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Showing posts from April, 2008

And with the 23rd pick...

It is a great time to be a sports fan in Pittsburgh, or at least I think. Because this is a football town, there is no dearth of coverage almost the entire year, so I can get my fill of my favorite sport. For the past few weeks, the talk has been about the draft. How did the Steelers do this year? From the view of a fan, but a novice nonetheless, I think pretty well. I was surprised they took a running back in the first round, but if this guy is as good as they think he is, I think it was a good move. Fast Willie cannot do it alone, and who is to say he will come back 100 percent. The tall wide receiver was just what Ben ordered, so hopefully he will work out. I have no clue when it comes to tackles and linemen. Regardless, if the Steelers end up drafting no one who has or even will commit an act of domestic violence, well, then I call it a success! But as exciting, in a manner of speaking, as the draft is, right now most eyes are on the Pens. Round 2, and they are already 2-0 against

Disenfranchised Republican

When I went to vote this a.m., I handed my ID to the guy, since my last name can be tricky. He looked for several minutes in the box with the cards. Then he asked if I was in the right place (there is another area in this room, for people in a different neighborhood, I presume). And I told him that this is where I have always voted. He then reviewed the bound paper list, found my name, but could not figure out why it was there, yet not in the box with the cards. Then he realized what was going on and rather exclaimed, "Oh, you are a Republican!" One of the ladies sitting next to him said, "Oh, one of those." I said I assumed they had not seen too many of "my kind" that morning, and she said I was the third. Then, being the open person I am, I eagerly said I was coming to rock the vote and vote for Ron Paul. One of the women commented that she liked some of the things he had stood for, perhaps to try to make me feel as if I was not voting for a terrible per

Keeping up with the princesses

Yesterday Jordan went to a "princess party" at the photo studio my cousins' own. Under normal circumstances I probably would have never wanted to attend one of these things, thinking it was just another example of how materialistic society has become and how spoiled children are. But Jordan, like most girls around her age, loves to dress up and is enamored by princesses, plus these ladies are my cousins and I was in town, so we went. I have to say it was kind of neat and probably felt magical to the girls, though some were too young to be there (watching one of the moms try to put makeup on her crying two-year old particularly annoyed me). But Jordan had so much fun, and she was an angel pretty much the entire time. She stood still the entire time she was putting her dress on and having her hair and makeup done; and while waiting for the other girls, she sat quietly at the table for something like 10 minutes. She seemed to like the visit by the princess (a pretty high sch

Working mom woes

This past Friday I found out that the woman who watches Jordan in her home M and F is going to watch the children out of her daughter's house starting next month. The nice thing about the location now is that it is only seven or eight minutes away from my job without traffic, which is how it typically is during my morning commute. But going to the daughter's means my average total commute time one way will now be about one hour or more instead of 45 minutes. Unfortunately, where Jordan goes T and Th, they allow a schedule of M-W-F or T-Th or five days, not to mention it is much more expensive. So I can send Jordan to this place four days but pay for five, and then end up paying quite a bit more per month than what I do now. Or, I can let Jordan stick with this woman but accept the fact that I will be in the car for about two hours those two days instead of 1.5, which is not appealing with the weather getting nicer and the price of gas skyrocketing. There are other pros and cons

What about your friends

So I took Jordan to a birthday party for one of her preschool classmates today. It was the first of its kind for us; prior to this, we had gone only to parties of my friends' or relatives' kids. When we first arrived, Jordan latched on to my leg and would let go for nothing. Even when one of her best friends from school arrived, she still did not want to leave me. Mercifully after about 20 minutes, she finally warmed up to some of the kids, most of whom were strangers, and away she went. Being surrounded by about 30 or 40 strangers and only three girls she knew, I can see why Jordan might have felt a little overwhelmed. And for me, someone who once was extremely outgoing (but still very open), it was a little uncomfortable for me as well. I had exchanged pleasantries with the birthday girl's dad on several occasions, and I had said hi to the mother of one of Jordan's friends, but that was it. Everyone else seemed to know the others, though no one was unfriendly. Fortuna

For the beauty of the earth

Since my typical posts are my rambling or my complaining (and usually both), I thought I would write a post today in praise of the beautiful weather we have been having in the Burgh since Saturday. I have spent almost as many hours outside these past five days as I probably did the first three months of this year. The weather has been just that outstanding. Nearly perfect temps (in the 60s to lower 70s). Mostly sunny skies. Considering how many gray days Pittsburgh typically has, you probably could not ask for a better five-day period. I would be hard-pressed to. Last night on the news, Jeff, the weather guy, said a year ago the temps were in the 30s. Yesterday's temps were certainly a far cry from that. April is a weird month like that. Brian and I were married nine years ago next week on a cold, rainy day; temps were probably in the upper 40s. I kept repeating to myself on that day that "rain falls on the lap of many a happy bride." The weekends before and after were in

Ron Paul gets my vote

Just over two weeks from the PA primary, I am fairly certain I will be casting my vote for president for Pittsburgh-born-and-raised Congressman Ron Paul. Because mainstream media pretty much no longer covers him, some people have never heard of Dr. Paul, and others assume he dropped out of the race months ago. But I am here to tell you that this former libertarian is still fighting the fight, even though it will be an uphill battle. After all, too many people want to know what the government is going to do for them. Ron Paul's vision is not like that. In that respect, he reminds me of Alan Keyes. When he was running for president in '96, Keyes was asked what he would do about the government shutdowns that were going on (maybe it happened just once). He said he planned to do nothing, that he was all for less government and less government spending. I appreciated that stance, but Keyes was a little too conservative for my taste, especially back then. But now that I have been a wo

Ode to Maibock

For whatever reason, I am really looking forward to Maibock (or PENNdemonium bock) at the Penn Brewery this year. Every May/June since I have lived in the Burgh, I have gone there with friends to drink of the spring beer. It started out with fellow Penn Staters/practically-my-neighbors Beer and Eric; we went there a couple of weeks after I moved here. Then in subsequent years, I ended up going with coworkers and have not stopped since (this will be year 13). I think part of the allure this year is because winter started in November and it is still not over if today's 42-degree temps are any indication. But when the Maibock is on tap, you just know that spring has finally sprung (and, some years, if you wait until June, then you can be there for the start of the four-to five-month summer in western PA). That I like a good beer only adds to the anticipation, although I cannot remember what PENNdemonium bock tasted like last year. It almost does not matter. So the countdown is on. I