Welcome to my 13th (yes, 13th!) annual year in review, where I take the first few lines of the first entry of each month in order to produce a random and (hopefully) interesting summary of 2017. Please note that this is not my picks for best of/worst of 2017 since I posted that last week. This is simply a summary of 2017.
January: Happy New Year! Today, you're going to get three rants for the price of one (assuming that you're paying for this blog...which you're not, so you're just getting three rants).
February: Welcome to a brand new edition of Sean analyzing current song lyrics. The songs below are all near the top of the charts and all used lyrics that are inspired by 80s movies.
March: Over the weekend, President Trump sent out the following tweet.
April: We've established that I'm often out of touch, one of the last people to adjust to new technology, and basically, unhip. (Unless it's hip to be square, and then I think I'm okay. If you don't understand this reference, go to Google and search for Huey Lewis and The News greatest hits.)
May: Although my sports focus right now is on the Penguins-Capitals series, the NFL draft took place last week, so I thought I would share my thoughts about the Steelers draft picks. Please note that this isn't exactly an in-depth, analytic blog post. It's slightly different.
June: Twenty years ago last month, the Spice Girls were proclaiming Girl Power (while also telling us what they want, what they really, really want) and Hanson's MMMBop was about to take over the country. Meanwhile, I graduated from college. I nearly missed this anniversary except for a former mentor/supervisor posting something on Facebook about Ithaca College's Senior Splash.
July: In the early 90s, it was impossible to avoid Boyz II Men. They performed ballads such as "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday," "End of the Road," and "I'll Make Love To You" that was played at every wedding, graduation ceremony, and prom.
August: This is Halsey. (It sounds cooler if you say it like "This is Jeopardy.")
September: In the Taylor Swift-Katy Perry rivalry, I'm Team Katy. Despite the fact that she was awful hosting Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards (we can blame the writers, right?), I think we can all agree that it would be much more fun to hang out with Perry over Swift
October: These are depressing times. In the past month, hurricanes Harvey and Irma devastated Texas and Florida respectively. Then, Hurricane Maria absolutely destroyed much of Puerto Rico.
November: When you write over 2,800 blog posts in nearly 13 years, you tend to have some overlapping topics. Therefore, some of this post expands on previous posts though I have some thoughts/notes on fatherhood, Pittsburgh sports media, and Ithaca College too.
December: Woodland Hills High School, just outside the Pittsburgh's city limits, is probably best known for two things: football where the team has been to the WPIAL playoffs for 22 consecutive years and produced nearly a dozen NFL players including Jason Taylor, Rob Gronkowski, and Steve Breaston and musical theater where the school has won countless Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater.
And that's basically my blog for 2017. Well, except for the part about having a new son. That was pretty significant.
Caps For Sale is a well known children's book by Esphyr Slobodkina. If you're not familiar with the story, a peddler wanders around a town unsuccessfully attempting to sell caps. During a break, the peddler takes a nap and wakes up to discover the monkeys took all of his caps. Hilarity ensues!
Meanwhile, hilarity did not ensue when one monkey took a Pittsburgh Steelers cap.
A former Erie man now living in Bali who fell from a roof while chasing a monkey that had stolen his favorite Pittsburgh Steelers cap will have surgery.
Jeff "Swede" Swedenhjelm, who moved to Florida 17 years ago before relocating to Bali, fell 33 feet on Monday.
"He's like, 'That's my hat, I need it,'" his daughter, Lyric, told Channel 11 in an interview. "And you know Steelers Nation is everywhere, but in Bali, it's a lot harder to come by, to buy a new hat, so he wasn't going to let it go very easily.
Villagers took him to a local hospital, where he was diagnosed with severe damage to his spinal cord. He currently is paralyzed from the chest down.
I really don't want to make light of this situation, but it seems like a bad idea to have caps around monkeys.
Have you always enjoyed the holiday classic Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer but thought that it was missing more words, questions, and exclamations between the lines of the song? Well, rapper DMX is here for you, and he's gonna give it to ya up in here (up in here). Enjoy!
(The songs and videos are safe for work. It's Rudolph. You can't add bad words to a Rudolph song.)
Welcome to my annual list of the best and worst of 2017! Actually, it's not my annual list of 2017 since there's no way I would have known in 2014 what my favorite song or book of 2017 would have been. You know what I mean. Anyway, feel free to enjoy my thoughts on some of the biggest pop culture (and more) things that occurred in 2017.
Best TV Show: The Good Place
I watch a lot of television. With young kids and especially a new addition to the family in September, I rarely get to the movies (more on that below). I also find that I don't have time to sit down and watch a 90-minute or 2-hour plus movie as I fall asleep too easily and just don't have the time to watch a movie in one sitting. Therefore, I load up on TV shows on the DVR and started a Netflix subscription. There are so many great shows out there. Just on Netflix alone, I really enjoyed Ozark, Glow, Master of None, American Vandal, and Stranger Things this year. ABC's Speechless may be the funniest show on TV, and I love Better Call Saul. FOX's Brooklyn Nine-Nine is still fantastic and I found USA's Search Party very interesting. The most clever and fascinating show, and also my favorite from the past year, is NBC's The Good Place. The premise behind the show is that Kristen Bell dies and goes to The Good Place, which is basically heaven. However, Bell's character is actually a terrible person who really shouldn't be there. Ted Danson is perfectly cast as the architect of The Good Place neighborhood and the rest of the cast is amazing. There was a huge twist at the end of season one that made most people (or at least me) wonder where the show would go from there, but season two has been just as good if not better than season one.
Please note that I have not seen Game of Thrones yet this year, so that didn't make the list. I also need to see Mindhunter.
Worst TV Show: Nashville
I've watched this show from the beginning. I guess it's a guilty pleasure, and I really don't know why I still watch it. At the beginning, it was Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere being country music stars. The show was definitely soap-opery but the music was good (even from someone who isn't a big country music fan), and I enjoyed most of the characters. ABC cancelled the show a few years ago, but it got a second life on CMT. Then, this season, they killed off Connie Britton, only the best person on the show. Panettiere's character keeps doing dumb things and never learns from anything in her past. Then, they had a "is Gunnar the father of Scarlett's baby" thing. Plus once Will came out as gay and most people were okay with it, the show didn't know what to do with him, so he rarely gets screen time. Meanwhile, Deacon can never be happy, and the show wasted Rachel Bilson having her be an accountant or something. The one redeeming quality of this show right now is that I can watch it and do something else. I need to have my full attention on the shows listed above, but I can write a blog post watching Nashville and know I'm not going to miss anything. Anyway, I really should stop watching this show especially when I have season three of Fargo, the last season of Orphan Black, and the current season of This Is Us all sitting on my DVR.
Best Song: Feel It Still by Portugal The Man
I wrote about this song back in August, and since that time, it exploded. I'm not saying that I was the reason for the song becoming one of the most played songs of 2017, but I guess I'm not not saying that either. Plus, the band's Twitter account liked and responded to my tweet when I wrote my August post. That gets bonus points in my book!
Worst Song: Paris by The Chainsmokers
I considered writing a blog post analyzing the lyrics of this song but decided against it...until now.
We were staying in Paris
To get away from your parents
All the way to Paris just to get away? The Chainsmokers were formed in New York City. I'm sure they could have just gone to Jersey.
And I thought, "Wow
If I could take this in a shot right now
I don't think that we could work this out”
You went all the way to Paris to realize that you're going to break up. What an awful person. You could have done that in Atlantic City or even better at home without traveling thousands of miles. Think about it. You take your significant other all the way to Paris which is a really big deal, and then you get there and realize that you can't work it out. Jerk.
Out on the terrace
Nice job finding another word that rhymes with Paris.
I don't know if it's fair but I thought "How
Could I let you fall by yourself
While I'm wasted with someone else”
Wait, not only did you realize that you couldn't work it out but you're with someone else? And again, you took this person to Paris. Super jerk!
If we go down then we go down together
They'll say you could do anything
They'll say that I was clever
You're not going down together, Chainsmokers. You're dumping this person. There's no together here. And no one will say you were clever.
If we go down then we go down together
We'll get away with everything
Let's show them we are better
You are definitely not better. Again, you are an a**hole.
Best Movie I Saw in the Theater: Wild Kratts
You're probably thinking to yourself, I've never heard of this movie. If you have young kids, you may know the PBS television show but are still confused by this entry. PBS partnered with movie theaters across the country to show episodes of some of its television shows on the big screen. The cost of tickets serve as donations to local PBS stations. It's a neat idea where young kids can go to the theaters in a comfortable environment (meaning that it's okay if the audience isn't completely quiet during the show). For Wild Kratts, I took both The Moose and Pedro Tulo with me, and we bought a bottomless tub of popcorn. The popcorn was delicious!
Worst Movie I Saw In the Theater: Ready, Jet, Go
This was another PBS show, and I took only Pedro Tulo for his first ever trip to a movie theater. He could not keep still. We went to the restroom at least three times, and he wondered all over the mostly empty theater. I also didn't get popcorn.
My friend Nichole blogged regularly throughout 2017 sharing everyone from wedding plans and her honeymoon to the building of her new house. While some of her posts about fashion and style certainly are not geared for me, it's been really fun reading about Nichole's busy 2017!
Best Podcast: The Poscast / The YaJagoff! Podcast (tie)
Michael Schur is the official winner of 2017. He created the best TV show in The Good Place and is partially responsible for other quality shows like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Master of None. In his off time, he and Joe Posnanski, a writer for MLB.com, do a podcast called The Poscast. While baseball is a central topic to The Poscast, they also regularly conduct drafts on various topics such as "We Are the World" singers, autumn things, salty snacks, and road signs. Highly entertaining and the podcast I listen to immediately when they are available.
Meanwhile, I've listened to John Chamberlin's The YaJagoff! podcast since the beginning, and it really found it's footing this year with co-host Rachael Rennebeck. The podcast seems to go to a different Pittsburgh event or venue every week, and it makes me a little jealous about all the cool stuff happening in Pittsburgh that I'm missing. Plus, the podcast was responsible for this awesome Christmas ornament.
This was quite the personal post about my fears of being a new father to a third child. A close second is my two-part interview with Chris Wright, the former GM of the Pittsburgh Spirit and President of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx. He recently (after the interview) started a new job where he's responsible for the day to day business and sporting operations of the Minnesota United. (This is part one; this is part two. I'm still extremely grateful to Chris for his graciousness in talking with me.
I pointed out that the National Book Festival listed the same author twice on its advertisement.
Best Sports Moment: Penguins Repeat As Stanley Cup Champs
Marc-Andre Fleury was the hero in the opening rounds, and Phil Kessel is a two-time Stanley Cup champion! It wasn't always pretty (see the end of the Capitals series and much of the Ottawa series), but Crosby, Malkin, and company won back-to-back titles!
Worst Sports Moment: The Pittsburgh Pirates (again)
The Pirates were one of the best teams in baseball just a few years ago, and after a 75-87 season, there's discussion about the team trading its best players Andrew McCutchen and Gerrit Cole. If trades are made, I have little confidence in the team's front office to get solid returns for these players to allow the Pirates to contend again in the near future. So frustrating.
Best Movie I Saw At Home: Deadpool
What a fun movie. I mean it definitely deserves it's R rating but highly entertaining.
Worst Move I Saw (well, didn't see) At Home: Get Out and Hell Or High Water
Why would my DVR show that I recorded 2 hours of Get Out, and when I played the movie, it said it wasn't available? I'm blaming Showtime. For Hell Or High Water, the first 25 minutes were all messed up, and I wasn't going to start after missing this. I'm blaming the DVR on this one.
Unfortunately, I didn't read as many books as I would have liked in 2017. This book was right up my alley as I've been to dozens of stadiums and arenas across the country, and this deals with everything besides the on-the-field/court activity. As the title indicates, the book broaches subjects like stadium financing, in-game entertainment, security, and much more. Very interesting stuff that you probably don't consider going to a game.
Feel free to share your best and worst of 2017 in the comments below. Happy Holidays, and have a Happy New Year!
We're getting close to the end of 2017, and you know what that means, right? I'll have my best and worst of 2017 post sometime soon! (And you need to go out any buy those ridiculous 2018 glasses that you can only use once for New Year's Eve.) For the best song of any given year, my rule is that the video of the song must be posted on my blog at some point during the year. Although I'm (probably) not going to award my best song of 2017 to The Revivalists for Wish I Knew You, it's definitely a contender.
The song has only received widespread attention over the past few months, but it's actually from February 2016. Who knew? (Well, besides The Revivalists.)
JuJu Smith-Schuster may be one of the most fun people in sports. He is the youngest player in the NFL and has been part of some epic touchdown celebrations.
JuJu only recently got his driver's license, so prior to this, he rode a bike quite frequently. It was national news when his bike got stolen, but after it was recovered, he made sure everyone knew that his bike would not be stolen again.
JuJu is also helping to give back to the community.
The jolly and giving man in the traditional red suit has been replaced! This Tuesday, December 12 at 6 p.m. at the Mall at Robinson expect a wide receiver in a chic, tailored red suit for a photo opportunity in the spirit of the season of giving. Yep, JuJu Claus is coming and all proceeds of the photo opportunity benefit the Homeless Children’s Education Fund.
The center court of the Mall at Robinson will be the headquarters for JuJu Smith-Schuster to be JuJu Claus in his David Alan custom-designed suit. Total Sports Enterprises will present the photos only opportunity for $19 per photo, which benefits the Homeless Children's Education Fund, along with the sale of #Team JuJu laces. Total Sports Enterprises will sell the laces in-store at the Mall at Robinson and online at tseshop.com for $7.99 youth, and $9.99 adult. To further support the cause, each purchaser of #TeamJUJU laces receives a ticket for a drawing to win a pair of authentic Adidas JuJu cleats.
For more information concerning JuJu Claus coming to the Mall at Robinson tonight, visit www.tseshop.com.
Potatoes can be a big part of any breakfast. You regularly see hash browns or home fries on any breakfast menu. At Waffle House alone, you can get hash browns covered, smothered, chunked, diced, capped, topped, and/or peppered or some type of combination of any or all of these.
With Hanukkah starting next week, Safeway is selling potato pancakes at these discounted prices:
The only problem is that the potato pancakes are in the "Breakfast & Cereal" portion category on the Safeway app. Despite the fact that potato and pancake are in the food's name, I've never seen or heard of people eating potato pancakes for breakfast. Have you?
(Please don't mind my terrible attempt at crossing off the address of my local Safeway.)
Woodland Hills High School, just outside the Pittsburgh's city limits, is probably best known for two things: football where the team has been to the WPIAL playoffs for 22 consecutive years and produced nearly a dozen NFL players including Jason Taylor, Rob Gronkowski, and Steve Breaston and musical theater where the school has won countless Gene Kelly Awards for Excellence in High School Musical Theater. About 7 years ago, someone who graduated from Montour High School started working at my organization. Upon learning that I went to Woodland Hills, he bitterly conceded that Woodland Hills always won at the Gene Kelly Awards.
Anyway, during my sophomore year of high school, I was on the stage crew for the production of Guys and Dolls. The fact that I actually helped build a set is funny since I have no building or repair skills whatsoever. (As a tangent, I really need to replace the fluorescent light bulb in the laundry room. I'm going to have to make a Home Depot trip, aren't I? Ugh.) During my junior year, I decided that I wanted to be on stage and not be behind the scenes. Although my singing audition probably went poorly since I have an awful voice, I killed in my dancing audition. Probably more importantly, the show needed a few more male cast members, so I earned the role of Government Man and part of the chorus in the production of Lil' Abner.
Recently, videos of the (gulp) 1992 production of Lil' Abner were posted on YouTube. While it's interesting (at least to me) to check out the videos, I wanted to share a few today.
The first is a scene before, during, and after the song Unnecessary Town. I'm wearing a suit and hat seated at the U.S. Army table. The last 30 seconds or so of the video shows my true acting range.
Oh, feel free to enjoy a Pittsburgh Steelers joke around the 1:10 mark. (The Steelers were coming off of a 7-9 season.)
There are/were some really, really talented people involved in this musical. Fortunately, they carried me!
The second video shows the cast dancing/singing to Rag Offen The Bush. Again, I'm wearing a hat and tie, and you can find me at the front right (scene left).
You can see all of the videos here. 25 years later, seeing the Confederate flag displayed so prominently is a little creepy. I guess that's part of the art of the show. Overall, though, this brought back some fun memories, and I think The Moose enjoyed watching me perform.
Let me preface this post by writing that this is TV-14 or TV-MA for content that may be unsuitable for children under 14, 17, or even 35. Viewer discretion is advised.
Nearly three months ago, we welcomed Luigi to our family. We also decided that Luigi would not be an older brother, in part due to some of my concerns already being a father of three. So on Wednesday, I did my part to take one for the team. And by my part, I mean I put on a hospital gown and went to sleep, but more on that later.
I asked multiple people for recommendations for a urologist. When two people, a friend and my wife's OB-GYN, both suggested the same doctor, we had a winner. While the doctor clearly explained the procedure, what I remember most from my consultation was a picture of him with NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana from probably 20 years ago hanging in the lobby. Although I didn't ask the doctor, I wondered if Montana was a previous patient. We'll get back to Montana momentarily.
Prior to the surgery, I needed to complete an online registration. Everything was fine except for the question about the reason for the procedure. I initially skipped this question, but since it was required, this is what I entered:
I mean are there any other answers?
I was also instructed to wear loose fitting clothes. It seems like I had no other options than to wear this:
The MC Hammer shirt was actually somewhat tight, so I wore a long-sleeve T-shirt instead.
Even though I didn't have a chance to start reading, I brought the book Emily Alone by Stewart O'Nan with me. I received this book recommendation by listening to Rick Sebak on a Ya Jagoff! podcast. How Pittsburgh is that last sentence?
To the procedure itself, I've had anesthetic only 2 or 3 times in my life when I got my tonsils out at age 4 or 5, possibly when my wisdom teeth were removed in high school, and now for this vasectomy. I was given an IV and then had a mask put over my mouth. I was out in seconds after the mask was put on. Though I planned on writing everything that happened during the vasectomy, all that I remember is that a Flo Rida song was being played in the operating room. Why Flo Rida? Other than that, I have no idea what happened and how I woke up wearing a jock strap. (On a completely different subject, how did former Pittsburgh Penguin Jock Callander never do endorsement for a jock strap company?)
As expected, when I woke up from the anesthetic, I was a little loopy. My wife dropped me off for the procedure to be home with Luigi. The surgical center called her to pick me up, and over the course of the next few hours, I asked her on three separate occasions what time they called her. Otherwise, I enjoyed the Teddy Grahams the surgical center had for me. Then, I went home and spent much of the day in bed and placing an ice pack on the, um, operated area.
I'm supposed to be sore for several days and must refrain from physical activity. My doctor said that I shouldn't be in a rodeo and do any alligator wrestling. Fortunately, I did both last weekend. (What, that's not part of your Thanksgiving tradition?)
I almost forgot that I received these socks for getting the vasectomy. This really should be a selling point. Have surgery and get a free pair of socks!
I'll try to be delicate here, but this is where the mature audience piece comes in. Despite getting a vasectomy, there are still some, um, rounds in the chamber. The doctor said that I need to be the master of my domain 20 times over the next 10 weeks before I'm sterile. He said that it's both 20 times and 10 weeks, so 20 times in less that 10 weeks isn't enough, apparently. So now, I wonder if Joe Montana had a vasectomy and, like the Saturday Night Live skit, told his family that he needed to go upstairs to be master of his domain.
More and more, I'm finding that I have interesting things that I'd like to share, but they alone are not enough for a blog post. That's going to change in the near future, but in the meantime, here are some random thoughts from the Thanksgiving weekend.
1. Luigi (now almost 3 months) has started to smile and it's a game changer. Previously, he basically cried, stared blankly, or slept, but his smile more than makes up for the countless diaper changes and over two months of limited sleep.
2. During Thanksgiving, my brother showed me a knife he was using to cut the turkey. When I replied, "That's not a knife. This is a knife," he had no idea what I was talking about. My wife and sister-in-law were equally confused. I always thought this was a classic movie line, but it seems like it's not. Do you know where this line is from? This picture should help.
3. One of the cool things about Pedro Tulo's preschool is that they have animals. The kids have weekly pony rides (Pedro Tulo isn't interested in this), they have chickens (the kids eat eggs produced by the chickens), and there is a horse and donkey. I have certainly taken the kids to visit the animals during pick up. Last night, I received the following email:
On Thanksgiving night and the next night, something got into the chicken coop somehow and killed all of our chickens, most likely a raccoon. Despite hours of re-enforcing the enclosure on Thanksgiving Day, something still got in and killed the remaining 4 the next night.
Now, we as parents and/or the teachers are going to have to explain to kids ages 2-5 why there are no more chickens.
Raccoons are the absolute worst.
4. I was recently introduced to HQ, the daily trivia app, which I've started to play in the futile attempt to answer 12 questions correctly and win money. The Daily Beast recently published this story, and the app's founder seems like quite a jerk. I still don't understand how this app makes any money. (h/t @Captain Easychord)
5. There's still a chance to get a $5 MasterCard gift card when you upload receipts for participating SC Johnson products. Plus, five winners each day up until November 30th will be selected to win a year’s worth of SC Johnson products. Please register at Daily Break by clicking on this link.
6. While watching the Steelers-Packers game last night, I wondered when the NBC broadcast would mention that Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy was from Pittsburgh. It took about two minutes. A little later, NBC showed the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Greenfield and McCarthy's picture when he played on a youth basketball team. NBC missed out on a perfect opportunity to also show my aunt's house and the Greenfield Bridge explosion.
7. I don't want to get my hopes up, but there's a decent chance that I'm going to be able to share a very special video here soon. It will definitely get its own post!
You've heard of SC Johnson, right? They are the company that makes stuff that you use and need around the house like Pledge, Windex, Drano, and Ziploc bags. (We go through way too many Ziploc bags in my house as my oldest son, The Moose, needs several per day for his lunch.) Anyway, SC Johnson is partnering with Dailybreak for everything you need to know about Thanksgiving.
Well, everything might be a bit of a stretch, but as a tangent, you know that I love trivia. Well, you can test your Thanksgiving knowledge with a brief quiz. Then, you can get a $5 MasterCard gift card when you upload a receipt for participating SC Johnson products. Plus, five winners each day up until November 30th will be selected to win a year’s worth of SC Johnson products. (Ziploc bags for me, please!)
While registration is required (feel free to use the e-mail address you use just for mailing lists and offers), please take the short quiz by clicking on this link.
You can use some answers to impress your family during Thanksgiving dinner!
* Someone I've known for over 39 years, who is just like a brother to me, is growing an awesome mustache for Movember. Please support him!
* I've been taking fish oil pills for over a decade to help my cholesterol and recently bought a bottle containing 400 pills. It's somewhat amazing to think that since I take one pill per day, I'll probably have to buy a new bottle at the beginning of 2019.
* Why do I have significantly more gray hair in my right sideburn than my left sideburn? Shouldn't it be about the same?
* James Santelli, a news producer for KDKA in Pittsburgh, created a tournament bracket including times and locations for an American Invitational Tournament, also known as, the Soccer NIT. The idea is that teams that didn't qualify for the 2018 World Cup, like the US, Italy, Chile, and Ireland, would play a separate soccer tournament. James also brilliantly made the schedule so that there would be no overlap between the World Cup and American Invitational Tournament matches. I hope this happens!
* I wrote a letter to the editor to my local community newspaper based on last week's blog post about Jerry Falwell, Jr. I'm definitely approaching old man territory.
* I don't understand how my two older kids can sleep just fine with no blankets or covers while I need a top sheet, comforter, and a blanket or two to keep my feet warm or else I don't sleep well.
* Not cool, Dole bananas, not cool. Why are the peels opening?
* Kristen Bell is helping create (and hosting?) a TV series where former high school classmates will perform their high school musical one more time. My Facebook messages were blowing up (is that term still used?) yesterday with friends and classmates wanting to enter. I know that the world has been waiting 25 years for me to revise my role as Government Man in Lil' Abner, so let's do this Kristen Bell!
* Finally, two Pittsburgh related things.
1. If you live in Pittsburgh's Eastern suburbs, please support the non-profit Lost and Found Pharmacy. Shannon and her husband Sean (who I've met) do really good work and were recently featured in the Post-Gazette.
2. It seems too early to think about, but if you're in Pittsburgh or want to give a Pittsburgh-related gift, check out Heidi's 2017 Holiday Shopping Guide.
I planned on writing a detailed post about Tuesday's election results in Virginia with voter statistics, exit poll data, and more. While I still have a few notes about the results below, this tweet by Jerry Falwell Jr. deserves its own post.
DC should annex NOVA and return the governance of VA to Virginians! The founders intended DC to include all fed employees who are conflicted
There are certainly some cultural and economic differences between Northern Virginia and the rest of the state. The proximity to Washington gives Northern Virginia a much more diverse population with residents from all over the world, and, as my child care bills can prove, a higher cost of living than the rest of Virginia. For example, I think I once read that there are 70 languages spoken at home for kids at my son's public elementary school.
Although I was born and raised in Pittsburgh and will always consider myself a Pittsburgher, I've now lived in Virginia (specifically Northern Virginia) for 16 years, nearly as long as I lived in Pittsburgh. My children were all born in Virginia. I pay local and state taxes in Virginia. I have a (nominal) position on the PTA board and volunteer at Celebrate Fairfax each year. I also coached my son's community soccer team and been a referee for youth soccer across Northern Virginia for well over a decade. I am a member of a synagogue, root for the George Mason University basketball team, and have Virginia 529 plans for my kids. Sure, I would like to do more in the community, particularly volunteering, but I have limited time with three young kids and a job. My point is that I'm a Virginian and you have no right, Mr. Falwell, to think that I'm not based on the area of Virginia where I live.
So are people in Northern Virginia not Virginians because there may be differing political viewpoints? Falwell must know that the majority of money to fund and govern the state comes from Northern Virginia, right? Let's go back in history a bit. There have been 8 presidents from Virginia. Perhaps Falwell heard of one of them named George Washington who lived much of his life at Mount Vernon located in Alexandria, part of Northern Virginia.
You know what else is in Northern Virginia? Arlington National Cemetery, a hallowed place to honor and remember those who served our country. Falwell may have also forgotten that residents of Northern Virginia lost their lives on 9-11 at the Pentagon.
I guess in Falwell's mind, real Virginians need millions of dollars to get their schools out of debt. And you're going to tell me that none of the contributions came from people in Northern Virginia? I'm sure real Virginians also get life insurance payouts of $34 million when their fathers pass away to save their school.
Maybe I'm being too hard on Falwell. As someone from a religious family, perhaps he was devastated by the recent Sutherland Springs, Texas church shooting and finally decided that there needs to be some gun control measures in this country. Due to this stance, maybe he wants the NRA, headquartered in Fairfax in Northern Virginia, to disassociate itself from the governance of Virginia. In that case, my apologies to Mr. Falwell.
Or maybe Falwell decided that it is unfair that nearly 680,000 residents of Washington DC have no representation in Congress and feels like the best way for this to occur is to have Northern Virginia merge with DC. It's not practical and there's no interest from either side to make this happen, but maybe Falwell is trying to bring some attention to this injustice.
Probably not. As someone from a religious family and the leader of an institute of higher education, Falwell should set an example of working together, not helping to spread divisiveness.
Two more election notes:
1. Arguably the biggest election result was Danica Roem becoming the first openly transgender person elected and seated in a U.S. statehouse. She defeated incumbent Bob Marshall who once referred to himself as the Chief Homophobe. He also introduced a "bathroom bill" prohibiting transgender people from accessing spaces that don't match their biological sex at birth. Roem was asked to comment on Marshall after her win and had an awesome response. "I don't attack my constituents. Bob is my constituent now."
While Roem out-fundraised Marshall, all politics is local. Roem canvassed neighborhoods, attended any community event she could, and focused on the most important topic in the community: traffic. Meanwhile, Marshall refused to debate Roem and referred to Roem as "he" or "him" throughout the campaign.
2. When I dropped off my oldest son at school, someone running for delegate was outside the school. I awkwardly told her good luck but that I couldn't vote for her since I live in a different district. When I picked up my son 10 hours later, she was still there. I commented on her dedication being out there all day in cold weather. I was happy to see she won.
Falwell photo from WSET; Roem photo from her Twitter page.
When you write over 2,800 blog posts in nearly 13 years, you tend to have some overlapping topics. Therefore, some of this post expands on previous posts though I have some thoughts/notes on fatherhood, Pittsburgh sports media, and Ithaca College too.
1. Young children completely ignore daylight savings. (I wrote about abolishing daylight savings here.) You know who else has no interest in this outdated and silly ritual? Pets. Your dog and cat aren't setting their clocks forward or back an hour.
2. The tooth fairy certainly has an added degree of difficulty when her work involves retrieving a tooth from the top bunk of a bunk bed. Even The Rock didn't have to deal with this!
3. Last week, eight people were killed in New York City when a terrorist drove a truck through a bike path. Immediately after the incident, there were calls to more thoroughly vet immigrants and New York added barriers to prevent cars from accessing the bike path. Meanwhile, there was another major shooting spree in America on Sunday where 26 people were killed at a Sutherland Springs, Texas church. Yet, all you see from our political leaders in power are thoughts and prayers and no action. President Trump in Japan said "I think that mental health is your problem here. Based on preliminary reports, a very deranged individual, a lot of problems for a long period of time." He also added that "this isn’t a guns situation." If this isn't a "guns situation," I expect that the President and Congress will introduce immediate legislation to ensure that more resources go towards mental health, right? Please let me know when that happens. And yes, I wrote about gun legislation and frustration that there won't be any gun legislation last month.
4. Luigi makes squeaking sounds sometimes when he's in a state between being awake and asleep and even sometimes when he is awake. He sounds like he could be from the Upside Down of Stranger Things!
5. While I didn't attend my 20th year college reunion this weekend, a friend took a picture of the building where I lived for two years. The room was so small, but I loved it for those two years.
6. Finally, I was an early subscriber to DK Pittsburgh Sports since I enjoyed Dejan Kovacevic's work, particularly on the Pittsburgh Pirates beat with the Post-Gazette. I re-upped to the "Lunatic Level" because of his work and the addition of really good writers like Josh Yohe and Matt Gajtka. With that written, there's something not right there. I get that Josh Yohe and Mark Kaboly left for more money at The Athletic. However, the site has gone through so many writers/staff (Neal Coolong, Alan Saunders, Dustin Dopirak, Tim Benz, etc.) in its short history* that there are certainly some red flags, particularly regarding the allegations by Alan earlier this year of the site accessing his Twitter direct messages. (I'm Team Alan in this case as I don't see any reason for him to make this up and he has always been straightforward with me in any correspondence.) Over the weekend, Sara Civian and DK apparently parted ways as her profile has been scrubbed from the website after only a few months there. I'm still a subscriber and I feel like I get my money's worth (and for a whole lot less than if I subscribed to the P-G online), but again something is not right there.
* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat writer position in particular is like the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor position in the Harry Potter books. There's a new one every year!
On Sunday, Pedro Tulo (age 3) went to a birthday party for one of his preschool classmates at a MyGym/Little Gym type place. Since the birthday girl's birthday is on Halloween, she (or her parents) also wanted to make it a costume party. Pedro Tulo went as a firefighter but ditched his costume as soon as we arrived. His costume (particularly his hat) really wasn't conducive for running, jumping, and climbing. Clearly the costume was not the same quality material used by actual firefighters.
After the party ended, Pedro Tulo put his costume back on because why not. Since the gym was in a shopping center, we walked over to a grocery store. There was a sale on orange juice and Rold Gold pretzels, people! While walking to the store, a car seemed to honk at us. We turned around and saw a fire truck with the firefighters waving to Pedro Tulo. He looked a little confused, but after a few seconds waived back. It was all very sweet.
Nice job, members of the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department!
Let me preface this post by writing that trades between players (as opposed to a player for a draft pick) rarely happen in the NFL. Now that that's out of the way, on to the hypothetical scenario!
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Martavis Bryant is a talented player who has made some poor decisions and/or has received some bad advice. He was suspended for the entire 2016 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy, and now, he will not play in Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions due to "social media."
This stems, of course, from Bryant's outburst on the social media platform Instagram Sunday night when chided by a fellow Instagram user. A week after repeatedly refuting that he has asked the Steelers for a trade, he has openly indicated that to be his desire if his playing time and targets don't increase.
It didn't help that Bryant was "sick" and missed practice on Monday following his social media outburst on Sunday and according to Dale Lolley now of DK Pittsburgh Sports, Bryant has called off sick "for the fourth time in the past month."
That's not good in any job.
Meanwhile, Terrelle Pryor signed a one-year contract with the Washington Redskins after having over 1,000 receiving yards with the Cleveland Browns last season, his first as a wide receiver after converting from being a quarterback. It has not gone well for Pryor. From The Washington Post's DC Sports Bog:
Here’s the best way to describe Terrelle Pryor Sr.’s current status in the Washington Redskins’ offense: When Kirk Cousins was asked specifically about his outside receivers following Washington’s limp loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday night, the quarterback mentioned six names, including two tight ends and a running back. Pryor’s name didn’t come up.
And here’s the best way Pryor summarized his own status, when asked whether his first-half benching against the Eagles might be repeated Sunday against Dallas.
“I’m not sure,” he said. “I mean, that’s a good question. I don’t know.”
As you can probably guess (the blog post title gives this away), I'm wondering if there should be a Bryant for Pryor trade. There may be salary cap ramifications, but let's pretend that there are not. Both are free agents at the end of the season.
Washington is missing a speedy receiver who can spread the field after DeSean Jackson left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Pittsburgh may want someone dependable who shows up to work and doesn't ask for a trade.
The biggest issue for Pittsburgh is Pryor's seeming inability to catch the ball over the middle or in traffic (meaning around other players and not on the Parkway East outside the Squirrel Hill Tunnel where even Antonio Brown would have difficulty catching the ball). However, maybe Antonio Brown's work ethic will rub off on Pryor to become a better receiver. He's never been around a #1 type receiver in Cleveland or Oakland. Plus, perhaps Pryor will be energized returning to his hometown team. It doesn't hurt that Pryor played with Cameron Heyward for three years at The Ohio State University, so that should alleviate any concerns about how Pryor would fit in with his new teammates.
We all saw Pryor do this against the Steelers a few years ago. Wouldn't it be fun to have a few plays designed where Pryor could do that FOR the Steelers?
Last week, I introduced my third son, Luigi, to the world (or at least to the people that read Sean's Ramblings). Today, I'm writing about my worries and challenges. I am 42 years old. I know that I seem quite hip and knowledgeable about pop culture, but it's true that I'm 42. I have friends my age with kids in junior high and high school and there are plenty of others my age with kids in college. When Luigi graduates from high school, I will be 60 or 61. We're probably looking at 65 or so when he graduates from college.* Basically, there's not going to be an early retirement and I'm going to be working for many years to come. Speaking of college, how does one expect to pay for college for three kids? Yes, I already started putting money into 529 plans, but tuition will probably be about $75K per year at the current pace. Athletic scholarships seem unlikely at best. Maybe academic scholarships? That's certainly not something I can count on. Even in the short term, I'm astonished at the costs of preschool, daycare, and before/after school programs. Let's just say that it's more than rent.
(I don't know why this stock photo makes me smile.)
I'm writing much of this post at 4:00 AM, so the tone may be different than much of my other writing. Tired writing is probably not my best writing though I did get a compliment from a college professor who once told me that he doesn't recommend writing a paper in one night and then handed me back the paper with an A- or B+ grade. Luigi has been awake for most of the past 2.5 hours. The doctors say he is a "fussy" baby. It seems like he is hungry all the time, and he freaks out when he wants to eat. Of course, then he is fussy if he doesn't burp and ends up spitting up which is unpleasant for all involved. I worry that something is wrong, but I have no idea what it could be. He's going to need surgery for a hernia in a few months once he gets a little bigger and stronger, but the doctors say that doesn't seem to impact the fussiness. So I worry about that too. He's too little for surgery even though it's apparently fairly common.
I don't remember if the older boys were fussy or when they started to sleep more regularly at night. I may have been in the exact same position and mindset 6 and 3 years ago and blocked this out. The difference now is with the new baby, there's not enough time or attention to go around. After Pedro Tulo was born, one of us could be with him while the other could be with The Moose. Zone defense (2 adults on 3 kids) is not nearly as effective as man-to-man. I know I'm always tired and not as patient as I should be. The Moose hasn't done a great job of listening at times and Pedro Tulo has had several accidents the last few weeks even though he's been potty trained for months. (No accidents in a week, knock on wood. Take that The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones!)
Weekends are so much harder than weekdays. During the week, the older boys are at school for 10 hours. The weekends can be challenging in finding things to do and keeping everyone happy especially since Luigi still isn't venturing outside the house. Pedro Tulo is attending a classmate's birthday party this weekend. We have no idea who this kid is, but we figure it's 2-3 hours where he can run around and play with others his age.
I understand that we're not the first to go through this. Most of this is probably first-world problem stuff as people have had three or more kids for generations with much fewer means. My grandparents and great-grandparents were immigrants or children of immigrants and didn't have much. I know I need to keep things in perspective. I also try to have the mindset of an NCAA basketball tournament team. Survive each day and advance to the next. (Two basketball references in one post? This has to be a first since the Kevin Pittsnogle days.)
So this is where I am. Luigi just finished a bottle and is sleeping in arms as I'm typing this post. This is the Luigi I love, calm and cuddly. I absolutely worry about him and his brothers, but that's being a parent. You just can't let the worries consume your life. I'm excited that Pedro Tulo is taking a field trip to a pumpkin patch this week. He's going to love it. The Moose enjoys school, and his teacher adores him. The boys and I are also excited for Halloween which is only a week away. Our neighborhood throws a party and the kids all run around in their costumes and eat. Just thinking about going the last few years makes me smile seeing The Moose interact with kids at his school and Pedro Tulo walking by himself for the first time.
I'm going to try to go back to sleep now since the alarm goes off in an hour! I know it's going to get better and easier but that's not happening right now.
* After writing this post, I learned that Billy Joel is a new father at the age of 68! I feel a little better now.
Long-running television sitcoms often introduce a new character, such as a baby, to create new storylines. Ross and Rachel had a child together near the end of Friends. Despite already having Kirk Cameron, Tracey Gold, and (looks up name) Jeremy Miller, Alan Thicke (RIP) and Joanna Kerns had another child on Growing Pains late in its run. Leonardo DiCaprio also appeared as a series regular for some reason too even though they could have given more time to Boner (RIP). Anyway, after almost 13 years of writing this blog, I needed some new topics. Ziggy is now a 9 year-old "senior" cat that doesn't do much. The Moose is in first grade, and still several years away from fully creating his own storylines. While Pedro Tulo provided excellent content back in June, there hasn't been much blog-worthy content to share lately. With the school year underway, life was becoming routine. There's good in stability, but it doesn't help Sean's Ramblings since I know that you, the readers, expect fascinating stories. Therefore, it was time to introduce a brand new character, and I'm proud to present Luigi, born last month at 6 pounds, 13 ounces.
Luigi's due date was October 9th though we expected him to arrive a week or two early like his older brothers. I actually joked that he would arrive either during a conference I was attending or during Yom Kippur services. Now the latter would have been interesting. Instead, Luigi shocked everyone by arriving five weeks early. The 6 pound, 13 ounce weight was a bit deceiving as he looked like a full-term baby, but he was still a preemie and went straight to the NICU. His breathing wasn't great upon his debut, but fortunately, he was always able to breathe on his own without assistance. Eating was the bigger issue, so he had an IV for the first 3-4 days of his life. Then, he was jaundice like his brothers since apparently we create jaundice babies. I've found that if you pretend that your baby is in some futuristic space machine that gives him or her superpowers (like, um, fighting high bilirubin levels), it makes the process go better.
After 7 days, Luigi was able to come home. I didn't write much about the hospital experience for The Moose or Pedro Tulo (though I did writesome), so I wanted to share some early life moments surrounding Luigi.
- Actually, before we continue, in case you're wondering, Luigi is not my son's actual name. We had a first name all picked out but were struggling coming up with a middle name, knowing that we wanted it to start with L. While brainstorming, Luigi was thrown out as a suggestion. We both loved it, though again not for his actual middle name. Hence, Luigi is now his stage (well, blog) name.
- I should also probably mention that The Moose (age 6) and Pedro Tulo (3) had no idea that we went to the hospital. My wife's water broke at night after they went to sleep (and while I fell asleep watching TV on the couch), we called a neighbor to come over to "watch" the kids, Luigi arrived at 2:48 AM, and I came back home around 6:00 AM to get them up and ready for school.
- Luigi was brought into this world with the help of probably my favorite doctor who also delivered Pedro Tulo. I find that she is straightforward and has a positive bedside manner with a great sense of humor. It also helps that she grew up close to where I grew up and is a fellow Steelers fan. All of these characteristics are equally important for an OB-GYN!
- I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on the internet. However, I have the hand-washing routine for any medical professional involved in surgery completely down pat. This was posted in the NICU, and I followed it religiously.
- For a few days, my son was in the NICU while my wife was in the "Family Centered Care" portion of the hospital. Despite the fact they were on the same floor, I constantly said that I had to go down to the other area.
- All of the nurses at the hospital were fantastic. They were caring and professional and probably don't receive the appreciation they deserve. Therefore, I want to say hello to all of the nurses out there.
- The hospital has a wellness garden with a labyrinth that was quite calming. I guess it helps that this labyrinth was not the one featured in the movie, um, Labyrinth.
- Between the time the baby was born and arrived home, I made a trip to Target to get some supplies. I cannot confirm or deny that I bought 5 bottles of hand sanitizer. Okay, since you continued bothering me with these questions, it's true. It's all true! I did buy all of those bottles. And I would do it again too!
I also bought Lanolin at Target, and in one of the highlights of my life, I heard two women trying to find this and pointed out where it was located. They were in awe of me (or at least they were in my mind).
- These signs seemed to be above every toilet. Are there other things besides wipes people are flushing down the toilet at hospitals?
- Luigi was fairly quiet upon his arrival, and it took him a few days to make some noise. Now, a month later, the boy has some serious lungs. He lets you know when he's hungry and is quite persistent. I'm pretty sure neighbors about 4 (or 40!) units down can hear his screams.
- Since Luigi was a preemie, we tried to limit how close his older brothers got to him. The last thing we wanted was to get Luigi sick from germs brought home from elementary school and preschool. Finally, after I made sure he washed his hands and put on hand sanitizer, I let The Moose hold Luigi as long as he didn't tell his mom. Naturally, as soon as The Moose saw his mom, he immediately told her that he held Luigi and was so proud of this. Thanks for keeping this between us, kid.
- I may have taken a few graham crackers from the hospital.
- The Moose is enthralled by Luigi and wants to be around him and help. It's really sweet. Meanwhile, Pedro Tulo has little interest in his new brother. I'm sure that will change once they both get older.
Thanks to Luigi and his interaction with his brothers, Ziggy, and his parents, there are many more stories to share. Sean's Ramblings should be renewed for at least a few more seasons because of this!
(Please "Like" Sean's Ramblings on Facebook. There's good stuff there too!)
We recently bought a new stroller and being the responsible parents that we are, completed the registration information to return to the company in case there are any product recalls in the future. When I went to mail the postcard, however, I noticed that the mailing address was in Nova Scotia, Canada, and it said free postage in Canada. While I was certainly fine with sending a postcard to Sidney Crosby's home province, since I don't live in Canada and have no plans on driving or flying across the border, I had to buy a stamp. Do you know how much it costs to send a postcard to Canada? $1.15!! No wonder I don't write letters to Canada!
This got me thinking though. The company that made the stroller is Britax, a pretty big player in the car seat and stroller market. No offense to my Canadian neighbors, but I was surprised that Britax didn't have an American address to send this. Maybe they are unhappy with all of the discussions about renegotiating NAFTA and want to take more money from its American customers from us buying stamps from, um, the US Postal Service?
Anyway, it turns out that there was also a product registration postcard that we can send to Allentown, where they may or may not be closing all the factories down. Britax was so prepared that they had registration postcards available for BOTH American and Canadian customers. We just only noticed the first one. I guess we'll fill out the second postcard and mail it for free.
Well, I know who to blame for all of this! (This video is NSFW!)
I like to think of myself as a fairly calm person. It takes a lot to get me angry, yet that's where I am right now courtesy of my mortgage company. I'll get to my complaint below, but here's some mortgage information. Please feel free to skip this part. When we got our mortgage, since we did not put 20% down, we had to get private mortgage insurance (PMI). Basically, PMI protects the lender if you stop making payments on your home loan. This was extremely common at the time we got the mortgage and may still be today if you don't have a specific amount as a down payment. Anyway, once the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio gets to 80% (or 78%), the PMI goes away.
On to my angry e-mail!
Dear Mortgage Company,
I am writing today to share my displeasure and frustration with your company. We have had a mortgage through you since January 2010 and refinanced in 2012. As part of the mortgage, we've had to pay PMI each month. Earlier this year, I requested an appraisal and learned that the loan to value ratio was around 71%, meaning that I've probably paid PMI unnecessarily for at least 1-2 years. While PMI is now removed from the monthly payment, I feel like we should either receive a refund for the extra PMI payments or a credit towards the principle mortgage balance. After numerous conversations with you about this starting in mid-August, I finally learned today that there will be no refund. Besides the probably year or two of PMI payments that I didn't need to pay, I had to constantly call you for updates. I was given multiple dates when the review would occur and be completed and left messages with a supervisor without ever receiving a response. Even learning that there was no refund was because I called you, not from you contacting me.
During my conversation today, I was told that you would make it up to me if I ever had a late fee or document request. This is unacceptable particularly since I've never had a late payment in the over seven years as a customer and do not need any documents.
I am currently looking at options to stop being a customer. I don't have funds available to pay off the mortgage, so I may try to refinance with another company. There was never any consideration by you to let me know that perhaps the PMI payment could be removed, yet, I've received three escrow shortage letters within the past year. It is clear to me that your company puts profits above helping its customers. Plus, I've spent countless hours trying to get an answer regarding my question over a 2-month period. You seem to have a culture of providing poor customer service as I talked with at least 5 people over this period without ever receiving a call or letter with an answer.
Based on my experience, I'm sure that this email will be discarded or ignored. If someone does happen to read this, perhaps you can help current and future customers by retuning a phone call or replying to a customer when you say that you will.
Welcome to Sean's Ramblings! If you're looking for thoughts on pop culture, music, fun and informative links, random DC and Pittsburgh info, sports (particularly Pittsburgh sports), and just what's going on in my life, then you're come to the right place.
Any questions, comments or links? Contact me at seanramblings[at]yahoo[dot]com.
Posts
