Saturday, June 30, 2007

Jason's first best friend.

Last night Jason said that moms are your first best friend and dads are your second best friend. I asked why moms are first. He replied, "Because moms give birth to you."

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

No line of demarcation on the horizon

Today was a pool day. David had a busy day at work otherwise it would have been a boat/beach day. The temp exceeded 90 degrees.

The day started with a dental appointment. I don't go as often I as I should. The last time was two years ago. Water was turned off in the building half way through my cleaning leaving me with a mouth full of gunk. Gunk isn't a word you hear nearly enough. Fortunately they were able to find me some bottled water to rinse with. Overall not a bad experience. I need to floss more.

Headed to the pool with the boys as soon as it opened. Have to get there early to get a chair. The water was like a bath. Some people like it cold when it is hot out, not me. J brought his blue football to play with which kept us busy most of the time in the pool. I know, everything we do seems to revolve around football. I took breaks every so often to read my ND book The New Gold Standard: Charlie Weis and Notre Dame's Rise to Glory by Tim Prister. I was easily distracted so I only read on chapter today, but that is no reflection on the book. I like it. It is responsible for my farmers tan from last week at the pool where instead of swimming I stayed in my shorts and read the whole time.

By the time we returned, David was home. We headed out to the buffet. Found out it was Blizard/Banana split night. J also got a balloon. From there off to the boat. The lake was as flat as glass. Boaters were in heaven as they skimmed the water at speeds exceeding 60 mph. Not us though. We are cruisers, not go fast people. Traveled the lake some and the river. The sun had almost set completely as we entered the channel to dock. The sky was a mixture of pastels making the lake equally beautiful. There was no line of demarcation on the horizon. It's as if we were just floating on air.

Monday, June 25, 2007

I bid 2 tricks

I love playing spades. It isn't something I do often. We usually play Rummy or Go Fish or as Jason would say Gold Fish. Spades is by far my favorite. I learned to play as a freshman at ONU. Time not spent in class was time spent playing cards. Okay, there was some time playing cards when I should have been in class too. I was lucky to have friends who put up with my "Oops! I didn't mean to put that down" style of playing. Yep. They were a good group. I miss it.

In place of my friends, I now have boots. On the MSN gaming zone you can play spades against the computer. You can also play with real people but they tend to be chatty and I don't do chatty with people I don't know.

It isn't the same, but it will have to do.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Cleveland Browns Rookie Charles Ali

After blogging about him in my last post I decided to google him. He is what I found:

Cleveland Browns Rookie Charles Ali

..> College: Arkansas-Pine Bluff Position: FB Number: 41
Class/Draft Year: Sr/2007
Height: 6-2 Weight: 267

40 Time: 4.84 40 Low: 4.78 40 High: 4.90
..>
..> ..> COMBINE RESULTS
Combine Invite:
Wonderlic: N/A
40 Yrd Dash: N/A
20 Yrd Dash: N/A
10 Yrd Dash: N/A 225 Lb. Bench Reps: N/A
Vertical Jump: N/A
Broad Jump: N/A
20 Yrd Shuttle: N/A
3-Cone Drill:N/A
..> ..> PRO DAY RESULTS
Dates: 03/13/07
40 Yrd Dash: 4.84
20 Yrd Dash: 2.82
10 Yrd Dash: 1.68 225 Lb. Bench Reps:
Vertical Jump:
Broad Jump:
20 Yrd Shuttle:
3-Cone Drill:
..>
..>



Draft Scout Player News
05/03/07 - Undrafted Rookie Free Agent, signed by Browns: A native of St. Louis, Mo., Ali (6-2, 260) started his collegiate career as a linebacker and switched to fullback in 2003. In 2006, he played in 11 games, rushed 13 times for 32 yards, and caught 9 passes for 56 yards. - clevelandbrowns.com



This information comes from NFL Draft News online.



I really hope he makes the cut this season. He was really great at the HOF meet and greet.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Pro Football Hall of Fame REVISED!

Football Hall of Fame - revised


We headed out just before 2pm so we would have plenty of time to tour the HOF before the Rookie Meet and Greet. It's a good thing because we made one wrong turn and hit road contruction which added 30 minutes to our trip.

The staff was very friendly. Often times you go to these places the staff is surly and apathetic. This group was a terrific smiley happy bunch. My kinda people. They directed us to the exhibits. On the way, we came across a group of handicapped children waiting to see the players. I am pleased to see that. There was so many things to see. The BUST room was different. A bit creepy. Not as creepy as that guy wearing the shirt with Brady Quinn's face on it, but darn close. I like Brady. He's a great guy. But a shirt with his face on it is just weird. The room also had 5 or 6 touch screens to view information on the hall of fame players. I looked up Ozzie Newsome. The coolest thing was the holographic image of a Hall of Fame ring. It was like being in a Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode. I was expecting Minuet to saunter by to seduce Commander Riker. Sorry....I had to show my Weird Al white and nerdy side. It looked real. Hard to believe. Another favorite was the football throwing. I got 4 in the holes. Don't ask how many I had to throw to get that number (20). Jason really enjoyed it too. While we were doing that, Devin played X-Box. There was some interactive game that none of us could figure out also. After seeing all the exhibits we hit the gift shop. Nice to see all the Brady Quinn jerseys. I order them a month ago from footlocker and am still waiting for one of them. Grrrr......Anyway, bought J a mini football and a couple HOF glasses. Always buy glasses when we to somewhere special. We put away the stuff and went to stand in line for the meet and greet, which turned out to be a waste of time as people wandered in all the way until it started at 6pm. They said that last year only 50 people showed up. This year there were at least 200-300 people. It was scary at times. We hung out for awhile then headed to the hill to see over the mob. David took some pictures of Brady as he came in. They brought him out last. I felt bad for the other players because he seemed to be the main attraction. We waited awhile to go down to the players because the mob was ugly. Grown men pushed children aside to get autographs on their mini helmets and the like. There was one point where the crowd was so close to Brady and Joe that we couldn't see them. We were up high enough were we should have been able to. There was a gentlemen who asked the crowd to stand back several times, let people out, and to only have one item signed. Few were compliant. I would've liked to see him do it Titanic style. Perhaps I am judging them too harshly. After all these are grown men. How could they go on living without an NFL player's autograph. Damn those small children for getting in their way! Sigh.....

About half way through the signing the staff decided to form lines for each player. That worked much better. Had they done that from the beginning, I believe everyone would've gotten every single players autograph. They will do better next time. But then next year they may be back down to 50 people without Brady. lol

Devin was able to get 7 autographs. Charles Ali asked him what position he plays in football, which made him happy. Charles also took the time to look at the Browns book Jason made for today. He told him to keep up the good work. How cool is that?!

Jason got 4 autographs on his own and then I got the rest while he stood in line for Brady. Sadly he didn't get his autograph before the end. He cried. I felt terrible. There were just too many people for him to see. There was one kid who only stood in line to see him and then didn't get his autograph either. One of the autographs I got was Joe Thomas. He has the most beautiful eyes by the way. All the players were very nice. They even took time to take photos with people.

To cheer Jason up we went to McDonalds on our way back. He was too excited to eat before we left so he was super hungry. He got a happy meal and a milk shake. That seemed to perk him up. We also sang all the way home. J requested Over my Head by the Fray first. That led to a few others including my favorite Look After You. Poor David does not like the Fray. He was a good sport. From there we moved on the Devo's Whip It. Cool Devo car dancing was inevitable. Lastly was Le Freak. Made me want to put on my roller skates and do the flea hop.

It was a good day. One that I will never forget. :)

Chi Chis Taco Mix

Just when I thought the day couldn't get better. I had just finished editing my blog when I remembered my package from Econofoods was due today. Sure enough, it came while we were away. I eagerly broke open the package and counted each and every envelope of goodness. You see they do not sell Chi Chis taco seasoning mix here, which is cruel considering we no longer have Chi Chis restaurants. So tomorrow it's tacos for everyone, but mostly me. hahahha!!!!!!

Thursday, June 14, 2007

My uncle has cancer

My uncle has cancer


My cousin told me yesterday that our uncle has colon cancer. Either he has had it for awhile or it is a fast growing tumor because it is quite large. Normally there would be external bleeding to prompt a person to see their physician and hopefully catch the cancer early. That was not the case with my uncle. He bled internally.

Still waiting to hear more. The reason I am telling you this is because I want everyone to encourage their family members (BOTH MALE AND FEMALE) to have colon/rectal screening starting at the age of 50. Earlier if there is a family history or bleeding from the rectum.

At our last family get together I had this conversation with my mom and mother-in-law. We talked about their various ailments and I was adamant that they have a colonoscopy. Here comes the "I told you so moment" only they are not the ones with the cancer. It is too close to home my friends. Too close.

My uncle Dale is a great guy. He doesn't smoke, eats right, works hard, and loves his family. This is why I don't believe in Karma.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Yeah! I'm finally back online.

Over the past three days I have only had internet access for a matter of minutes and all the lower numbered channels of our cable were a snowy mess. Turns out there were a number of issues that previous repairmen did not address that led to our difficulties. Our guy was one of the good ones. The channels have never come in so clear, not even when we first had it hooked up. It was killing me not to be able to get online. My online class started Monday and I couldn't get on until a couple of hours ago. I also missed my daily routine of reading blogs, shopping, emails, and the like.

Our TM cable man assured us smoothe sailing from here on out. Turns out he lives less than a minute from my sister and his parents actually live on the same street as Casey. It is a small world.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Damn. We are old.

We decided to eat lunch midday and then head down to the boat last night. Once we got to the dock, Jason wanted to fish but Devin wanted to go to the bookstore (we had forgotten to go on the way there). So Devin and I went to Barnes and Noble. Ended up buying 7 books. They only had one of his required summer reading books for school so the rest were for fun. The list is The Giver (required), Lord of the Flies, Drakula, Dr. Jeckle and Mr. Hyde, Walden/Civil Disobedience, Vampire Plagues, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (for Jason). We were in there for an hour.

By the time we got back to the boat, David had already started the fire and J was roasting marshmallows. The night was just cool enough to make the fire enjoyable. I was good. I only ate 1 s'more, 8 marshmellows, and a hershey bar. Devin and J sometimes put a chunk of chocolate in the marshmallow before they roast it. It's pretty good as long as you don't leave it in the fire too long or put in too much chocolate. Either way ends up in the fire instead of your tummy. The sky was so clear there was no place for the stars to hide. Devin gave me an astronomy lesson as J pouted because we weren't spending the night.

David kept the fire burning for two hours. That is about an hour and a half longer than he usually does. A friend showed him the right way to do it this time. I was very proud.

Today was a lazy day. We played football in the yard and then went for ice cream. We realized that we have been going to the same ice cream place for over 30 years. Damn. We are old.

Friday, June 8, 2007

Darker shade of white

My family comes from Europe. The countries of my origin are Ireland, Yugoslavia, Czeckoslovokia, and Poland. Yes, I am Polish. I fully expect the Polish jokes to flood in. This means I am very white. I'm Larry Byrd white. You know the part in Space Jam where Bill Murry says Larry isn't white...Larry is clear. Yep. That's me. I know this and yet when we went to the pool yesterday I did not apply my SPF 50. So today me and the boys are lobsters. The boys have the advantage of French, Spanish, and Indian in their genes so they will tan. I tan too. I turn a darker shade of white.

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Illegal Plates

I am required to have a background and FBI check before entering fourth semester. On the way to be finger printed, I saw a car with the license plate "Illegal". I'm thinking this isn't the smartest personalized plate or even the most clever. If I were a police officer or sheriff I would pull this dumbass over every time he crossed my path. Is this a trend?Will I start to see plates like Wifbtr, drugadct, imapimp, yttrash, Osamarulz, Gocarjkrz, taxchetr...I could go on and on.
I have nothing against cute personalized license plates. I say do what you want. But there are some that beg the question don't you think?