Baby Born In Toilet; This Is News?

Today's Washington Post Express included a brief article about a Connecticut baby being born in a toilet. From doing a quick search online, I found this story appeared in many places including the New York Daily News, the UK's Daily Mail, USA Today, and The Huffington Post. Here's the story from NBC Connecticut:

A West Haven mother who went into labor shortly after being sent home from the hospital because she was told she wasn't ready to deliver, ended up giving birth at home.

Lillie Davis told her husband, David, she wasn't going to make it back to the hospital, so Dad did what he could: he delivered the baby in the bathroom.

Not long after a visit to Lillie's doctor at Griffin Hospital in Derby on Friday, after a nurse evaluated her and told her the baby wasn't ready yet, Lillie began to feel labor pains in the bathroom, so Davis called 911.

"Once I got off the phone with them, she said she had the feel...felt the need to push," David Davis said.

So, that meant it was up to David to deliver the baby in the bathroom.

"And thank God we were near the toilet because she slid...the baby slipped through my hands and actually went into the water...crying like that," he said. "So, when I heard those sounds, I knew that was like the best sounds I ever heard in my life."

It happened fast and David had to act quickly, but all ended well and his wife and newborn baby, Livia are doing well. Livia, weighs 7 pounds and 6 ounces.



I know of a case of a Pittsburgh baby born in a toilet 30-some years ago. I don't think there is any news coverage of this birth (unless you now count Sean's Ramblings).

Trivia Tuesday

Have you ever wondered how long you could survive in the vacuum of space without a spaceship or space suit? I haven't either though I did watch the first two episodes of Extant starring Halle Berry. Anyway, this short quiz can determine how long you could survive. Apparently, I could last 1 minute, 11 seconds though I would lose consciousness at 15 seconds.



Yes, this may be dumb, but it's a somewhat entertaining. Enjoy (and please share your results in the comments section below)!

Josh Harrison Loves Rundowns

If you see a player get into a rundown at the Little League level or below, there's a decent chance the runner will be safe. Usually, a fielder will throw the ball too late or someone will make a poor throw or miss a catch. At the major league level, a runner is tagged out nearly all of the time. Generally, the runner will simply keep the rundown going long enough for his teammate to advance to the next base. Then there is Josh Harrison of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Check out this clip from Sunday's game against the Colorado Rockies:



Harrison also eluded the Mets last month.



(There's a decent chance Harrison should have been called out for going out of the baseline against the Mets, but the umpires ruled him safe.)

Man, I'm sure Harrison's elementary school classmates must have hated trying to get Josh Harrison in freeze tag!

Airport Family Restrooms Are For Families

Traveling with kids is difficult. A 12-pound infant needs a car seat, stroller, formula, bottles, diapers, wipes and multiple changes of clothes for when he/she spits up on the current outfit. All of this stuff is significantly heavier than the baby itself. Flying with two kids, particularly with both in diapers, brings an even greater degree of difficulty. You just try to get to and from your destination without meltdowns and with as little disruption to the other passengers as possible.

Inevitably, you will need several diaper changes during the trip. Just pray that you don't have to do this on the airplane! Fortunately, most (if not all) airports have family restrooms or at least changing stations in the restrooms. Family restrooms make it much easier for diaper changes and for when you need to go potty yourself without worrying about leaving your kids unattended. However, some individuals decide that they would rather have the privacy of their own restroom even if they don't have any kids with them.

I was at the Jacksonville airport recently with family restrooms but no changing stations in the regular restroom. Unless you want to change a diaper in public (and no one wants that especially for the disposal aspect), the only place to comfortably change the diaper was in the family restroom. I waited more than 10 minutes for a family restroom before finally giving up and calling my wife for help. In case you're wondering, I tried the door several times and even knocked once asking if everything was okay. I got no response. In hindsight, perhaps I should have called security to make sure there wasn't an emergency. Anyway, after I switched with my wife, she saw a woman exiting the family restroom alone.

To this woman and to anyone else using a family restroom without a family at an airport, suck it up and use the "regular" bathroom like everyone else.


This post was also published on the excellent Ya Jagoff , recently included on Pittsburgh Magazine's Best of the 'Burgh 2014. I guess I can share in this award, right? Maybe? Ya Jagoff has had a great run recently including this interview with Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto.

Ultimate Mix CD

While I have plenty of mix tapes from my high school and college days, I think I only have one mix CD. And it's a good one. This is the ultimate pump-you-up mix that will also ensure that you'll drive a little faster on the highway.

1. Jump Around - House of Pain

2. It Takes Two - Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock

3. Bust a Move - Young MC

4. Baby Got Back - Sir Mix-a-Lot

5. Humpty Dance - Digital Underground

6. Ice Ice Baby - Vanilla Ice

7. Fantastic Voyage - Coolio

8. OPP - Naughty By Nature

9. Gettin' Jiggy With It - Will Smith

10. Lose Yourself - Eminem

11. Hot in Herre - Nelly

12. What's Love - Fat Joe & Ashanti

13. U Can't Touch This - MC Hammer

14. California Love - 2Pac & Dr. Dre

In hindsight, I would probably replace Gettin' Jiggy With It with the superior Will Smith song Summertime (by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince). Otherwise, I still enjoy it.

As always, you can click here for more items Found In My Basement.

Who Is This Guy?

Even though there is a question mark in the title, this is not a Trivia Tuesday. Each week, The Washington Post Magazine publishes Date Lab, where Post staff members match up singles. From Date Lab's Facebook page: "The premise of Date Lab is simple: you fill out a questionnaire about yourself, and we match you up on a blind date. The next day, a reporter interviews you about the experience. It's free to participate, and we foot the bill." Basically, it's exactly like Bravo's Millionaire Matchmaker except that, well, it's not.

The July 6th edition of Date Lab features the pairing of Annie O'Neill, a Steelers fan, and Joe Riley, an Eagles fan.

Before we get any further, I have an issue with the Date Lab staff. How is the compatibility between a Steelers fan and an Eagles fan closer to "Smokin'" than "Brrr" in the Date Predit-o-Meter? Is it because they are both fans of professional football teams? Anyway, the date seems to go well until the end.

Actually, the date goes well, but I can't get past the highlighted text. How is Joe Riley a Philadelphia Eagles fan AND a New York Rangers fan? That doesn't make any sense.

Sofia Vergara: Steelers Fan?

You may know actress Sofia Vergara from "Modern Family," the funny but short lived "Knights of Prosperity" (originally titled Let's Rob Mick Jagger) or from her appearing in seemingly hundreds of commercials. You may now know the extremely attractive Vergara for being linked to the extremely attractive actor Joe Manganiello according to People magazine. While two extremely attractive actors dating is not uncommon, it has been well documented that Manganiello is a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan.

We can only hope that this relationship continues to blossom and that Sofia learns to love the Steelers through Joe.*

* We're all on a first-name basis now!

Photo from "People" by Claudia Vergara.

Christina Aguilera: Found In My Basement

In the summer of 2000, I won a contest where I received two tickets to one of nearly a dozen Columbus concerts or events. However, as I mentioned last week, I was in England for most of that summer and unable to attend just about every event. There was one concert, though, that I could see when I returned, and this is the ticket stub from the concert:

Yes, I saw Christina Aguilera perform live at the 2000 Ohio State Fair. She was a genie in a bottle. She knew what a girl wants. She also wanted her fans to come on over baby. She was not lady marmalade or dirrty yet. All I remember was that there were hundreds if not thousands of screaming pre-teen and teenage girls. My friend and I were completely out of place. She also performed a cover of Free's All Right Now and most of the crowd had never heard of the song before.

As an interesting side note to this concert, the opening act when the tour started was a little group called Destiny's Child. At some point during the summer, Destiny's Child got big, and they were no longer opening act material. I wonder what ever happened to them. Anyway, Christina's opening act was a group called soulDecision (thanks WikiPedia!) that seemed like Destiny's Child-lite.

As always, you can click here for more items Found In My Basement.

13 Year-Old Ketchup (Found In My Basement)

When I was in high school, my friend and I worked as videographers at several Bar and Bat Mitzvah parties. We were definitely not professionals and got paid as such. We videotaped the receptions, including the speeches and dances, and gave copies of the tapes directly to the families with no editing whatsoever. Years later, my friend's sister got married, and their parents asked me to come out of retirement to videotape the wedding and reception. While I don't remember getting paid much, they gave me a potpourri of Pittsburgh memorabilia including this bottle of Heinz ketchup to commemorate the opening of Heinz Field.

I'm not sure if you can tell by this picture, but the date on the bottle states September 16, 2001. However, because of 9/11, there were no NFL games that weekend. The first regular season game at Heinz Field was actually October 7, 2001. Therefore, perhaps this ketchup is a collectable worth hundreds or thousands of dollars!

As always, you can click here for more items Found In My Basement.

Friday Video

You can get car insurance from GEICO, Allstate, Nationwide, The General, an Elephant or dozens if not hundreds of places that advertise non-stop. However, if you are Pittsburgh Pirates 3B Pedro Alvarez or a fan of his, there is only one place to get car insurance: El Toro Del Toro.



Terrible effort by the goalie on the bull's shot. He should have made the save.

With the 305 area code, maybe this is Pitbull's car insurance!

Sheffield Wednesday vs. PSV Eindhoven (Found In My Basement)

As part of my graduate program, I spent the summer of 2000 in Lancaster, England with several trips throughout the UK and Ireland. My internship supervisor was a Sheffield Wednesday season ticketholder and offered to take me to a game. Even though my program ended, I traveled back to Lancaster just to meet up with my supervisor to attend a friendly between the Netherlands powerhouse PSV Eindhoven and Sheffield Wednesday, who had just been relegated from the Premier League, and unfortunately, remains in the Championship League today.

This is what I remember about the game:

- Despite the recent relegation, folks were upbeat about the season.

- I ate some type of chicken pie from the concession stand, and it was terrible.

- The final score was 2-2 (though I'm not 100% sure of this now).

- I slept for nearly the entire car ride back from Sheffield.

Why am I bringing this up? Besides the fact that the Netherlands play in the World Cup today, I found the Sheffield Wednesday-PSV Eindhoven program recently. Here is said program:

You may recognize Ruud Van Nistelrooy on the PSV roster. He did not play and actually went to Manchester United not long after the game.

As always, you can click here for more items Found In My Basement.

Trivia Tuesday

Holy crap! I visited Sean's Ramblings, and there's an actual Trivia Tuesday. These used to be common, but now Trivia Tuesday is like an endangered species.

Yes, yes, I'm bringing back Trivia Tuesday. It may only be for this week, but rejoice in this trivia-ness.

Your challenge today is to see if you can pass a U.S. citizenship quiz. These 50 questions on Playbuzz test your knowledge of the United States with sample questions from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services naturalization test.

As always, please leave your results in the comments section below and do not use the internet or encyclopedias for assistance. Good luck!

I'll share my results in the comments section later.

Gifford's Good Times Ice Cream Tour

As a global national social-media influencer,* I was invited to attend Gifford's Good Times Ice Cream Tour Ice Cream Social at Dulles Golf Center & Sports Park. As we learned Monday, I am all about free food, so I happily accepted the invitation and took my three-year old son (who I will nickname "The Moose" for a reference that no one will understand) with me. Here are some notes about and pictures of the event.

- Despite having sandwiches and fruit, The Moose was only interested in eating Sun Chips and ice cream. While I'm happy that he enjoyed the ice cream seeing that Gifford's Famous Ice Cream was the reason for this event, I'm not sure I can put "allowed my son to each only chips and ice cream for dinner" on my Father of the Year application.

- I also learned that The Moose is not ready for miniature golf. He seemed to enjoy throwing the golf ball and watching me chase after it much more than hitting the ball.

- Then The Moose turned his attention to the helmets outside the batting cages. Sure he is way too young to enter the batting cages, but the helmets were a huge hit even if they were a little big.

- He reminded me of Dark Helmet.

- I approve of Gifford's Famous Ice Cream. Quite tasty. The only negative is that they didn't bring my personal favorite flavor, mint chocolate chip.

- Lindsay Gifford-Skilling, the General Manager of Giffords, was one of several employees on hand. They are very passionate about their ice cream and the fact that the company is in its 5th generation. Whenever I take a New England trip, I think I'll need to stop at Ben & Jerry's in Vermont and Gifford's Famous Ice Cream in Skowhegan, Maine. Sounds like an awesome trip!

- Besides a fun event, I'm a big fan of receiving free swag which included a Giffords hat and coupons to the Dulles Gold Center & Sports Park.

- Thanks again to Andrea of Real Housewives of Northern Virginia for organizing the event!

* If you question my social-media influencer status, I'll let you know that Sean's Ramblings has almost 20 likes on Facebook. I also have nearly 400 Twitter followers, though many of the followers are probably not real people.

Corner Bakery Free Paninis Journal

I'm getting back to my blogging roots. Last week, I made a reference to Sean's Ramblings favorite, Kevin Pittsnogle. Today, I'm sharing my experience of attempting to win free paninis for a year.

Long-time readers might remember a simpler time when I earned free burritos for a year from California Tortilla. Over the 52 weeks, I ate $278.09 worth of free food just for being one of the first 10 people in line at the Cal Tort grand opening. Therefore, when I learned that Corner Bakery was opening a new restaurant in my neighborhood with the first 100 people in line receiving free paninis for a year, I started planning. By planning, I mean that I mentioned this to my wife a few days ago and I woke up around 5:00 instead of the usual 5:40.

I started the day by shaving, getting dressed and feeding Ziggy. I said good bye to my wife and she gave me an "Are you serious? I can't believe you're leaving since both kids will probably wake up as soon as you leave" look and rolled back over.

I arrived at Corner Bakery just after 5:30, and there was already a significant line. While I expected much of the line to be teenagers, I was surprised of the age diversity among the group. It seemed like about 40% already qualified for AARP membership and there were many families in the group (though no young children). After standing in the back of the line for a minute a two, a woman that works at the Corner Bakery corporate office handed me #56. I was in! Hooray for LaMarr Woodley! (Actually, since Woodley is no longer a Steeler, hooray for, um, Jordan Zumwalt!)

Here are some notes from the morning:

- This was the first time in Corner Bakery history that they gave away free paninis to open a restaurant. Previously, the first 100 people received free coffee. I participated in an historic event!

June 30, 1936 - Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind is published.
June 30, 1950 - US enters the Korean War.
June 30, 2014 - Free paninis at a Northern Virginia Corner Bakery

- The first person in line arrived at 2:00 AM. Rookie! It was the first 100 people in line, not the first 10.

- While I brought a chair, book & Walkman (yes, a Walkman!) to the Cal Tort opening, all I took for the Corner Bakery opening was an Entertainment Weekly magazine and a piece of paper and a pen to write some notes.

- I got a little concerned when a guy in a Sherriff's officer uniform came to the end of the line. I worried that he was going to shut everything down. Turns out he joined the line for free paninis too.

- I asked if we got tired of paninis during week 35 if we could switch to a less expensive item on the menu. I was told that I wouldn't get tired of paninis. Then, I was told that the coupons were for paninis only but staff might work with me.

The doors opened promptly at 6:00 AM and everyone received a wrapped stack of 52 cards good for one panini a week for a year from week 1 (7/6/14 to 7/12/14) to week 52 (6/28/15 to 7/4/15). July 4, 2015 seems like a really, really, really long time from now!

After nearly 10 minutes waiting in line to order food (and discovering that the first free panini coupon isn't good until next week), I decided to leave. I felt a little bad for getting the free cards and rolling out, but there were 55 people in front of me (though the line moved quickly) and I needed to go home and get ready for work. I'm sure that I'll make it up to Corner Bakery over the next year!

Don't forget to like Sean's Ramblings on Facebook.

Friday Video (Sing)

Here are Ed Sheeran, Pharrell Williams and a drunk puppet ready to get you ready for the weekend.



None of this will happen as part of my weekend, but this is still a good song!

By the way, how does Ed Sheeran sing the second verse without passing out or needing to take a long break to breathe? What a pro!


Don't forget to like Sean's Ramblings on Facebook.

2009 Called

Despite being in existence since 2005, Sean's Ramblings has never had its own Facebook page...until now. That's right, you can read Sean's Ramblings here and like the blog on Facebook for exclusive behind the scenes content. Right now, that content consists of links back here and an adorable picture of Ziggy with a soccer ball, but who knows what will be on that Facebook page. (Seriously, I have no idea what will be on that page. Probably not Farmville requests.)

So like Sean's Ramblings on Facebook and if you have suggestions about what should be on the Facebook page, share them here and/or on Facebook.

Now, what is this Wikipedia thing?

Sean's US-Portugal Recap

While it is likely that you already read detailed analysis about Sunday's US-Portugal game and the scenarios for the US to advance to the knockout round, you haven't read my thoughts about the game and World Cup (unless you're reading this multiple times). Like my recaps of Steelers games, and, well, just about everything else on Sean's Ramblings, enjoy items and thoughts that you won't see anywhere but here.

- Like every other World Cup match, the festivities began with the starting players entering the field holding hands with Brazilian children. While this is probably a huge honor for the kids who can tell their children that they were on the field during the 2014 World Cup, I wonder if all the kids are truly happy. For example, if you learned that you were going to go on the field for the Brazil-Cameroon game only to discover that you're walking out with a Cameroon player rather than Neymar or another Brazilian player, you might not be that excited.

- I didn't realize that Cristiano Ronaldo and Tim Howard were roommates when they played together for Manchester United. Now that is a reality show I would have watched. Did they have a Felix-Oscar relationship? Did they argue about leaving dirty dishes in the sink? Did they split the bills evenly? I need to know more about this!

- Now that there has been a water break in a World Cup match, I can't wait to use this as a ref as an example when Under-14 coaches complain about having one.

- It was nice of Wonder Woman, Superman & Batman to attend the World Cup match. However, while Wonder Woman and Superman dressed for the hot, humid climate, Batman must have been really uncomfortable.

- There were several times in the match where the announcers stated that, essentially, Ronaldo doesn't play defense. He's basically Alex Ovechkin except that he has won titles. Of course, it helps when you have teammates like Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scoles. Edwin van der Sar, Ryan Giggs, Kaka, Mesut Ozil, & Iker Casillas rather than Martin Erat, Jeff Schultz and Jay Beagle.

- Yes, another Ronaldo thought. Announcer Ian Darke mentioned that Ronaldo was greeted at the hotel by a topless model, a guy in a Donald Duck costume and hundreds of other spectators. Why isn't ABC/ESPN showing this?

- Like Troy Polamalu's hair or Brett Keisel's beard, Portugal's Raul Meireles looked to get major attention due to his beard, mohawk and tattoos. He could easily be a bad guy on Sons of Anarchy. Unfortunately, it doesn't help your reputation as a scary, tough guy when you lay on the ground for approximately 15 minutes after Kyle Beckerman slide tackle. (It really wasn't that bad but some people disagree.)

- Meanwhile Clint Dempsey gets beat up nearly every match and always gets up. He is basically Chumbawamba without the whiskey drink, vodka drink, lager drink and cider drink. Oh, Dempsey also scored a goal off his tummy.

- West Virginia University's Geoff Cameron had a terrible clearance that led directly to Portugal's first goal. Kevin Pittsnogle or Amos Zereoue could have a better job on that ball. (I miss making Kevin Pittsnogle references.)

- Does will.i.am get mad at Portugal's William because of his name?

- Chris Wondolowski is half Native American. Based on all the discussion here in DC last week, I'm surprised no one asked for Wondo's thoughts on the Washington football team name after the game.

- Finally, while the Ronaldo to Varelo goal was impressive (though disheartening), these are the best goals from this weekend.

What The H-E-Double Hockey Sticks, NHL?

The National Hockey League releases the 2014-2015 schedule on Sunday afternoon. This is a significant event for hockey fans, particularly those that plan their (nearly) annual hockey road trip. However, I am puzzled by the timing of the NHL's announcement. The NHL should release the schedule at a time when they would get the maximum amount of coverage in the sports world. A summer Sunday afternoon is not that time. Here is what is happening today:

The World Cup. Perhaps you have heard of the planet's biggest sporting event. I guess I should give Commissioner Gary Bettman credit for making the announcement during the Algeria-South Korea game rather than in the middle of the US-Portugal match. Of course, on Sunday evening and Monday, I'm sure that everyone will be discussing the hockey schedule and not America's performance, right?

The NASCAR Toyota-Save Mart 350 race. Actually, nevermind. I don't think there is a lot of overlap between Jimmie Johnson and Jack Johnson fans.

Baseball. Sure, there would be baseball games opposite the NHL's release anytime during the summer, but scheduling the release on Sunday at 4:00 PM Eastern ensures that nearly every baseball team in all time zones will be playing at this time.

Golf. Yes, I looked up the name of the NASCAR race, but I'm too lazy to look up the name of the golf tournament occurring this weekend. The NHL wouldn't have to worry about people watching a golf tournament instead of seeing the schedule if the schedule was announced on a Monday-Wednesday.

It's the first Sunday of the summer! People go outside. There are BBQs and festivals and trips to the playground and simply people being out of their homes and away from the TV. Have the announcement on a weekday night at 8:00 when these things aren't happening (and when the World Cup games are done for the day).

Randomness

- A friend wrote on Facebook that celebrity passings normally don't get to him, but Tony Gwynn's did. I completely agree with him. I wrote a post about Tony Gwynn seven years ago (this blog is way too old) and wanted to share it again today. I had the privilege of seeing Gwynn play probably two dozen times when I lived in San Diego. What's funny is that there's not a specific game or moment that I remember of him and that sort of matches his career. He just consistently got hits. Off the field, he was loved in San Diego and did so much in the community and at San Diego State. He passed away way too soon.

This is Keith Olbermann on Gwynn:



- Here's something I never thought I would say: Dude, you are dominating that prune juice.

- Dejan Kovacevic has an awesome piece about the late Steelers head coach, Chuck Noll.

- There is a sign on 95 North just south of Baltimore that indicates that 695 West is in 1.5 miles. It is wrong and always bothers me. The exit is about 1.25 miles from that sign and nearly .75 miles after the 2 miles sign.

- I'm not sure if anyone tracks this, but I'm convinced there are more tattoos among World Cup players this year than in any other year. Italy is my unofficial top seed for the team with the most players with tattoos. Greece ranks fairly high too.

- Adenoids would be cooler if they were called asteroids. Seriously, wouldn't it be more fun to tell people that you had your asteroids taken out?

- Finally, go to Puck Daddy to see a video of Vin Scully with the Stanley Cup.

Monday Links

Here are some great reads to start your week.

My friend Christine moved to South Korea and started writing about her family experiences. Of course, if she moved to North Korea, you wouldn't be able to read about her experiences. [The Adventures of ChrisMichRob in Korea]

On Fathers Day, Josh wrote about his dad, who recently passed away. [Ngewo's World]

On the lighter side, Josh spent all of May posting about his favorite comedians. There are plenty of videos including some that are likely NSFW. [Ngewo's World]

The Travel Channel ranked Pittsburgh in its Top-10 Best All-American Vacations 2014 [Travel Channel]

Ginny had an awesome 40th birthday party that including a celebration with Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto & David Conrad. [That's Church]

Valentine wrote an ebook called Achieving Mediocrity. Count me in! [Small-Town Dad]

Your latest first-world problems. I may have added some of the items to this list. [The Steel Trap]

Enjoy this video from last month's Lithuanian A Lyga league game. This is how to celebrate a goal. And yes, the black and gold uniforms are a nice touch. [Deadspin]