Friday Video: Olivia Rodrigo

By now, most people are familiar with singer Olivia Rodrigo or at least one of her songs. This is my Olivia Rodrigo experience. I heard the song "Driver's License" and thought the song about teenage love and loss was fine. I'm definitely not the target audience on this song. Then, I heard "Deja Vu," and really liked the Billy Joel references. A kid who appreciates Billy Joel? I approve. Then, I heard "good 4 u," and decided I am all in even though I would prefer the title to be Good For You. I love the song. The lyrics are great. The music is great. It's like a 2021 version of Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know," and I definitely did not expect the NSFW word at the 1:20ish mark of the video below. It works though. Like a damn sociopath!

Before writing this blog post, I had no idea what Rodrigo looked like or anything about her. It seems like she writes most of her songs which makes me appreciate her more and think that she's going to be a household name like Beyonce, Lady Gaga, or Taylor Swift soon. 

This is a video of Rodrigo appearing on Saturday Night Live in case you want to see a live version of the song without the inappropriate word in the official video.

Concert Setlists (The Dave Matthews Band Anomaly)

The 2019 Sean’s Summer Concert Series appears to have ended. While I’ll probably see some local kids concerts like Rocknoceros and local adult concerts like Herr Metal, I doubt that I’ll see another national touring artist this summer. (Unless MGM National Harbor wants to start selling Aerosmith tickets at a reasonable price!) Over the last two months, I saw Sammy Hagar and the Circle (with opener Night Ranger), Smash Mouth at Celebrate Fairfax, Dave Matthews Band, and then Hootie and the Blowfish and Barenaked Ladies over the weekend. (There may be a separate blog post about this concert in the near future.) All of these shows got me thinking. At every concert, you expect to hear your favorite songs by these artists. From the list above, you know and expect that Sammy Hagar would play "I Can’t Drive 55" and some songs when he was with Van Halen, Smash Mouth would play "All Star" and "I’m a Believer," Hootie and the Blowfish would play "Hold My Hand" and "Only Wanna Be With You," and Barenaked Ladies would play "One Week" and "If I Had A Million Dollars." If you didn’t see these bands play these songs, you would probably be upset since these songs are arguably these artists biggest hits. It’s also why I was disappointed seeing Counting Crows nearly a decade ago as the group played some slow, boring version of "Mr. Jones." On one hand, I get it. These bands have to be tired of playing the same song nearly the same way at every single performance. On the other hand, bands have to know that fans want to hear them play these hits.

This brings me to Dave Matthews Band. They truly are an anomaly here. Despite having huge success with nearly all of their albums going to #1, the band never really had major success based on singles. Their most well-known song is probably "Ants Marching," but I'm not sure if even a handful of songs made the top 40 of Billboard's pop charts. Maybe this “lack of success” gives the band the freedom to play what they want at every show. For example, the first time I heard of the band was from the song “What Would You Say” when I saw the video on MTV in 1994 or so. In the five times I saw them perform, they only played this song once.

Take any major band/artist and have them play a 2.5 hour set. Would you be disappointed if you didn’t hear some of their most popular songs? The answer is probably yes. Let's take some of the biggest performers with deep catalogs who are currently on tour. Billy Joel has played 13 shows in 2019 and played "Piano Man," "Allentown," "We Didn't Start the Fire," and 12 other songs at every one of these shows. Paul McCartney, who probably has the deepest catalog of anyone, has also played the same group of songs such as "Live and Let Die" and "A Hard Day's Night" at every show. Now there is some variety about each set list, but if you’re seeing Billy Joel or Paul McCartney this year, it seems like you’re definitely going to hear certain songs (like he ones I just mentioned) at every concert on this tour.

Back to Dave Matthews Band, they have played 51 shows in 2019 as of the date I wrote this blog post. The song they have played the most is called "Do You Remember" (played at 36 shows) which I do not remember. It’s one of the songs from their 2018 album. They have played over 100 different songs at their 51 concerts. That’s really impressive. And my guess is that their fans have been satisfied when the show ends.

Is there any other current musician/group who does this and can pull this off?

Life As A New Father

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.

Postcard to Canada

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!)

TMI Thursday: 25 Random Things About Myself (Updated)

Facebook has this thing where they show you "Memories" of your stories from the same date of different years. Recently, Facebook showed me a post from 2009 where I shared 25 Random Things About Myself. I also shared this information (shockingly) in a blog post. Again, this blog is really old. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to revisit the 25 random things.

1. The first concert I ever attended was Neil Diamond. The most recent concert I saw was also Neil Diamond.

The last concert I attended was Billy Joel. I also saw Billy Joel several times in high school. Perhaps I'll see a performer that's not an AARP member this summer!

2. I spend a good five minutes each morning trying to find a pair of matching socks.

It now only takes me about two minutes each morning to find a matching pair of socks. Major improvement!

3. I enjoy being a soccer referee and know that I am a good ref; however, I don’t attempt to get to the next level because I don’t want to deal with even worse parents and players.

I have worked higher level soccer games the past few years, and yes, the coaches and parents are definitely worse. I don't know what it is, but there is just so much complaining and arguing over any little call. It really has gotten worse.

4. I am addicted to fantasy leagues. Over the past year, I have participated in football leagues, 3 baseball leagues, 2 hockey leagues, a Rock of Love 3 league and several NCAA Tournament brackets. I joined a NASCAR league a few years ago, even though I know nothing about the "sport." Should I also mention that I’ll probably run an Oscar poll for this year’s Academy Awards?

I've cut back significantly. Now, I'm down to 4 fantasy football leagues and 2 baseball leagues. If there's a new season of Rock of Love, though, I'm all in!

5. By waiting in line for over five hours, I earned free burritos for a year from California Tortilla. Over the next 52 weeks, I saved $278.09 in burritos and quesadillas.

Ah, the good old days! Of course, I also earned free paninis for a year and burritos for a year again in 2014-2015. Between the two, I probably ate about $750 worth of free food.

6. Before meeting my wife, my longest relationship was 6 months.

This is still true.

7. The idea of buying and selling a home (the process is going to start soon) really, really scares me.

We sold our condo and bought a townhouse about 6 years ago. Yes, it was scary.

8. Due to a stupid car accident that occurred just before the end of my junior year, I was voted Worst Driver in high school. I also finished second in the class clown voting.

There is no truth to the rumor that there was a recount based on inaccurate balloting.

9. I cannot ride a bike; I am not going to elaborate on this.

I still can't ride a bike, and my older son will probably start learning to ride this spring. I'll teach him how to drive in 11 years, but I'm not going to be of any use teaching him how to ride a bike.

10. My blog is an extremely important part of my life. Although it may not look like it, I spend many hours each week writing posts.

With kids, I just don't have the time to write like I did 7 years ago. That's why you only see a few posts a week these days.

11. Many people work retail jobs in high school or college. I worked at Blockbuster and Kohl’s after earning my Masters degree.

I wore my Blockbuster shirt this past Halloween.

12. Assuming that the bus and Metro run on time and aren’t too crowded (huge assumptions here), I enjoy my 50+ minute commute each way as I have read more books for pleasure since I started my job 4 years ago than the rest of my life combined.

The bus has been fine, but Metro is hit or miss these days. Plus, I haven't read any books this month though I'm up on my Washington Post Magazine.

13. I was a Politics major in college and even interned with my Congressman. Although I still follow politics, especially during elections, I hate all of the partisanism (is that even a word?).

Things have certainly changed, haven't they? Everyone gets along now and both political parties work together effectively in the best interest of the American people.

14. I love my kitten and let him get away with just about everything. I hope that I’m not the same way when I have kids (the letting them get away with everything part).

I'm probably a little lenient with the kids, but as long as they aren't hurting themselves, hurting each other or damaging property, I'm generally fine with what they do.

15. Speaking of kids I don’t have, I’m convinced that my children will not be Pittsburgh Pirates fans. I can’t see them supporting such a horrible team especially when they will likely attend dozens of Nationals games. They are going to think that racing presidents are better than racing pierogies!

The Pirates have actually been good. My kids really might be Pirates fans!

16. When I lived in Columbus, I was a below-average beer-man for the Blue Jackets, Crew and Clippers.

Ah, the good old days of Columbus. Back when I was a full time grad student and worked three jobs. Good times! (I'm actually being serious. Good times!)

17. My driver’s license states that I am 5’ 7” and as a legal form of identification, it must be true.

Sadly, a late-30s growth spurt didn't happen.

18. I used to be involved in dozens of activities, clubs and sports in high school and college. I don’t do much of anything anymore.

Well, at least now I have the being a parent excuse. That eats up any free time.

19. The first concert I attended without my parents was Debbie Gibson. I was 24. (The age line was a joke; seeing Debbie Gibson was not.)

My Debbie Gibson knowledge remains strong and finally paid off. I had a top 10% finish in a Learned League Debbie Gibson quiz.

20. I want to write a book someday.

Did you see where I don't have time to blog? How I'm not involved in activities anymore? Sure, I have plenty of time to write a book.

21. I love traveling and always need to have a trip to look forward to.

Now this is sad. Besides going to Florida to visit the kids' grandparents and traveling for work once a year, I don't go anywhere. I want to go on a real vacation!

22. I performed in two award-winning musicals in high school. I made the cast through an awesome dance audition coupled with the fact that they needed more guys.

Nothing new to add here. I'll just reiterate that I was amazing in my dance audition.

23. When I took the Myers-Briggs test about 10 years ago, I was an extrovert. The older I get, the more introverted I become.

I really think I would land on introvert if I took the Myers-Briggs test today. Meeting new people is hard for me these days, and I find that I need my own time at the end of the day to recharge.

24. Here are random thoughts I have: how many total miles have I driven; what song have I heard more than any other; what toilets have I used the most in my life (#1 and #2 are in my parents’ house; #3 is my current home; there are several possibilities for #4).

Recently, there was a major renovation of the office bathroom with brand new urinals and toilets. So do the new toilets restart the count or is the bathroom, and not the actual toilet, the key factor in the count? Um, so I guess I still have random thoughts.

25. I was a three-sport star in high school in soccer, tennis and swimming/diving. OK, star is a bit of a stretch. As you can probably tell, I also like self-deprecating humor.

Still got that wonderful sense of humor!

Well, that was fun. Maybe I'll revisit this again in 2023.

Civic Arena Memories

With construction (deconstruction?) workers tearing down Pittsburgh’s Mellon Arena (it will always be the Civic Arena to me) I thought I would borrow an idea from Seth at Empty Netters and share my memories of the historic building. The Civic Arena truly is a historic building. According the Mellon Arena website, the arena “features the largest retractable, stainless steel dome roof in the world--170,000 total square feet and 2,950 tons of Pittsburgh steel.” Of course, the retractable function hasn’t worked since the mid-1990s. In addition, the roof has no interior support. Although I’m not an architect, I’m sure that Ted Mosby is extremely excited by this. Seriously, how does that even work?



However, the arena was clearly past its prime. It was the oldest and third smallest arena in the National Hockey League and with the Steelers and Pirates both getting new stadiums, the Penguins reached a deal with Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania for a new arena across the street. Anyway, that’s the background of “The Igloo” for readers that don’t know much about the Civic Arena other than it being the site of Jean Claude Van Damme’s classic film Sudden Death.

I don’t remember my first trip to the Civic Arena. It may have been attending a Neil Diamond concert with my parents and brother. It may have been a Pittsburgh Penguins game during the Rick Kehoe/pre-Mario Lemieux era. It may have been seeing the Harlem Globetrotters squeak by the Washington Generals. It probably was seeing the circus or Ice Capades. Here are some of my highlights:

Billy Joel – I remember that I was embarrassed to go with my parents, so my brother and I sat several rows ahead of them. This seems dumb now, but going to a concert with my parents as a teenager seemed uncool at the time. Yes, I totally expect this to occur in about 14 years with me and my son.

Pittsburgh Spirit (Major Indoor Soccer League) – One of my favorite parts of attending George Mason basketball games or Washington Capitals hockey games is seeing the kids play on the court or ice during intermission. I had the opportunity to be one of these kids playing soccer at the Civic Arena during halftime of a Pittsburgh Spirit soccer game. I only have a few memories of the game. First, it was difficult going over the boards to go on and off the field. Hockey players seem to have no problem doing this, but those boards were high for a kid. Second, the Astroturf used at the arena was hard, so you really didn’t want to slide. Regarding the Spirit, Paul Child and Stan Terlecki were awesome, and Child was my favorite player. To me, they were just as big as Jack Lambert and Willie Stargell.



Pittsburgh Bulls (Major Indoor Lacrosse League) – Despite little to no lacrosse presence in Western Pennsylvania, the MILL thought it would be a great idea to have a team in Pittsburgh. For some reason, without any knowledge of lacrosse, I wanted to go. I recruited several friends from my middle school, and my dad took us to several games. The star player was clearly Butch Marino. I guess the name Marino was close enough to Mario to grant the lacrosse player the right to wear number 66. I also remember a promotion where all fans received a large packet of BBQ sauce for attending. After either a bad call by the referee or an opposing player doing something that angered the crowd, fans threw the BBQ sauce packets on to the field. Fortunately, I don’t think anyone threw open packets.

Disney on Ice – I got former Pittsburgh Steelers’ kicker Gary Anderson’s autograph at a Disney on Ice event. He was fairly new to the Steelers attending the show with his kids. I approached him asking for his autograph and he was nice enough to sign my program. I believe that I still have the autograph, so if I do another “Found in my Basement” post, I’ll share the picture.

World Wrestling Federation – I attended several WWF events during my junior high days. At one event, I went down to the wrestlers’ entrance and got a high-five from Jake “the Snake” Roberts as he approached the ring. I thought that was incredible and talked about not washing my hand since Jake Roberts touched it. Fortunately, I washed my hand.



Pittsburgh Penguins – Obviously, the Civic Arena belonged to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Although I admit that I’m biased, it was a privilege seeing the greatest player in NHL history live. I get goosebumps just thinking about John Barbaro announcing a Mario Lemieux goal. Although I can’t seem to find an example of this on YouTube (please let me know if you find one), go to about 1:30 of this video to hear Barbaro’s call of Mario earning the #1 star.



Besides the Kip Miller goal, my memories of Penguins games are much more general. Going up the concrete stairs. Hoping for the Penguins to score seven goals so that all fans received a free Wendy’s chili. $20 student rush tickets. And of course, the Civic Arena was the first stop on the hockey road trip.

NCAA Tournament – While the 1997 first-round Wisconsin-Texas match lacked excitement, seeing #15 seed Coppin State defeat 2nd-seeded South Carolina was incredible. The crowd had absolutely no ties to Coppin State, yet the place was electric as everyone turned into Coppin State fans that day.

The demolition of the Civic Arena nears completion. The picture below from a few weeks ago shows the new Mario Lemieux statue with the Civic Arena in the background. That is not an open retractable roof. There were lawsuits and debates about keeping the Civic Arena, and not living in Pittsburgh anymore, I’m not too familiar with the merits of either side. However, while the Civic Arena truly is historic, what do you do with an unusable arena? Nevertheless, I’ll always have memories of the Civic Arena, and more importantly, memories of attending events there with family and friends.