.



If there is contact made, I nominate my friend Matt M. to be a spokesman on behalf of mankind. He likes aliens, speaks in complete sentences, and will graciously offer to treat any foreign beings to a vanilla milkshake. My sister, B, would be good at this as well.