School projects

I don't remember being assigned book reports and speeches based on a biography in second grade back in the olden days when I was 8 years old. Shawn of course decided to pick George Lucas as his subject and along with the report that Lisa is helping with he has to provide visual aids. One being a poster and the other a diorama of which Shawn though a scene from Star Wars would be an excellent choice. I had the great pleasure of "helping" Shawn with the diorama. Yes me, the guy with little if any artistic ability. Here's the result:Looks like I still have the artistic capability of a second grader. If you can't figure it out, it is Yoda's planet of Dagobah where Luke began his Jedi training.

Other than the art project, this weekend included a first communion retreat and cleaning the much neglected house. I also finally purchased the wood for the basement shelving units that I have been putting off for so long. I think I'm going to frame the shelving units and then practice my drywall skills on the small nook under our basement stairs and also try my hand at installing a pre-hung door. I figured it would give me a bit of practice to tackle the rest of the basement. The project should also result in a nice closet space too. Once I get the shelves built and the junk we store down there organized, I won't have an excuse not to start finishing the basement.

Yard Ornament

Look what happened last night. A giant hen landed in our tree out back and laid these perfectly colored plastic eggs and attached them to the tree's branches!

Simply Amazing!

Philly, back and then to Cleveland

Last week was a bit of a traveling week for me. I drove the nearly 8-1/2 hours to the Philadelphia area to do a sampling for QVC employees last week and to observe our on-air dog and pony show. The drive wasn't too horribly bad except for the first two hours in Pennsylvania where I experienced a bit of fog. I arrived at my hotel around 3:30pm and relaxed a bit before venturing out for a bit to eat. I really didn't feel like driving too far since I was traveling in a cargo in order to haul a trade show booth and product. I ended walking the quarter mile or so to a tavern called Duffer's. Had the fish and chips which was pretty disappointing (undercooked a bit and not very flavorful) and a couple a pints of Sierra Nevada. Since it was still early, I decided to see if I could find a grocery store to pick us a local ale or two to enjoy while watching some television. Strange thing happened, the grocery store didn't sell beer, the gas stations didn't sell beer and the liquor store I found didn't sell beer either. Rejected, I headed back to the room and watched some tube while texting Lisa at home.

The next morning I set up the trade show booth in the middle of QVC's atrium and answered questions about our product for a couple of hours and then tore the booth down and packed it back up in the cargo van. I did sell out of all the product I brought with me, which was a good thing! I then headed back to the room to shower and wait until later that evening to pick my boss up from the airport in the cargo van. I was probably being watched a bit seeing that I circled around the airport's arrival area in a pretty white cargo van for about a half hour but the police for the most part left me alone. After leaving the airport, we headed back to the QVC studio to watch our first television spot. It was pretty interesting watching the production. Pretty much several rooms with a few studios in each and cameras all over the place. All of us on hand other than the company spokesperson sat in a room with a television, a couple of comfortable couches, a full kitchen stocked with junk food and pop and a couple of PCs that tracked sales and call volume. It was a pretty nice set up; I'm glad I had the opportunity to experience it.

The following day, after about 4 hours sleep, I headed home. To get some much need sleep...I pretty much crashed as soon as I walked in the door.

Friday Lisa the Kids and I headed back to Cleveland for my mom's wedding ceremony that was to take place on Saturday. We decided to spend the night in a hotel so we wouldn't get in the way of Ron and Mom as they got ready. On the way to the hotel, Shawn and I spent some time at Dave and Busters playing video games and sipping on beer and "Darth Vaders" (aka Shirley Temples). I was pretty addicted to a Deal or No Deal, you win prize tickets depending on what was in your case. While Shawn and I were busy blowing cash on video games, Lisa and Katelyn headed to a couple of Marcs stores. I'm not a huge fan of Marcs but Lisa just loves the junk areas of these stores...I think she would actually detest the stores if she actually lived in the Cleveland area. We did end up meeting up with Mike, Mom and Ron for dinner at Santo's. We had a couple of pies which were pretty good and then headed back to Mom's for a few minutes before heading back to the hotel.

Saturday was Mom's big day. Lisa, the Kids and I headed to the florist to pick up a bouquet, a boutonniere and another large flower arrangement then to Rito's bakery to pick up a cake we ordered. Rito's has the very best Cassata cakes! The ceremony was nice, they had it at the condo they purchased together last fall. Mom looked very nice and looked happy if you looked through the tears. I would post pictures but Lisa is putting together a really nice photo album for them so I will not post the pictures for now (sorry Mom, you'll have to wait). After a few glasses of champagne and the obligatory photographs, it was off to dinner at J Bella. The food was really good, at least the Eggplant Parmesan I had was good.

Back at Mom's after dinner, we played a little Wii, had a beer or two and headed back to the hotel. Sunday morning, I took Shawn down to the pool before we headed back home by way of two other Marcs stops and a stop at Malley's Chocolates. Malley's always brings back good memories to me. Easter baskets filled with a Malley's solid chocolate bunny, Malley's chocolate bars that we sold for school fundraisers and the ever popular Malley's hot fudge sundae! All great Cleveland area traditions and they all bring back great childhood memories. Then back home.

Yesterday was report card day for Shawn. I can't believe that three quarters of the school year is finished already. Shawn did really well! He had 15 pluses (highest mark) up from 7 last report period! Unfortunately for me, the 15 pluses equated to $15 out of my pocket to him as a reward. For an added reward, we asked him what he wanted for dinner and he responded "I want to go to Hooters!"...that's my boy! For the very first time, Shawn actually ordered chicken wings...it brought a tear to my eye. It was really cute, he ordered the wings and when they arrived, he looked at me and said "Dad, you need to show me how to eat these". What a mess he made but I think he enjoyed them. After dinner, Shawn decided to blow the $60 he had saved between grades, birthday and other gifts on a Star Wars Lego kit. I wasn't all that pleased that he wanted to blow his money on another Lego set but it did at least afford me some much needed time alone with the Wii!

One other item of note, I just found out that the Cleveland Diocese is closing the church that I attended growing up. The one I attended CCD classes, made my first communion at and played C.Y.O. basketball. It's such a shame it has to close, it is one of the most prominent landmarks on the west side of Cleveland as you drive down I-90 heading downtown. Not sure why the closing of St. Ignatius of Antioch bothers me but it does. I still remember very clearly Sister Rita teaching CCD class and Father Rupp presiding over my first communion mass.

St. Ignatius of Antioch (Cleveland, OH)

Happy 8th Brithday Shawn!

Finally after 3 weeks of celebrating, Shawn's birthday is officially here! To be 8 years old again. Nothing to worry about other than when you got to go play outside next. Things really have changed since I turned 8. Now we live in a world of terrorism running amuck, phones you carry around on your hip, juke boxes no larger than a book of matches and computers are what seems like an everyday necessity. Back when I was 8 (a very very long time ago). It was baseball card collections, board games, hand held video games (that's what we called them) that you controlled little red light dots on sports fields and playing outside pretty much any sport you can imagine and in anyplace that we wouldn't break a window.

Friday, Shawn had his friend Luke sleep over and they pretty much played with legos and had WWE wrestling matches all evening. Shawn and Katelyn then had a sleep over at Nana and Papas and Lisa and I went out to eat at Poco Piatti with Jill and Todd. The food was just fair and was over priced. We had hommos, Tabbouleh, Saganaki (flaming Cheese), vegetable grape leaves, a tomato basil mozzarella pizza and then Lisa and I split the shish Kabob (beef) and the sides were a mushroom risotto and garlic mashed potatoes. The risotto was over-seasoned and the potatoes were....just potatoes. Probably will not return again; no value for the money!

Sunday, we celebrated Shawn's birthday. His big present was a Wii with a ton of accessories and three games. I was really surprised as seen in the video clip below. Home video games sure have changes since Atari 2600!

We had a tough time getting Shawn to sleep last night. We also went out to eat at The Elephant Bar, which is always pretty good.

On a different note, only 25 days till opening day! The unofficial start of summer. I've been trying to unload an extra ticket since one of the original members of the opening day club dropped out this year (Lance). I'm not having much luck, I may sell it on the street the day of the game for face value if I can find any takers. Pretty crazy but after going to opening day for the past 11-12 years now, this is the very first time I find myself with an extra ticket to unload.Mom and Dad are official Broke. Thanks for chipping in Uncle Brad, Nana and Papa!

Where did my sister get the cash for all of this stuff?

Shawn's third 8th birthday cake....a cherry pie!
(Thanks Nana)

Shawn's birthday part 2

It has been a busy week it seems but not sure what I have accomplished. Last weekend we took a trip to visit my family to celebrate Shawn's birthday a week early. Typically we have my family, Lisa's family and a few friends to our house for the kid's parties but with them having birthdays so close together and Shawn being of the age that he really wants a party with his friends, we decided not to have family party at our house that seems to be so obligatory for everyone invited and most have to travel anyways so all in all it seemed like a good idea to forgo the family party at our house. The unfortunate byproduct of canceling the party at our house is that Shawn's birthday seems to be going on forever. Monday is his "official" birthday. We will celebrate on Sunday since I have to work on Monday and then leave early Tuesday for a business trip to the Philadelphia area for a couple of days. As of right now, we plan on heading the The Elephant Bar for dinner and opening his presents on Sunday. Shawn is off school all next week for intersession so he will make good use of the gift we bought him...not saying what it is yet! Most people already know anyway.

My Mom and Ron planned a nice birthday party for Shawn complete with big meals and a Batman cake made from scratch. I don't typically do cake but Mom really out did herself with this one. It could very well be the best cake ever, sure beats the cake in the box. Kim and Mike came over and later that evening my Mom's sister and her husband stopped by to say hello. Aunt Patty and Al haven't seen the kids in a couple of years so it was nice they stopped by to visit for a bit.

While visiting last weekend with my family, I also had the opportunity to pick up my beer from my brewing episode a few weeks back. The beer at first was extremely bitter due to the large quantity of Simcoe hops contained in it coupled with the high CO2 volume (I think it was over carbonated). But the sample I tasted last night was much better. I think this beer will actually mellow with age and in turn will become more drinkable. I was afraid that this batch was going to have me back to buying Miller Lite kegs (not a chance).

This week seems to be riddled with deaths. On Friday of last week, my great-aunt passed away. She was the sister of my Dad's mother. My Aunt Stella lived in the upper peninsula of Michigan and would have turned 96 years old in May! Not sure how anyone can live in that environment for 64 years and live to be 96. I don't remember too much of Aunt Stella because the last time I saw her was at my grandmother's funeral (when I was about 12 years old). I do remember that she was a nice woman and the few times I saw her I remember she and my grandmother always seemed to have a blast. For some reason I've been reflecting on life a bit this past week because of her death. Maybe it's because I have one relative remaining that I know or remember on my father's side of my family...my Aunt Peggy. Fortunately for me, Peggy is the feistiest one of the entire bunch and she'll probably outlive me!

Tonight, Shawn's friend Luke is coming over for a "sleep-over" and then the kids are going to spend the night on Saturday at Nana and Papa's house. I think Lisa and I will grab a bite to eat at Poco Piatti on Saturday.

I leave you with a picture of "the best cake ever"

The morning after

In a phrase, Great Blazin Challenge..........Don't do it! Wow, the morning after is definitely worse than the Challenge itself or maybe it is the challenge. I have the worse bout of heartburn ever and I don't even want to describe the other physical ailments associated with this silly adolescent food challenge. Wow, that's really all I can say.

Brad asked a question that I probably should answer and expand on. He asked me how hot were the wings and if I would ever order them if not part of the challenge. Well the wings are about as hot as any I've ever had including the time when my college room mate and my fraternity brother and former cousin-in-law twice removed (making the family tree reference up by the way) called Mr. Spot's in BG and asked for the absolute hottest wings they could make. I believe John specifically said "make the wings so hot they burn my ass so badly I can't sit for days". The B-dub wings definitely had a pretty fair amount of habanero included in the sauce; I could only tell you this because by the time I was on my second wing I had uncontrollable hiccups which is what occurs to me every time I encounter a scotch bonnet. These beasts were hot, I cried from the second wing on as well. However, I could have shaved about 45 seconds off my time if I would have let the wings cool down a bit before I started. I was so excited to get the challenge started that I forgot the wings were just removed from a deep fryer at more than 375 degrees. As for the second part of Brad's question "would I order them again"...yeah more than likely because I'm an idiot!

I've actually had these beasts before. The blazin sauce used to be my normal coating back when I would eat them on 30 cent wing Wednesday when I lived in Grand Rapids. I do remember that I would order extra blue cheese to cool them down a bit though and they were always accompanied by large amounts of diet Coke. Lately in my middle aged struggles with my metabolic rate, I really don't order wings when we are at B-Dubs due to the high caloric and fat content in the beauties. I typically eat things like grilled chicken tenders and choose a more reasonable sauce like Wild (one step below Blazin) or Mango-Habanaro (two steps below).

I guess I'm just a sucker for a food challenge. It all started when my junior high friends would dare me to eat a live minnow from the creek that ran behind my childhood house then on to John and his father daring me to eat nasty hot pepper and finally the traditional Fraternity prank of eating live gold-fish at a party. Bring on the 72 ounce steak! Bring on the 15 dozen oysters! Fat boy gotta eat!

Hell on Earth

Well tonight in my infinite wisdom, I decided it was in my best interest to take the "BW3 Blazin Challenge". The challenge was defeated easily by me and my iron stomach. Not sure what I'll feel like in the morning but going down was a snap. The challenge is to eat 12 of B-Dub's hottest wings (Blazin Sauce) in 6 minutes or less with out drinking anything or eating anything other than the wings. The only other stipulations were that no matter if you ate them or not, you paid for them and you had to eat them off the bone. There was a manager that watched the entire fiasco and told you when your bone was clean. You even had to sign a legal document that described the rules and explained you were disqualified if you vomited during the challenge as well as released B-Dubs for any injury cause during the completion or the challenge.

Drum Roll Please................................completed the task in 3 minutes 30 seconds!

Crazy? Asinine? Not sure, ask me in the morning.

I did win a pretty cool t-shirt in the process!

Contest prizes

Well, I'm on a mini winning streak over the past two days. I won a dozen bagels using my frequent customer card at Barry's on Monday and I won a tee-shirt from Castrol motor oil. Not big prizes but prizes none the less.

Today I have to take the afternoon off to wait for the cable guy. Looks like we may have line issues. I have replace both our converter boxes twice and still having issues. The television in our bedroom looses channels for long periods of time and the one downstairs seems to have video freeze but still have audio. We will see what the verdict is once and for all sometime this afternoon.

Second Grade Boys

This past weekend started a little early for me on Friday. I had to set up our company's trade show booth downtown for an event that we sponsor and then decided to call it a day. After the set up was done one of my salesmen and I stopped for lunch at a new Chicago-style pizza joint they opened downtown called PizzaPapalis. PizzaPapalis has been around for quite sometime in Michigan, specifically in Detroit's Greektown area, but this was the first time I had the opportunity to try their pie. The pie was as good as any Chicago style pizza I've had outside of Chicago. It may even be my number two favorite Chicago style second to Lou Malnati's. I ordered a small spinach special which consisted of spinach, three cheeses and mushrooms. The crust was the best, nice and flaky (just like me). I could only eat half the small pie and I was stuffed. Katelyn garbaged up on the leftovers over the weekend. I think she ate an entire piece by herself on Saturday for breakfast. This is a place that I can see taking people to when visiting from out of town (including you Brad). The owners purchased an old moth-balled building right next to 5/3 field and refurbished it; they did a great job.

Saturday was a day of rest which was pretty much needed for what we had in store on Sunday...Shawn's birthday party with his classmates!

Shawn invited 14 boys to a bowling party and 12 ended up attending. Now, if you haven't had the joy of overseeing a dozen second graders at function in a public place, you don't have any idea what you're missing. Lisa and I pretty much played babysitter, prison guard, mental ward worker and peace makers for the better part of 3 hours. Actually, the boys were pretty well behaved for the most part. One of the boys figured out the pop machine was broken to the point that he could insert a dollar into the machine and pull it out and still get a pop. That probably lasted about 6 pops until the bill finally ripped. Then there was the constant wandering around and going to the bathroom constantly and running thought the building. It wouldn't have been so bad but there were at least 5 other bowling parties going on at the same time and the kids all seemed to blend together. Nothing worse than thinking you lost a couple of boys. The only real issue is that one of the boys went ape-shit like a spider monkey ala Rickey-Bobby's son's Walker and Texas Ranger from Talladega Nights.

This kid went berserk! He was probably one of the smallest kids physically of the group and he wanted to throw down with one of the bigger kids all because he thought the bigger kid took his party gift bag (which he didn't). And the tears and the screaming and the temper tantrum kicking and screaming laying on the floor. It was a sight to see! The same kid not only turned into a spider monkey but also went crazy because he wasn't beating everybody's bowling score. He hid behind vending machines and on bowling ball racks. I mean this was some major Sybil type behavior. When the other kids saw spider money carrying on, they were concerned at first but then proceed to tell Lisa and I that it's a normal occurrence at school as well! I felt bad for his father when he was finally picked up.

This weekend we will celebrate Shawn's birthday with my family and then the following weekend will conclude Shawn's three week long birthday celebration (his real birthday is on March 16th).

One other cute Katelyn story (you are probably sick of them by now) but last night Lisa asked Katelyn if she wanted to go see Grandma next weekend and she said "Just a minute, I be right back. I get my coat". I guess you had to be there!

Where's the Spider Monkey?