People have remembered the one year “anniversary” of the pandemic and the start of things shutting down in many ways. Maybe by counting the number of days kids have been in (or out of) school. Perhaps by the last time you attended a live sporting event or concert. For me, there are two ways that I count the time. The first is my dad passing away. The second is getting a new car.
Back in 2017, I got in an accident, and the insurance company determined that it made more sense to send me a check rather than put money into repairing a 14 year old car. With a third child on the way, we decided to lease a Honda Odyssey. The car was what we needed, but we also didn’t want to spend the amount it would have cost to purchase the vehicle. Fast forward to March 2020. The lease was ending, and I definitely didn’t feel comfortable visiting multiple dealerships to search for a new car. Plus, not knowing what the future would hold, leasing again seemed like a good option for us. So after contacting dealerships online and by phone, we settled on another Honda Odyssey at a location near us. I did a quick test drive, filled out the paperwork (which was not as quick), exchanged the Hondas, and brought home a new car.
(This is a stock photo. Our car hasn't been close to an ocean.)
One year later, we have about 2,300 miles on it. As a comparison, my dad and I drove more than that in one week going from Pittsburgh to San Diego for my job after college. Several months ago, I calculated the amount of money we have paid for the car between the down payment and the monthly payments per mile driven. Even without including insurance payments and getting gas, this was not a fun exercise.
The silver lining to all of us this is there is little chance that we'll exceed the 36,000 miles on the three-year lease!
Ziggy eats Meow Mix's Seafood Favorites wet food each morning and has had this since he was a kitten. I should probably mention that Meow Mix is not sponsoring this post or this blog. If the fine folks at Meow Mix would like to be a sponsor or send me free food or even coupons, hi! Anyway, I used to buy a 12-pack at Target, but they stopped selling it several years ago. If I only need to get a box or two, I buy Ziggy's food at Wegmans for $5.99, but Walmart sells it for less, so I've ordered online through them in the last few years. With Ziggy low on his food, I went to Walmart's website only to discover that it wasn't available for shipping. Instead, I could drive to the store about 30 minutes away to buy the only three boxes in stock. Pass.
I looked on Amazon, but the price was $7.99 a box. Hard pass.
Thanks to an online search, I found that Kroger seemed like the best option. Sure, the nearest Kroger is hundreds of miles away, but they deliver. Who knew? I registered for an account and was all set to buy through them, but I could only buy a maximum of four boxes. Sure, four boxes is fine for Ziggy but not enough to qualify for free shipping. Goodbye Kroger. See you when I visit Columbus, Ohio in fall 2022.
Finally, I discovered and settled on Chewy. Did you know that Chewy's mission is to be the most trusted and convenient online destination for pet parents (and partners), everywhere? Now you know. By the way, I cannot spell convenient without using spell check. While I should probably mention that Chewy is not sponsoring this post or this blog, if the fine folks at Chewy would like to be a sponsor or send me free food or even coupons, hi! Anyway, there is free shipping on orders over $49, so I bought 9 boxes at $5.76. Ziggy is going to be set for months! Oh, for all of the time I spent searching for food, I saved a whopping $2.07. And I got to write a blog post about this entire experience, so the savings and value are priceless!
It's blog posts like this one that make Damon Young, Gene Collier, Merecedes J. Williams, Natalie Bencivenga, and Tony Norman feel comfortable knowing that I have no chance and no reason to win Pittsburgh Magazine'sBest of the 'Burgh!
* While I'm happy that more and more people are getting vaccines, I'll admit that I'm getting a little jealous of seeing people my age and younger getting vaccinated. I realize that I'm in decent health without any underlying medical conditions, and I don't work in a medical profession or any other job that would qualify as an essential worker, but I'd still like to get vaccinated sooner rather than later. I'm hoping for May or June.
* With Passover coming up, a catering company offered all types of meals and side dishes. When I saw that they have a Kosher for Passover brisket meal serving 6 for $40, I jumped at it thinking it was an incredible deal. About a week after submitting the order, the catering company contacted me after noticing that I only ordered 1 meal when the minimum order was 6. That $40 was actually $40 per person, which makes complete sense now. After learning that I would need to spend $240 for this meal, with little chance that my kids would eat much of this (and the fact that it's $240!), I revised the order and went off the a la carte menu.
* Although I have not worked as a soccer referee since November 2019, I continue to receive constant emails looking for refs to work games. I'm planning on taking the spring season off (see the not vaccinated thing above), so it might be nearly two years between working games. I think that I'm a pretty good ref, but I'm definitely going to need to brush up on the laws of the game when I return. Starting with some lower-level kids games might be a good way to start too rather than working adult games.
* My 4th grader and 1st grader recently returned to school two days a week. With only my 3 year old at home on these days, I thought that I might be able to get a lot more work done. That has not happened. Apparently, he likes the one-on-one attention that he's rarely had over the last year.
* Once again, I'm happy that I didn't put any money on the NCAA Tournament. I fill out brackets for fun, but learned years ago that I'm just throwing away money in any pay polls. While I completed several brackets, I had Illinois getting to the championship or winning in most of them and also had Ohio State going far. I chose poorly.
* Finally, thanks to my family and friends for nominating me for Pittsburgh Magazine's 2021 Best of The 'Burgh in the local writer category. I'm a finalist up against these accomplished individuals:
Damon Young, author of What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker (which is a finalist for the Thurber House for American Humor) and co-founder and editor in chief of VerySmartBrothas.
Gene Collier - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist who I read growing up. He's also received a few Pulitzer Prize nominations.
Merecedes J. Williams - She's the owner and operator of Movie Scene Queen and writes for the New Pittsburgh Courier
Natalie Bencivenga - Syndicated advice columnist who is also a Public Relations Strategist for Savvy Pittsburgh
Tony Norman - Award-winning columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
You're certainly welcome to vote for me, but this is truly a case where it's an honor being nominated. While I enjoy writing this blog, I'm clearly a distant sixth in this group.
We received our stimulus payment yesterday. It was a St. Patrick's Day miracle! While we haven't figured out what to do with all of the money yet, I'm leaning towards flying to Vegas, hitting the clubs, and getting bottle service. Either that or paying off debt and putting money into the kids' college funds. It's a close call.
I'm not an economist, but I'm going to try to play one on the internet today. The front page of Sunday's Washington Postfeatured this article titled "What used cars tell us about the risk of too much inflation hitting the economy." The authors Rachel Siegel and Andrew Van Dam describe the demand for used cars and how prices increased significantly last year. Of course, the article is about more than used cars. This is the third paragraph of the story:
What's happened at places like Deal Depot and other dealers shows why some top economists and Wall Street investors are concerned that the $1.9 trillion stimulus President Biden signed into law last week could spur a risky cycle of rising prices across the whole economy.
I'm not old enough to remember the high inflation that occurred in the US during the late 1970s, but for some people 50 and over, this is a real concern. However, let's take a step back. The last year has been really difficult for a lot of people. According to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics information, the unemployment rate is 6.2%. While this seems pretty good, especially since this rate was more than double nearly 12 months ago, in February 2021, 13.3 million people reported that they had been unable to work because their employer closed or lost business due to the pandemic. In addition, food insecurity is still impacting way too many people. Just doing a quick news search, I found articles published in the last week about food insecurity up 38% in Monroe County, NY (where Rochester is located), the Maryland Food Bank distributing 61 million pounds of food over the last year compared to 32 million pounds the year before, and the Missoula, Montana food bank serving 20% more individuals than the previous year. So let's hold your horses on the inflation talk. (Yes, I wrote hold your horses!)
Many people receiving this stimulus really need it for things like food, rent, and clothing. And yes, some people may use the stimulus money on used cars because they don't have reliable transportation or don't want to put the money into repairs for their current vehicles. I'm guessing that a lot of people who purchase used cars will utilize them to get to and from work.
I'm curious what these top economists and Wall Street investors cited in the paragraph quoted above thought about the tax cuts during the Trump administration. Were they concerned about rising prices? Or did they think that trickle-down economics would help those who need the stimulus money the most now (even though it never does)?
Overall, I'm not worried about inflation. Yes, gas prices are going up, but it seems to me that this has a lot to do with increased demand as people are driving more and Texas being out of commission for part of February. Besides, my stimulus money will more than pay for the cost of a few more fill-ups at the gas station. Plus, I feel even better about the stimulus thanks to Republican Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi. He celebrated its passage by tweeting "Independent restaurant operators have won $28.6 billion worth of targeted relief. This funding will ensure small businesses can survive the pandemic by helping to adapt their operations and keep their employees on the payroll." I mean, sure he voted against it, but even he sees it as a good thing.
My first grader (Pedro Tulo) returned to in-person school for the first time in exactly a year last week. Half the class goes to school two days a week while the other half are on the computer, and then they switch for the other two days. Teachers deserve so much credit for teaching kids in person and online at the same time. The Moose goes back to fourth grade for two days this week. Meanwhile, I'm still juggling being home with the kids, including the continued attempt to get Luigi potty trained, and working from home. With everything going on, I thought I would share some pictures from the last few weeks.
If you're looking for a DJ for a special event after the pandemic ends, Ziggy is available!
With some warmer weather, we returned to our hiking spot that we discovered last summer. A tree on the ground just looks cool.
My wife bought a water bottle to help track how much water she drinks each day. It's supposed to be motivating, but I'm just annoyed and appalled by the grammar. Were instead of we're! Your instead of you're! Vamonos is spelled wrong too. Did no one check this?
C'mon person in my neighborhood. I'm glad that you cleaned up after your dog, but it's poor form to leave the bag on the ground.
I have read exactly zero books (I'm not including books I read to my kids) since the pandemic started last March. I decided that this had to change. Two authors that I like published new books, so I bought them from an independent bookstore in Jackson, Mississippi. Feel free to start singing "Uptown Funk." Anyway, I started "The Big Door Prize," and even though it's taken me 3-4 weeks to read 70 pages, it's nice to read for myself again.
Finally, Luigi has discovered that he can take pictures with my phone. Here are some highlights:
I feel like I'm spending much of my time in the bathroom these days. No, I'm not bringing back any TMI Thursday posts about bathroom stories from my younger days. This is about potty training three year old Luigi. I searched through my archives to see if I wrote about potty training my older boys. This blog is over 16 years old now, so of course I did! In December 2014, I shared my frustration that The Moose (then 3 and a half) continued to have accidents many days. It looked like we started earlier with Pedro Tulo who was still two when we went into full potty training mode with him (though he had some setbacks after Luigi was born).
What helped during potty training for them was that we and they had the support and encouragement of their preschool teachers. There may have even been some peer pressure from their classmates. Nearly as important is that we weren't the ones reminding the boys to use the bathroom (or cleaning up the accidents) from about 7:30-4:30 each weekday.
So here's the story of Luigi. He's nearly three and a half and has been home with us for almost a year now. He's had no interest in using the toilet, but we haven't pushed him on it either, primarily since we don't (or didn't) have time to take him. During the week, I try to make sure that The Moose and Pedro Tulo are doing what they need to do for school all while making sure that Luigi is content and attempting to do my own job. There are certainly times when I just hand Luigi the iPad and let him watch Peppa Pig or whatever else he finds on YouTube. However, over Presidents Day weekend, which was only two weeks ago, but seems like months ago, we decided that it was time. We put Luigi in Sesame Street underwear and took him to the bathroom every 15-20 minutes or so. Initially, there were mixed results where some days went fine and others did not. There were definitely some accidents especially in the #2 variety.
Just over two weeks later, I can share that he's doing pretty well. I don't think he's had an accident in 4 or 5 days now. Yes, I know that I'm totally jinxing things, and he'll have an accident immediately after this post is published. The problem is that he doesn't tell us when he needs to go. We just place him on the toilet and either he goes or doesn't. This repeats every 20-60 minutes or so. (We've learned that we need to take him more depending on how much he drinks. I know that this sounds obvious, but there's definitely a science to this.)
What's amazing is that I've completely blocked out potty training The Moose and Pedro Tulo. I have little recollection of this process with them at all! Meanwhile, I find that either Luigi is incapable of taking his pants off and going on the toilet himself or (more likely) he just lets us take care of this. This kid is so spoiled. He's also getting rewarded nicely, especially during the first few days, with M&Ms, Skittles, and even stuffed animals for successfully using the bathroom.
Even though I've been with Luigi nearly 24/7 over the last 12 months, this has been additional bonding time and seemingly rare 1-on-1 time. He's really a really funny kid. For example, he'll intentionally press the wrong button on Busy Noisy School, probably his favorite book while sitting on the toilet, just for laughs.
With that written, I really hope that he can just walk to the bathroom and take care of business on his own soon.
The NHL played two outdoor games over the weekend at Lake Tahoe. While the league has held outdoor games in stadiums for over a decade now, these games were unique in that there were essentially no fans. The league put a hockey rink right next to Lake Tahoe with the Sierra Nevada mountains in the background. It was absolutely beautiful. I mean, sure the Saturday game ended up being delayed after the first period due to the sun melting the ice, but I think the NHL should consider playing games in unique locations in the future, even without fans.
Here are some ideas the NHL should consider.
+ Since I'm from Pittsburgh, Point State Park was the first place I thought of when I came up with the idea for this post. Every television broadcast from Pittsburgh always shows the confluence where the Allegheny River and Monongahela meet to form the Ohio River. Now you can have a game right there!
+ Central Park in New York City. I asked my friend and hockey road trip partner Christian his thoughts on this question, and he suggested other places in New York, which sound even cooler. "The rink could go in Battery Park which is all the way downtown. View of the WTC as well as the Statue of Liberty.
Oh, and on that note. Do the game on Governors Island. There’s a massive field in the middle. Would have a great view of the Verrazano bridge, the Statue of Liberty and downtown Manhattan. And best, it’s on an island. The NHL could easily control the people who are on the island. In fact, I bet a lot of cities have islands that have great views. That could be kind of epic."
+ My first thought of having a game in the Bay Area was on the Golden Gate Bridge. Sure, that would seriously mess up traffic for days, but think of the views! However, after Christian's island idea, the clear answer is Alcatraz. (This video is not suitable for work, but go to 2:07 of the video to avoid the R-rated language and get to the money line.)
+ Play the game on an actual lake. Since Lake Tahoe isn't frozen, pick one that actually is for a January or February game. Lake Placid.* Lake Michigan. Lake Erie. Great Bear Lake. Any of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes. Just find one that works.
+ Convert a Maid of the Mist boat at Niagara Falls into a hockey rink. Amazing views plus you get the bonus of seeing a game played on a moving surface (the boat will be on the water, not docked!) and you get the mist from the falls creating poor visibility for the goalies.
+ The National Mall in Washington. I see two options here. One is building a rink between the Washington Monument and the United States Capitol, and the other is on the reflecting pool itself. For the second option, immediately after the national anthem, have Robin Wright come on the ice and yell Forrest.
+ The Grand Canyon. There must be a valley with enough space to put a rink.
+ Under The Gateway Arch in St. Louis.
+ Outside the CN Tower in Toronto or the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) in Chicago.
+ Long Pond in Windsor, Nova Scotia. If this is the first place hockey was played, play an NHL game here!
+ Next to the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles. And by next to, I mean play the game on Mount Lee for the first ever game played at a significant angle!
+ Yellowstone National Park. Build the rink with the Old Faithful geyser in the middle. Who wouldn't want to see Tom Wilson get shot up into the air in the second period?
I could probably keep going, but if you have other suggestions, please leave them in the comments section below.
* Although this post is about outdoor games, why hasn't the NHL had an indoor game in Lake Placid? There is no place more famous for hockey in the United States than Lake Placid.
ESPN UK posted a video of CF Montreal manager Thierry Henry mic'd up during a match. There are rumors that Henry, who I saw play when he was on the NewYork Red Bulls, will be the next manager of Bournemouth, a British Championship club that was relegated from the Premier League last season.
The point of this post is from the title. Is Thierry Henry wearing a Pittsburgh Pirates hat during the match?
I don't know of any connection between Henry and the Pirates though perhaps it's an homage to Roberto Clemente who played minor league baseball in Montreal. Maybe. Go Bucs!
Attending the Australian Open in Melbourne is on my bucket list. I don't really have a formal bucket list, but I want to visit Australia, so why not go and see some Grand Slam tennis while I'm there? And some Australian Rules Football too. That seems like such an awesome sport.
Plus, it's always winter in the US during the Australian Open, and it looks so nice and warm there. And yes, I'm writing this as we're expecting snow in the DC area and most of the country is dealing with cold temperatures, ice, and snow. Some summer weather right now would be fantastic!
I mentioned that I want to visit Australia to The Moose (my 9 year old son) recently, and he is interested in joining me. When I asked if his brothers would want to go too, he replied that they're not old enough. I doubt I'll make it to Australia anytime soon, so I think they'll be an appropriate age in about 20 years when I take my trip.
I have a few thoughts about this year's tournament. Yes, I know that most of you probably aren't interested in the tournament, but I hope you'll find this interesting and maybe a little entertaining.
* Let's start with Serena Williams. I saw her (barely) when I went to Wimbledon in 2000. Over 20 years later, she's in the semi-finals against 3rd seeded Naomi Osaka who already has 3 Grand Slam titles herself at the age of 23. Yes, Osaka wasn't even 3 years old when I saw Serena (barely) play. I'm rooting for Serena. I'd love to see her win another title, especially since she's one of the few people who can pull off having a chair made of Elmos.
* Aslan Karatsev is an Australian Open semifinalist. Never heard of him? You're not alone. He's 27, from Russia, spent much of his childhood in Israel, and this is the first time he's ever made it into the main draw at a Grand Slam event. By reaching the semifinals, he has now made more money this week than in his entire professional career. And for this achievement, he gets to play Novak Djokovic next.
After he won in his quarterfinal match, I tweeted this:
I think it's cool that I'm not that far behind a Grand Slam semi finalist in the amount of Twitter followers that we have. Congrats to Karatsev!
I got one reply.
So you judge people on twitter followers?? What an idiot!!
The person who wrote this has 11 followers. I'm judging him. Anyway, my point was not to disparage Karatsev. It was just to show that he really is (or at least was) unknown. At the time of my tweet, he had about 1,250 Twitter followers. As a comparison, Rafael Nadal has 15.7 million followers, and Roger Federer has 12.7 million followers. Maybe this is a poor comparison since these two are among the best players of all time. 6th seed Alexander Zverev has 87.4K followers. 5th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas (great name) has 210.4K followers. Somewhere in that range seems about normal for a tennis player who reached a Grand Slam semifinal. Not 1,250. Oh, Karatsev now has 2,400 followers as of the time this is posted.
* Karatsev defeated 18th seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the quarterfinals. Dimitrov was clearly hurting and could barely move near the end of the match. This got me thinking. How would I fare in a match against a world-class professional tennis player who could move? I mean, he could still serve though probably at around 60%. Maybe he would have to stay at the same spot when I served. For my credentials, I earned 2 letters from being on my high school tennis team. That may sound pretty good, but in reality, I was a below average player on a below average team. I think the answer is that I would lose 6-0, 6-0 to a professional player who couldn't move. I wouldn't be able to handle his serve or any return shots on my terrible serve. This question did remind me of the entertaining book Andy Roddick Beat Me With a Frying Pan.
* Back to Dimitrov, I appreciate that he continued to play while injured. Meanwhile, 22nd seed Casper Ruud of Norway seemed fine but retired after losing the first two sets in the 4th round. First, based on his name, we have to assume that he's friendly. And perhaps even a ghost. However, it's a Grand Slam event. Unless you can't move, you try to keep trying to play, right?
* I think the tradition of the match winner signing a camera lens with a Sharpie is dumb. Is there some type of protective film so that there's no damage to the camera? If so, what happens if someone forgets to put on the film?
I’m doing something that I rarely do. I’m sharing a story that’s not my story to tell. Usually, I write about myself or my kids, but this is completely different. A friend recently sent me this picture.
My immediate response was "Gah!" This is actually a baby squirrel that fell from a tree or its mom rejected it (and possibly pushed it out). The squirrel survived only to be discovered by my friend’s dog who promptly put it in her mouth. My friend convinced the dog to drop the squirrel and ended up taking care of the squirrel overnight. The local wildlife agency picked up the squirrel the next day and expects the animal to be fine.
There’s not much more to this story. Just that the baby squirrel is so little and apparently likes Similac!
During the pandemic, we have spent part of almost everyday outside our house. Whether it’s playing sports or riding scooters/bikes or just going for a walk, the kids need time to play and run around. Sure, they would be content watching Peppa Pig, Dude Perfect, or some other YouTube videos when not in school, but we really need them to burn off some energy. They are at the age when physical activity is important. And by "the age," that applies to me too.
Now that it's winter and it's cold, there is not much motivation to go outside many days. And yes, this applies to me. I asked around for various physical activities we could do inside, and a friend suggested searching for Just Dance Kids on YouTube. For those not familiar, Just Dance is a video game where you dance along with various pop songs.
It's been around since 2009 and is available to play on Wii, PlayStation, and just about every other platform. Even though we don't own the game, there are hundreds of Just Dance videos on YouTube. Here are a few of our favorites:
Now, I consider myself to be a decent dancer. I already shared that I made the cast of my high school musical in part because of a flawless dancing audition (and because they needed more guys). As you can see in the videos below, maybe I'm not that good of a dancer anymore. In my defense, I was only learning these dances for the first time when these were filmed. (Plus, I was unaware that the filming was taking place.)
Unlike his dad, 3 year-old Luigi has some potential!
In February 2009, I created the first of four annual Best Pittsburgh Sports Blog Tournaments. This was a time when the blog scene exploded, and the goal of the tournament was to highlight the outstanding writing and work by so many people. I also hoped that there would be more exposure to the blogs and to encourage collaboration among the bloggers.
Twelve years later, I wondered how many of the 32 blogs in the original tournament are still active today. The answer is not many. And by not many, my count is seven-ish:
Behind the Steel Curtain
The Pensblog
Steelers Gab
Bucs Dugout
PensBurgh (The Confluence was in the tournament, and Tony of this blog joined PensBurgh in 2014)
Nice Pick Cowher (which turned into Still Curtain at some point)
Sean's Ramblings
Taking my blog out of this, all of these blogs are under larger conglomerates or organizations now. Behind the Steel Curtain, PensBurgh, and Bucs Dugout are all blogs on SB Nation. The Pensblog is under The Sports Daily. There is a separate "Gab" blog for every NFL team. Still Curtain is a Fansided blog. Except for possibly Hooks Orpik on PensBurgh, I don't believe that any of the writers who wrote these blogs back in 2009 are still writing on these sites. Plus, all of these active blogs have multiple writers today.
Maintaining a blog can be difficult, especially over many years. Writing a team-specific blog for years is impossible. In non-pandemic times, you're looking at 162 baseball games, 16 football games, 82 hockey games and that doesn't include any preseason or postseason games. Plus, if you are a team-specific blog, the games are only part of your site. You have to write about drafts, trades, transactions, coaching hirings/firings, and more. It's easy to burn out quickly if you're trying to cover a team by yourself. For better or worse, I still have this blog because I write about a wide variety of topics (including Pittsburgh sports on occasion though less than I did a decade ago) and enjoy doing it. I joked about the idea of writing a blog only about Sheffield Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and my cat last year, and that only lasted one day.
What happened to the other blogs listed in the bracket above? Seth of Empty Netters still writes about the Penguins for Tribune-Review Sports and makes a living doing this. Dan of Blog 'n' Gold also gets paid to write though that particular blog is gone. Of course, both of these blogs had the backing of the Post-Gazette, so it was a bit of a different animal even then. Most of the writers shifted from their blogs to Twitter. The blogging and social media landscape have obviously changed over the years. Twitter really wasn't that big when the first tournament started. Writing (or reading) a quick take on Twitter is much easier. You can engage with fellow fans in real time. It's the perfect format to yell TOUCHDOWN!! in a tweet and get instant responses.
I should also mention that I try to contact Don of Mondesi's House every few years. Mondesi's House was arguably the biggest Pittsburgh blog during this time and just disappeared. Don has never replied to any of my inquiries.
Personally, I miss the independent blogger days. It was a fun community. So please excuse me as I reminisce.
Many Pittsburgh sports fans are rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs to win the upcoming Super Bowl. Sure, part of this is because KC quarterback Patrick Mahomes is likable, so fun to watch, and appears in commercials with Steelers legend Troy Polamalu.
However, the bigger reason some Steelers fans will support KC is because the Tampa Bay Buccaneers employ the most decorated QB in NFL history (and frequent Steelers tormentor) Tom Brady and former Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown. Although Brown was arguably the best WR in the NFL over the last decade, let's just write that he did not depart from Pittsburgh and Steelers on the best of terms.
Have you looked at the Tampa Bay organization though? And yes, I'm talking to Pittsburgh sports fans here. If you did, you'll see a lot of familiar names. Let's start with the obvious. Head coach Bruce Arians served as the Steelers wide receivers coach from 2004-2006 and offensive coordinator ("OC") from 2007-2011. The Steelers reached the Super Bowl twice when Arians was the OC, winning the title in the 2008 season. Then, after the 2011 season, he "retired." I still don't think the retirement was fully explained as he joined the Indianapolis Colts the next season.
Looking at the roster, there are several players with Pittsburgh or Western Pennsylvania ties. The biggest name is obviously fellow Woodland Hills High School graduate Rob Gronkowski. Gronk and I have a lot in common besides graduating from the same high school. Gronk is going to be in the NFL Hall of Fame. I've visited the NFL Hall of Fame. Gronk appeared on The Masked Singer and CBS' Game On! I've watched both of those shows. I mean, there's a lot more, but I'm getting off topic.
Starting safety Jordan Whitehead is from Monaca and had a successful career at the University of Pittsburgh. While LeSean McCoy is now a back-up and hasn't played much this year, Pitt fans will also remember him well as part of an excellent crop of running backs in Panthers history. Deep on the depth chart is WR Justin Watson who went to South Fayette High School. And reserve cornerback Russ Cockrell played two years for the Steelers. Oh, and while not Pittsburgh, WR Chris Godwin, tackle Donovan Smith, and center A.Q. Shipley (though on injured reserve) went to Penn State. This matters to a lot of people in Western PA.
You're not convinced yet. I get it. Well, let's look at the coaching staff.
- Offensive Coordinator Byron Leftwich played 4 seasons as the Steelers back-up QB. I've always had a soft spot for Leftwich. When I attended the Steelers-Washington Football Team game in 2008, Leftwich led the Steelers to victory after Roethlisberger got injured.
I also love the video of his Marshall offensive linemen carrying him down the field when he basically played on one leg. You want to play for or with Byron Leftwich!
- Assistant Head Coach / Running Back Coordinator Harold Goodwin worked with Arians as an offense assistant with the Steelers from 2007-2011.
- Offensive Assistant Antwaan Randle El was the most exciting offensive player on the Steelers over the last 20 years. You never knew what could happen when he had the ball.
- Defensive/Special Teams Assistant Cody Grimm. This one is a bit of a stretch since I'm not sure how much time Grimm spent in Pittsburgh. However, his dad Russ was the Steelers offensive line coach for five seasons and was part of some elite Pitt teams in the late 70s and 1980.
- Outside Linebackers coach Larry Foote played 11 seasons with the Steelers. He was so solid, dependable, and a team leader. He was also part of one of my favorite post-Super Bowl pictures.
- (I missed this one before.) Safeties coach Nick Rapone is from New Castle, was a grad assistant at Pitt in 1979-80, coached at Pitt in 1989-1992, and worked at New Castle High School in 1993-1994.
- The final Pittsburgh connection is a bit surprising. Tampa's Speed & Conditioning Coach is two-time Olympic gold medalist Roger Kingdom. How would you like to be coached by arguably the greatest 110m hurdler of all time? Oh, he's also a Pitt graduate.
Look, I understand that the dislike of Brady and Brown is strong. However, if the Bucs win, I think you can be happy for all of these other people with Pittsburgh connections.
It's been really easy for me to remember when the coronavirus became more than just something that impacted people internationally or on cruise ships. My dad's funeral was on Wednesday, March 11th. That evening, the NBA shut down after Utah Jazz's Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, Tom Hanks announced that he tested positive in Australia, and Sarah Palin was revealed as the Bear on The Masked Singer. It was truly a surreal day.
On our drive home from Pittsburgh a few days later, we found out that my kids' schools and my office were going to be closed the following week. I went to my synagogue for Shabbat services on Friday night and Saturday and people really didn't know how to react. There were a few elbow bumps but no handshakes or hugs. This was also before people realized that masks helped. On Sunday evening, we hosted some friends for shiva, part of the week-long mourning period in Judaism, and that was really the last time I spent time with people other than those in my home without social distancing.
Right around that time, many people around the country started to realize that a lot of things needed to happen online instead of in person and that included religious services. While my own synagogue hosted services online each week on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I needed somewhere for the other days of the week.
(Sorry. I've been in the same room as my first grader during his school day for months!)
On that first Monday and Tuesday, I found an online minyan (a quorum of 10 people for a prayer service) in order to say the Mourner's prayer for my dad. I didn't know anyone at that particular synagogue, and it was awkward with everyone trying to figure out how an online service should work. Then, I connected with a friend from college who just happened to be a rabbi. Even though she and her synagogue are several thousand miles and several time zones away, I started joining their minyans. So every day since I got home from the funeral in March, I've attended a minyan between my synagogue and my friend's congregation (with an occasional cameo at my brother's synagogue). While I wrote about much of this way back in June, the period of Shloshim* officially ended for me on Monday. (I also tried to explain what shiva and shloshim are in that post.) Before I get to the thank you portion of this post, I thought I would share some highlights from attending online services every day since March.
- Seeing a guy in his 70s without a shirt while eating breakfast at his kitchen table.
- Witnessing a family perform the Adon Olam prayer/song together to the tune of Backstreet Boys' I Want It That Way. (It was truly awesome!)
- Being able to "attend" a Bar Mitzvah in Arizona while in my own home.
- Attending a B'Not Mitzvah and listening to three girls singing almost magically together.
- Wearing pajama pants for the vast majority of these services.
- Hearing some variation of "you're on mute," "you need to unmute yourself," or "can everyone mute themselves" probably hundreds of times.
- Watching a recognizable TV personality on the computer screen as he attended the same service as me. He appeared to be wearing a Cleveland Browns sweater.
(It was not one of the guys in this picture.)
It's amazing that my dad passed away 11 months ago in the Hebrew calendar. Being able to attend these services has really been comforting. With everything going on in my life and in the country during this pandemic, this has been the one consistent part of my life each and every day. I now have two separate communities where I feel welcomed. And yes, it's still a little strange knowing many of these people only via Zoom and never really having one-on-one conversations. I'm not trying to do a silver lining thing here, but I wouldn't have done services during the entire 11-month period every day in normal times. It just wouldn't have been realistic with commuting to and from work, kids activities, and even just driving to services.
I want to thank my family for being supportive in me doing services the entire time. Thanks to both synagogues for having online minyans during the pandemic. And thanks to you for reading this blog post.
* Update/Correction: Shloshim in Hebrew means 30, so the 30-day mourning period actually ended in April. There does not seem to be a specific name for the 11-month period for a parent, so I'm using the term incorrectly. Since this has already been published, I'll keep the name, especially since The End of the 11-Month Mourning Period isn't as "catchy" of a title.
I started writing Sean's Ramblings only weeks before George W. Bush's second inauguration, so Wednesday's inauguration of President Joe Biden is my fifth opportunity to write about such an event. Considering that I've lived in Northern Virginia during this entire time, you would think that I would have a good story to share about attending an inaugural ball or standing on the national mall during a ceremony. Nope. In January 2005, just after I started this blog, instead of writing about Bush's inauguration, I shared that our heat wasn't working. In 2009, I listened to Obama's inauguration on the radio while driving from Buffalo to New York City at the conclusion of that year's hockey road trip.
I mentioned this only briefly, but I then took a bus from New York to DC. Once I arrived in DC, I got the Metro at Union Station and saw people dressed in tuxedos and gowns going to or from a ball
on the platform and the trains. Meanwhile, I was carrying a suitcase and looking completely disheveled. Someone who appeared to be homeless asked me if I had an extra pair of socks, and even though I said they were dirty, he graciously accepted a pair. So giving away a pair of socks at a Metro station is the closest I have to an inauguration story.
Wednesday's inauguration was nice. I mean, I'm sure that there are plenty of other words that you can use but nice just seems right. Joe Biden talked about unity and being the president for all Americans. He was empathetic in having a moment of silence for those who passed away during the pandemic. Overall, Biden came across as a good guy who wants to serve the American people which I think he really is and wants to do. I'll write more about Biden momentarily.
Kamala Harris formerly becoming the first female Vice President was truly a historic moment. Amanda Gorman gave an incredible address that really stole the show, which is amazing to think about considering that Lady Gaga (and her pendant), Jennifer Lopez, and Garth Brooks (and his belt buckle) all performed. And I could spend hours looking at Bernie Sanders memes.
Look, I don't know how the Biden presidency is going to go. It's refreshing to know that Biden isn't going to insult people on Twitter. That he's going to be empathetic during tragedies. That he's not going to argue about crowd sizes or constantly bring up electoral college results. He's definitely not going to encourage his supporters to march to the Capitol. This is an incredibly low bar, but this is where we are in January 2021. Based on the current state of the country, I expect Biden to have early success. Over 400,000 Americans have now passed away due to COVID-19 and the job market is awful. He has nowhere else to go but up. I fully expect him to do everything in his power to distribute vaccines and try to end the coronavirus. Meanwhile, the stock market and retirement accounts are doing great, which shows the disconnect between those with wealth and those who don't. I really think Biden is going to try to help those unemployed and struggling.
Now passing legislation is going to be much tougher, especially with a 50-50 split in the Senate. Biden is not going to get a honeymoon period. For example, Senator Ted Cruz tweeted this on Wednesday:
By rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement, President Biden indicates he's more interested in the views of the citizens of Paris than in the jobs of the citizens of Pittsburgh. This agreement will do little to affect the climate and will harm the livelihoods of Americans.
I'll disregard the fact that just two weeks ago, Cruz tried to block the certification of Pennsylvania's election results (including by voters in Pittsburgh). It just shows that Biden is going to get opposition on pretty much anything he does. Oh, I will write that it was fun to see Pittsburgh Twitter unified in their disdain for Cruz. If you ever follow Twitter during a Steelers game, you know that there is never any unity or agreement among Pittsburgh people.
Anyway, my point to this whole post is that the inauguration was nice, and I'm hopeful that Biden has a successful presidency. I wish him and Kamala Harris good health and good luck.
Biden photo by Brendan Smialowski AFP. Harris photo by Getty Images.
Enjoy links of articles and stories from around the world:
I’ve mentioned J.J. Hensley here before. As a former police officer and former Special Agent with the U.S. Secret Service, he has some valuable insight about the security for Wednesday's inauguration. [J.J. Hensley]
This is a really cool story about Presidential candidate Barack Obama playing pickup basketball with the University of North Carolina men’s team. [The Athletic]
The Pittsburgh Pirates traded pitcher Joe Musgrove to the San Diego Padres for a handful of prospects. The most significant prospect is 19 year-old outfielder Hudson Head who was a 2019 third round pick. I appreciate the Pirates getting an early 1990s sitcom, especially since the team was really good at the same time that the show aired. [Pittsburgh Baseball Network]
I don't know what to write about this story about the U.S. government paying $3,000 a month to rent a toilet for the Secret Service staff to use in protecting Ivanka Trump/Jared Kushner other than it's amazing. [The Washington Post]
When I was in high school, I shared the stage with E. Clayton Cornelious in Lil Abner and Peter Pan. When I write "shared the stage," I mean we were both on the stage at the same time as he was a much, much, much better singer and actor than me (though you can judge my acting ability for yourself). Clayton has been performing on Broadway for years and was recently interviewed in Playbill. [Playbill]
Don't forget to click on the link to check out Dancing and Life which I wrote about last week. The 30-day New Year New You challenge is pretty cool. [Dancing and Life]
Finally, Congregation Rodef Shalom in Denver welcomed Reverend Timothy Tyler at a special Shabbat service on Saturday just before Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I highly recommend checking out the video starting just before the 50-minute mark. [Rodef Shalom Facebook page]
Oh, I almost forgot that I have a referral available for LearnedLeague, the greatest trivia league in the land. If you're interested in trying a season, please let me know. [LearnedLeague]
Joanne Rogers passed away on Thursday at the age of 92. You may not recognize the name until you realize that her husband was the late Mr. Fred Rogers. I spent some time last night watching videos of her, primarily discussing Fred Rogers and Mr. Rogers Neighborhood for the terrific documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor? I've included some of these videos below. I also encourage you to check out her obituaries in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Washington Post. She had an amazing life and certainly had her own accomplishments. I don't have any personal stories to share about Joanne Rogers. With the craziness of the world, there's just something comforting and refreshing in hearing her speak and seeing clips of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.
I do want share some other thoughts that I saw online.
Many trying to figure out why our sadness at the death of Mrs. Rogers is hitting us so hard. It's because she has always been so wonderful at carrying on the legacy of Fred that she felt like one of our last tangible links to him. So we are mourning two people at once.
From my friend J:
So sad to hear the news of Joanne Rogers' passing. I was privileged to have gotten to know her while working at the PSO (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra). My favorite memory is being with her in Europe for 10-days on our patron tour in 2017. She said her dream was always to hear the PSO in Europe and I am so happy to have been there with her for those concerts. Our world is a better place because of her.
For many years, I've wanted to be part of a campaign and to be an influencer. I get occasional offers from companies to subtly or not-so-subtly include a link to a website in a post. Some are fine and I accept. Others seem a little sketchy, so I decline. These have always been one-time posts and are designed to feel organic though that's not always the case.
So this is very cool. For the first time, an organization picked me / Sean's Ramblings to be an influencer for their campaign. And that organization is Dancing and Life, which provides free and premium training and coaching to help you overcome crises and live your best life. I think we can agree that we can all use that right now. Dancing and Life teaches you the power of movement and dance to help you feel better. This is rather simplistic, but in my mind, when I hear It Takes Two by Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock or Groove Is In the Heart by Dee-Lite, I want to dance, and I immediately feel better.
Obviously, Dancing and Life is much more than this. The first step is to take a 3-minute quiz about what inner strength will help you through a crisis. It sounds much more intimidating than it is. In case you're wondering, I am a strong inner healer. According to the quiz results, the traits that make me great in a crisis is that I'm relationship-oriented, empathetic, committed, selfless, and tolerant. This is right on the money. Famous people that are also strong inner healers include Oprah Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres, William Shakespeare, and Taylor Swift. I also say how much Oprah, Taylor, and I have in common, and this proves it!
Then, join the free Dancing Through Crisis 7-Day Challenge led by Saje Flow. What an awesome name. By the way, Saje did a monster livestream to kick off this initiative on Monday. If you're interested, you can check out my appearance at the 9:52 mark. Not 9 minutes and 52 seconds. The 9 hour and 52 minute mark!
Saje has so much energy. I'm jealous of his flowing hair too. I might be getting off topic. Check out the videos on the 7-day challenge. This is all free. There is some premium content after this, which is completely optional. The website also has plenty of information and can answer any questions you may have.
Plus, Saje is doing a 30-day New Year New You Transformation. Please check out my Facebook page to see what this entails each day.
I think that's it. I'm doing this, and I'm being an influencer, so I hope that you've been influenced.
Update 1/17: I mentioned this just briefly in this blog post, but I am posting a new challenge or message every day during the 30-day New Year New You Transformation on my Twitter and Facebook pages. For example, on Thursday, the challenge was to share your wish for the year. (I included that it should be something personal to you and not the end of COVID or a safe and peaceful inauguration since everyone wants there.) You can share it with everyone else on my or your social media or just keep it to yourself.
Update 1/28: The day #18 challenge was to share a brief video of you "raising the roof" and proclaiming to the world one thing you've learned this week or that you achieved today. I guess I'll pick the what I achieved today option. I finished writing a blog post, finished something I needed to get done for work, helped my older kids with math, and participated in a dance challenge (more on this in a separate post). Plus, I get to include this gif.
Update 2/5: The day #26 challenge was to share a video of yourself looking into the mirror when you wake up in the morning, and saying, "Thank you and I love you." All I could think of was the picture of Alex Rodriguez about to kiss himself in the mirror.
Update 2/7: One of the challenges is have "me time" by going somewhere into nature like a beach, park, or even your backyard and sit in silence for 5 minutes with your phone off. Then, you should write what came up for you. Unfortunately, this is one that I can't do. Just too much going on in my life. There is not any time for me time.
My blog officially turned 16 years old. It can now drive, or at least go and take the driver's test depending on the state. Or in my case, maybe my blog will be given the school bus driver's permit test at the age of 16 even though I did not go to the DMV to take the school bus driver test. Amazingly, I don't think I ever shared this story in the 16 years of Sean's Ramblings. I mean, there's not much more to the story than that. My mom was really disappointed that I failed the permit test, and I tried to explain that some of the questions weren't in the book. When I mentioned to my driver's ed teacher about the questions, he told me that I was given the bus driver exam. I just thought the DMV had some type of theme to the test. When I went back to the DMV to retake the test, I asked several times to make sure that I didn't get the bus driver test again, and they didn't believe me when I said that I got the wrong test the first time.
Okay, I'm getting way off topic here. The last 12 months have certainly been awful. Well, at least the last 10 months. My dad passed away in March, and the funeral took place right before things shut down due to COVID-19. I've spent nearly all of my time at home or on my street since I returned home from the funeral. Between the pandemic, the state of the country with protests and the election, and The O closing, my blog has covered a lot of heavy topics over the last year. That makes sense when I can't write about going on vacation or attending concerts or sporting events.
While I know that I complained about my kids in posts (and definitely more not in posts), I'm sure that I'll look back one day and be grateful for the amount of time I spent with them over the last year. Before it started getting cold, we played outside nearly everyday. We went on hikes and played football, baseball, or soccer constantly. Inside, there are regular games of Yahtzee and other board games.
So what's next for Sean's Ramblings? Well, the next 12 months have to be better than the last 12 months. I have friends in the medical community who have started getting vaccines as have some older relatives. (I'm not writing that they're old. They are just eligible to receive the vaccine.) Eventually, I'll get the vaccine too and hopefully there will be some sense of normalcy again. I miss writing about concerts and trips and various activities with my kids. I want to write about more fun things. After a year of many heavy posts, I want to be more positive. For example, maybe I can write about Pittsburgh sports teams doing well. Okay, I don't want to get too crazy here.
As always, thanks to all of you for reading this post and any other posts I've written over the last 12 months or 16 years. I've written before that this is like a journal for me, but I still like when people read it and provide their thoughts and opinions on posts.
Oh, I've also done these state of the ramblings posts for years. Please check out those from, say 2008, to see what I wrote and if it holds up.
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.
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