I'm Jewish. This isn't exactly breaking news since I've been Jewish my entire life and have written about various aspects of Judaism several (or many) times on this blog. Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, and Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, are kind of a big deal. Except for the few years in elementary school when I attended a Jewish school, I would miss school on these holidays. I know some of my non-Jewish friends were jealous that I had excused absences, but it wasn't like I was going to the movies or Kennywood. I was at synagogue and maybe we would have lunch with family or family friends after services on Rosh Hashanah. Even though most (but not all) teachers were understanding about the reason for taking off school, I always felt behind after missing classes. This was especially the case in high school, college, and graduate school. Although I had the "day off," the homework and assignments didn't go away.
After finishing graduate school, I worked a variety of jobs including the one where I'm at now. Every year, I have to take vacation days for these holidays. I always feel like I'm wasting my vacation time. Again, I'm not traveling anywhere or even having a staycation day. Just like when I was in school, my work doesn't go away on these days. The projects are still there when I return, and my inbox is filled with unread messages. There was even one year where an organization I worked organized an entire community-wide event on Rosh Hashanah. That was fun spending months helping to plan an event and then not being able to attend or participate.
I write all this because Fairfax County Public Schools announced a new calendar for 2022-2023 which includes days off for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and other religious holidays such as the Hindu festival Diwali and the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr. I'm happy that my kids won't have to miss school for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur like I did. Well done, FCPS!
Now, for the 2023-2024 school year, can we talk about winter break? With some of these new days off for holidays, there doesn't need to be 2+ weeks off in December!
If you’re under 30 or 35, you probably only know Ice T from his acting on Law & Order: SVU. Maybe you remember that he had a reality show Ice Loves Coco on the E! network. He has also appeared in several commercials including those for Tide detergent for “Cold Calls” with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and quarterback Matt Ryan aka Matty Ice. If you’re older than 35 or 40, you probably remember Ice T as part of the musical group Body Count, best known for their controversial song, Cop Killer. In the early 90s, this was a huge deal. The song was denounced by President George H. W. Bush, Vice President Dan Quayle, and Tipper Gore and was prominently mentioned in newscasts and articles.
Last year, I wrote about how I started adding blueberries to my Honey Nut Cheerios. It was probably my worst blog post of 2021 though I still enjoy this combination for my breakfast. The back of the box features the "Pour Your Heart Into It" workout series with Coach Ice T. I highly recommend listening to the audio of this 3 minute and 14 second walking workout. And by walking workout, it's really dialog between Ice T and Buzz, the Honey Nut Cheerios mascot encouraging you to walk for about two minutes. My favorite quote is Ice T telling the cartoon bee, "I like walking with you too, Buzz." "Hustlers hustle at their own pace" is also a phrase I need to use more often.
Anyway, if you're like Marty McFly and can travel to the past, I'd love to see the reactions of people in 1993 (including Ice T himself) telling them that Ice T would be in a series of commercials and workouts for Honey Nut Cheerios.
While I think I've only mentioned it a few times here, I'm regularly frustrated by the amount of time my kids spend on YouTube. There are so many other TV and movie options available, but they end up watching the same videos or channels any time they have screen time. As an option for something different and interactive, particularly on bad-weather days, a friend graciously let us borrow his probably decade old Nintendo Wii. We played for the first time recently, but one of the controllers doesn't seem to work. I looked online and found a new one for about $15. Sold! I made the purchase.
On Thursday, I received a package in the mail. I didn't recognize the return address and naturally forgot that I ordered the Wii controller. I opened the package and was very confused by what was inside.
What the heck??? Why would someone order one individual balloon? More importantly, why would a a company mail a single balloon? I didn't have a chance to research this further at the time, but a few hours later, I received an email notifying me that the Wii controller was delivered. Except that it wasn't. The delivery was actually this single pink balloon with white dots.
So now I need to mail the balloon back (yes really) in order to get a refund. I tend to think the company won't believe that they sent a balloon in place of a video game controller. I definitely would not. We'll see what happens next.
Virginia legalized sports betting in April 2020 with online sportsbooks beginning to accept wagers in January 2021. Since that time, every commercial break on sports talk radio or during any sporting event on television features at least one advertisement from sportsbooks often featuring J.B. Smoove, Jamie Foxx, or Drew Brees. Just before the NFL season started in September, I created an account on one of these online sportsbooks and deposited $100 from money made specifically from this blog. Yes, amazingly, I really have made a little money over the years from this. Based on the amount of time I've spent writing this blog, it's probably the equivalent to about $0.04 per hour. I'm not quitting my day job or even my soccer referee side job to become a "professional" blogger!
Anyway, during this time, I've limited my wagering to the NFL, college football, golf, tennis, the NBA, college basketball, the NHL, the Olympics, and soccer. There was probably a baseball game or two in there too. Maybe "limited" is the wrong word. I realized that I might have a little bit of a gambling problem when I put money on a soccer match in the Cypriot First Division. Did you even know that Cyprus had its own soccer league? Throughout this time, I haven't added any money to my account. In my mind, as long as I don't put any more money into the account, I don't have a problem. This probably isn't true, but that's what I'm going with. Of course, I haven't withdrawn any money from my account either.
When I wrote about my criminal record last fall, I mentioned that I could have been involved with a study about gambling on college campuses. I occasionally think about this like when I'm betting the over on the number of goals in an Ottawa Senators-Detroit Red Wings hockey game. Seriously, I hope there is some really good research out there about the impact of gambling on 18-25 year-olds.
I do want to share one wager I made recently. Bayern Munich faced RB Salzburg in the second leg of UEFA Champions League round of 16. I placed $4 on Bayern Munich to win, the total goals scored in the game to be over 2.5, and the total corner kicks to be over 8.5. Bayern Munich put up 7 goals (for Pittsburgh sports fans of a certain age: Chili Goal! Chili Goal! Chili Goal!) and won easily 7-1. In looking at the stats after the game, ESPN showed that there were 9 corner kicks. This made me happy since I would have won about $10. Unfortunately, the sportsbook showed it as a loss. I was confused. I did some research and saw several other websites, including the Bayern Munich website, show 9 corners. However, the UEFA website showed 8 "corners taken," and as I later discovered, that is what my sportsbook used. On the last play of the match, a Salzburg player deflected a Bayern Munich shot out for a corner. Before the kick was taken, the referee blew his whistle to end the game. Technically, there were 9 corners. Technically, there were 8 corners taken. And yes, I spent way too much time researching this and chatting with the sportsbook customer service representative.
So if betting on the amount of points scored in the MAAC Championship between Monmouth and St. Peters sounds like fun to you, and you live in a state with sports betting (and the sportsbook I use), please let me know. I'm happy to refer you and get a little extra money for my account myself!
Yes, this looks like a prop that could have been used on the TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway, but it’s actually for baseball and softball.
The Moose recently had his first baseball practice of the spring season and although I'm not coaching, I offered to help. The coaches divided the kids into different groups and assigned me to the hitting station. My job was to hold the hit stick as 4th and 5th graders whacked away. Here's a picture of someone using the hit stick in action.
Looks like a good activity, right? It can help kids practice making contact. While this activity may be great for the kids, I'm convinced that the hit stick was made by the devil! I held the stick for at least 30 minutes through easily 200+ swings. When I finished, my hands were shaking, my fingers were swollen, and there was (and still is) an ugly blister on my left hand. The hit stick thing is the worst. Of course, in writing this blog post, I did a little research and discovered the video below. While there is unintentional comedy of this guy saying "big stick" and "shaft" in front of his daughter (I think like a 14 year old sometimes), the suggestion of wearing a glove is huge. And something I wished I knew BEFORE holding the hit stick!
Joe Biden will deliver the State of the Union tonight at the Capitol Building. Like most of these speeches over the last decade and beyond, I expect there to be multiple standing ovations by members of presidents' party and silence from the opposing party. While Biden often talks about bringing people together, I think he can do this tonight by having both Democrats and Republicans stand, or at least applaud, at portions of his address. Here are my suggestions on things he can say to unify both political parties:
* Dolly Parton is a national treasure and a saint.
* Major League Baseball needs to reach an agreement immediately so that the season starts on time.
* Abolish daylight savings time.
* I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they possess inside.
* Sean’s Ramblings is a great blog. (Actually, this might unify both parties in that this comment will result in absolute silence.)
* "President Reagan once said, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall. Well, Frito-Lay, bring back Bar-B-Q Fritos!"
* Sidney Crosby is the best overall hockey player over the last 20 years.
* Zaxby's is underrated.
This should just about cover everything. If there's anything that's missing, please share them in the comments. I'll be sure to pass them on to President Biden and his speechwriters!
With everything happening in Ukraine, I feel really silly posting this today. Even just typing this sentence makes me think I shouldn't do it. I guess if you're fortunate enough to be able to take a short break from watching and reading about the news, you can check out this cover of Celebrity Skin by Doja Cat.
While I understand that this cover was part of a Taco Bell commercial during the Super Bowl, I dig it. I love the original (the guitar riff is just awesome) and feel like Doja Cat did a nice job recreating the song. I hope that it gets released as a single, assuming that's still a thing.
Here's the original song by Hole in case this song is new to you or if you just want your 90s nostalgia fix!
For several years if not longer, I’ve passed this billboard on the Pennsylvania Turnpike:
I’m extremely excited that I finally got this picture. Credit to my brother for playing a photographer on the internet! I’ve often wondered about the Mountain Man character. Is he supposed to be like McGruff the Crime Dog, Gus the groundhog for the Pennsylvania lottery, or my favorite short-lived character G-Hog for the Pennsylvania Department of Labor?
I searched for the Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program, and the website is all about the Dairy Princesses. The cold (milkshakes) never bothered them anyway! So was or is Mountain Man ever used in any campaign other than billboards around Pennsylvania? More importantly, is DJ Khaled getting any royalties for the resemblance?
My kids often lack culture in their lives. The Moose is all about sports. Pedro Tulo would be happy watching MLW Wiffle Ball, Dude Perfect, and Mr. Beast videos on YouTube all day. Luigi enjoys Paw Patrol and Wild Kratts. None of these activities or interests have much to do with art, theater, or music. So after hearing good things about Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, I decided to get tickets for a family adventure.
Our initial plan and tickets were for late December. Unfortunately, Pedro Tulo was a COVID close contact from someone at his school and because of Christmas, there was a delay in getting the test results back. While he was ultimately negative, we were able to move the tickets to this past Sunday.
The first few rooms were fine. They showed replicas of many of Van Gogh's works and even created an actual room of the Bedroom in Arles painting. There was a lot of text about Van Gogh's life and the paintings, but my kids were more interested in just looking quickly and seeing what was next. And then we entered the "360-degree digital show" room.
Sensory overload! And they loved it. In the video, you can hear Pedro Tulo share his excitement. Then, we went to a room where you colored your own Van Gogh work and take a picture to put it on the big screen. I did not intend to make Van Gogh look like a White Walker from Game of Thrones!
Overall, the kids enjoyed it. This was definitely something different for them and was more interactive than many other art exhibits and galleries, so that was a huge plus. Next up, maybe we can find an orchestra or symphony concert!
What you're reading right now is my 5th or 6th attempt at figuring out what to write. My friend Chris recently passed away at the age of 46. Chris and I grew up together in the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh, and I probably haven't seen him in over 25 years. While I believe that we played baseball and participated in Cub Scouts together, we were definitely on the same "Under 10" championship-winning soccer team. (More on this momentarily.) We also starred in high school musicals together though he was a much better performer than me. (More on this momentarily too.)
There are certainly a lot of negatives about social media, however, one of the positives is that it can bring people back together. Chris and I reconnected on Facebook and on Twitter many years after graduating from high school. We mostly simply liked each other's posts, but we were supportive of each other's blogs. While Chris' The Moldy Cheese blog was short lived and long erased from the internet, it really showed his sense of humor. When I wrote about finding our soccer championship trophy, Chris wrote that he still had his trophy too. He also shared a very sweet message after my dad, who was our soccer coach, passed away.
Back in 2017, there was a show on ABC hosted by Kristen Bell called Encore! The show reunited classmates to perform their high school musicals. Chris organized us online and submitted an application to the show. Although we weren't selected, it was fun getting together virtually with everyone again. Plus, Chris starting this resulted in videos of our Lil' Abner show getting posted on YouTube.
Chris had health problems for some time, but at least online, he maintained his sense of humor. He was one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, and he will definitely be missed.
Shoma Uno won the bronze medal in the men's figuring skating event at 2022 Winter Olympics occurring right now in China. While you can watch his entire short program on YouTube (NBC won't allow the video to appear here), I recommend going to 3:15 of the video to listen to Tara Lipinski talk about his performance. Specifically, she says that we hear all about Nathan Chen and Yuma Kagiyama but not Uno. What a missed opportunity to say that we don't talk about Uno!
Thanks to my friend Messiah for letting me know about the video and comment and for making this terrific observation!
While he has played baseball and soccer over the years, we signed up The Moose for basketball this winter. This is the first time that The Moose and many of his teammates have played organized basketball. It has certainly been a challenge and a learning curve playing on a full court with referees calling traveling, double dribbles, and fouls. The lack of experience, particularly against other teams with kids playing multiple seasons, has certainly shown. Many of The Moose’s teammates aren’t comfortable dribbling the basketball and spacing and movement on offense is generally haphazard or non-existent. While they certainly try hard, the season has not gone well from a record standpoint.
They started the season 0-5, though the games were all close. The 6th game might have gone in The Moose's team's favor except for one kid who regularly dribbled past the defense for easy lay-ups. Seriously, look at the score book. This kid, who may be a young Steph Curry that doesn't need to shoot from 30 feet away, scored 25 of the opposing team's 40 points.
One thing to note from this game is that The Moose (#21 above) scored 6 points. In his first four games, he scored nothing. Nada. Zip. He had 4 points in the 5th game, and he was so excited about it.
Then came the next game. The Moose's team was 0-6 at this point playing the league's best team. It went poorly. The Moose's team trailed 24-0 at halftime. That's not a typo. 24-0. Fortunately, his team played excellent defense in the second half and ended up losing 28-10 with The Moose getting a late basket. The story of this game for me was the opposing coach, parents, and then the kids. The coach constantly pleaded and argued with the teenage referees for foul calls in this 5th grade basketball league, even when up big. A few of the parents of the opposing team sitting near me did the same thing. While the teenage refs either ignored the complaints or didn't hear them, I got more and more angry. I was actually shaking at one point. Texting with friends and family and posting on Twitter helped. I also made sure to encourage The Moose and his teammates. After the game, I even emailed The Moose's coach letting him know my thoughts on the other team. (It's at the end of the email.)
There's a good ending to this post. Over the weekend, The Moose's team won its first game. And they won fairly easily 26-12. He scored another 4 points and is getting more and more confident each game. The team clearly isn't the best in the league, but they're improving and having fun, and that's what really matters.
Dear Coach,
I just wanted to send you a quick note that I appreciate all of the time that you're spending coaching and teaching the kids. While the kids may be disappointed in the losses, I can certainly see improvement from the beginning of the season. The important thing for the kids is to have fun and learn about basketball and be better at the end of the season from where they were when they started.
To that point, thank you for being positive. I've been a soccer coach for several years and have also been a soccer referee since I was a teenager. I found myself getting angry yesterday at the opposing coach calling for fouls and arguing calls with the teenage referees. Some of the opposing team's parents were doing the same thing. Naturally, this rubs off on the players as I saw a few of them argue foul calls even though they were up big late in the fourth quarter. I'm glad that our team doesn't do this. This is a 5th grade rec league for fun, not the NBA with professional players, coaches, and referees.
A friend of my parents refused to ride over the George Westinghouse Bridge in North Versailles. For my non-Pittsburgh friends, Versailles is not pronounced like the palace in France. It's Ver-sails (like he sails the seven seas). Ah, I miss the pronunciations of Western Pennsylvania. Anyway, she had a dream that the bridge collapsed when she was on it and found routes to completely avoid the bridge. I always thought this was a little ridiculous.
Of course, most people who read this blog know that the Fern Hollow Bridge, only 6 miles away from the Westinghouse Bridge, collapsed on Friday. This bridge goes over Frick Park and links Point Breeze and Regent Square to Squirrel Hill. Again, for my non-Pittsburgh friends, this bridge is at the start of Forbes Avenue, one of Pittsburgh's most essential streets, which goes through Squirrel Hill, Carnegie Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and into downtown. As another reference, this bridge is about 2 miles from the Tree of Life synagogue. And I've gone over the Fern Hollow Bridge hundreds of times.
Amazingly, there were no casualties or even serious injuries. While four people went to the hospital, this could have been disastrous. A lot of talk is naturally going to be about infrastructure. And it should be. The fact that more than $4 billion in PennDOT revenues from the state's Motor License Fund was "diverted to other areas of state government, including $2.45 billion to the Pennsylvania State Police to help subsidize police coverage in communities without local law enforcement" is certainly problematic. Pennsylvania has one the highest gas taxes in the country, and the turnpike brings in millions (if not billions) in revenue each year. That money is supposed to go to roads and bridges. Overall, I really hope that states do some serious review of their infrastructure. I guess the federal government actually gets some credit for doing something in passing the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. That money needs to turn into action.
Photos by Gene J. Puskar/AP and Rich Fitzgerald, Allegheny County Executive
In honor of the 17th anniversary of Sean's Ramblings, I decided to do something special. I considered buying a yacht or taking a trip to Australia, but that didn't seem feasible. Maybe next year when my blog turns 18. Instead, I went to Cameo.
I wrote about Cameo a few years ago. It truly is a magical place where you can spend hours searching for all levels of celebrities. For my anniversary, I knew exactly who I wanted to contact. Sean Foreman and his band 3OH!3! First, great name. Second, 3OH!3 is doing something very cool where proceeds of all of their videos go to the Sierra Club.
So with all that, here is the Cameo from Sean Foreman of 3OH!3. Oh, there's one NSFW word at the end which comes from the group's hit song "Don't Trust Me." Enjoy!
The Moose (age 10) lost a tooth the other night. This fact alone isn't worthy of a blog post, but what happened next, well, might not be either, but I still want to share the story.
Several years ago, my sister-in-law bought very cool personalized tooth pillows for my older kids. I write "older kids" since Luigi wasn't around yet. He can borrow one from his brothers when he starts losing teeth. Anyway, when the kids lose a tooth, they place it in the pillow pocket, which is a perfect fit for teeth and cash.
So The Moose put his tooth in a Ziploc bag, placed it in his pillow, and went to sleep. Hours later, I entered his bedroom to perform the tooth fairy duties. I should probably mention that The Moose shares a room and bunk bed with his brother, Pedro Tulo. There is definitely a higher degree of difficulty in the tooth to money exchange on a top bunk!
I found the tooth pillow, but the Ziploc was gone. While I put $2 in the pocket, the tooth wasn't there. After less than a minute of unsuccessfully trying to quietly and quickly locate the bag, The Moose woke up. He was drowsy, delirious, and wondered why I was there. My cover story was to make sure that he had covers and blankets on top of him because it's cold. Then, like the Jordan Peele movie with Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams where a character yelled GET OUT, I did GET OUT as quickly as I could. I think the movie was called The Bus That Couldn't Slow Down.
Fortunately, he didn't remember any of our interaction the next morning. If The Moose did, he didn't mention it. Before leaving for school, he found the tooth which fell below next to his brother's bed. My response was "That's strange." I did not elaborate. So at this point, the tooth fairy isn't coming back to take the tooth. She did her job and rewarded The Moose with $2. I guess he'll get to keep both the money and the tooth.
I recently found several papers that I wrote in college including one from an Introduction to Theatre class. I'd like to think that my writing is gooder now than it was then but maybe not. For this paper, which I included below, my assignment was essentially to write a performance review of the play A Shayna Maidel. This was essentially great practice for writing my blog. While I planned on simply sharing the paper itself (since I got an A!), I decided to see where the three actors I mentioned in the paper are today.
Michelle Federer - She was the star of the play and still acts today. According to her IMDB page, Federer has had a recurring role on the television show New Amsterdam and also appeared in Smash, Marvel's The Defenders, Blue Bloods, Rachel Getting Married, and Law and Order: Criminal Intent among other roles. She spent several years in Wicked as the original Nessarose on Broadway too. Looks like she's going to be in the upcoming Better Nate Than Ever on Disney+ with Lisa Kudrow and her husband, Norbert Leo Butz. Side note: Federer's brother lived next door to me for two years. I don't believe that my relationship with him had any impact on my review, but this certainly seems like a conflict of interest.
Stacie Lewis - It appears that her professional stage name is Stacie Morgan Lewis. Like Federer, Lewis also spent significant time on Broadway most notably in Wicked. She co-wrote the children's album Harmonize and is involved in the Westport County Playhouse in Westport, Connecticut
Jonathan Ave - I was critical of his stage performance, so perhaps that's why I can't find anything about him online. There's a very, very brief IMDB page for him, but otherwise, all I can find are various streets named Jonathan Ave.
And now, here's the paper. You really don't have to read it except for the A at the end!
This might be the shortest paper I wrote in college. I had multiple papers that were 10+ pages...especially when I adjusted margins and font size!
Sean's Ramblings is officially 17 years old. I think that's about 214 in blog years! It's been an odd year. When I wrote the State of Ramblings in January 2021, my kids were still attending school from home virtually, vaccines were only beginning to roll out, and my work-life balance of working from home with everyone here was a disaster. I mean, although everything got done, it came at the expense of sleep and my writing. The beginning of the year on the blog focused on things at home. I watched the Biden inauguration, played Just Dance with my kids, and attempted to potty train Luigi.
Then, things started to open up. The older two kids went back to school and all of the kids went to camp this summer. We drove thousands of miles on I-95 for vacation, everyone returned to school/preschool and work this fall, and the kids played organized baseball and soccer. I also went to Nashville where I shared an elevator with Robert Plant and visited the Grand Ole Opry.
I started a brand new series called "Hills I'm willing to die on." I wrote two whole posts, so apparently there aren't many hills that I'm willing to die on. Hopefully, I'll find more hills in 2022.
I still like pretending that I'm a sports blogger sometimes. My 2021 Pirates predections post was quite thorough and included a fantastic group of contributors. I also continued to write draft recaps of the Pirates and Steelers, which are always fun.
Overall, I wrote 100 posts in 2021. That's the first time I've reached triple digits in blog posts since 2016. For 2022, I want to do something big. I don't know what that is yet. I've talked about covering the Oscars or Emmys or even a sporting event but that seems unlikely thanks to COVID. (And the fact that the Academy Awards people have not sent me an acceptance or denial response for this year's ceremonies. When I applied, they said I would receive a reply in 2 business days. It's now been almost two months. Maybe they're waiting to give me the VIP media credential!) Anyway, I have an idea for a huge interview which probably has a 2% chance of happening. That might be high. We'll see.
Thanks to all of you for reading my blog and for your support over the years. I have no idea how I've written this for 17 years!
After a two-week winter break with a COVID close contact causing us to cancel several activities and basically spend most of the time at home, we were excited to get the kids back to school. The kids were excited to return too. And then winter happened. We got about 6-7 inches of snow on Monday morning causing schools to be closed Monday, Tuesday, and now Wednesday. Although there's been sun causing some (but not much) snow to melt, the cold temperatures at night have resulted in plenty of ice. Many neighborhood roads are still a mess, and there have been numerous power outages. Even if you're not in the DC area and living with this, you probably heard about drivers, including Senator Tim Kaine, getting stuck on I-95 for many, many hours.
I'm sure that you're thinking, Sean, why are you writing a blog post about the weather? It's January and there's snow. Not exactly covering new ground here. Well, this is certainly different.
Yes, those are downed branches from the tree in front of my house. Although several branches snapped, they didn't fall completely. Because of this, we were very fortunate that there was no damage to the car. We managed to clear the garage and squeeze the car into it, but the car wasn't going to get out. And I couldn't get out of the driver's side!
We made calls to several tree removal companies who were all celebrating the increased business from downed trees and branches in the area. Seriously, the amount of business they've had this week might fund them for the year! Several hundred dollars later, the tree is about half of its previous size, but we can get out of the driveway and not worry about falling branches.
Now if we can only get the kids back to school! (Of course, there's more snow in the forecast Thursday and Friday.)
In my early days of blogging, I found someone who made an end of the year blog post where they took the first few lines of the first entry of each month to create a random and interesting summary of the year. I liked the idea, and this is now the 17th time I've done this.
January: 25 years ago last month, the film Sudden Death starring Jean-Claude Van Damme was released in American theaters. I'm sure that some people may disagree with this, but the film is basically Die Hard at a hockey game/arena.
February: 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.
March: 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.
April: With the 2021 baseball season starting today, I asked people to share their predictions for the Pittsburgh Pirates. While I’ve done similar predictions posts over the years about the Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, the 2020 elections, and even the entire 2020s decade, this might be my favorite group of participants yet.
May: Sure, Trevor Lawrence was selected #1 overall by the Jacksonville Jaguars at the recent NFL draft, but can he throw two footballs perfectly at the exact same time like three year old Luigi?
June: I thought I would share some pictures from the last month or so. I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier, but The Moose and Pedro Tulo have been back to in-person school four days a week for about two months now. Therefore, it's just me and Luigi (and Ziggy) at home between the time we drop the older kids off at school in the morning and pick them up in the afternoon.
July: I recently purchased a subscription to SiriusXM satellite radio since I expect to be in the car a lot more than I have been over the last year plus.
August: My wife and I celebrated our anniversary by getting an extremely rare night away from the kids. We stayed at a very nice hotel, and when they saw it was our anniversary, the front desk staff said they would send something to our room.
September: The 20th anniversary of 9/11 is this Saturday, and there will probably be many TV shows, videos, and articles to commemorate this tragedy. I realized that I never really shared where I was on 9/11, so I thought I would do that now.
October: I'm going to share something that only a few people know. It's something that I never discuss and thought went away completely. I was reminded a few weeks ago about this though when I got a letter in the mail.
November: Today is election day in Virginia, and I think that I speak for Virginians and those in the DC area in that we’re looking forward to not seeing anymore political advertisements.
December: Our cat Ziggy turned 13 several months ago. He was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers as a kitten but has largely stayed out of the spotlight since his retirement. Now, he's going big. He's running for president of France!
Since 2021 is almost over, it's time for my annual best of and worst of the year in pop culture and more. Enjoy!
Best Movie: Sound of Metal
Way back in January, I watched Sound of Metal about a heavy metal drummer who loses his hearing. Riz Ahmed was amazing in the film. You really feel his anger and vulnerability. The sound (or lack thereof at times) was also incredible.
Honorable Mention: Godfather and Godfather II. It took until 2021 for me to finally watch these movies, and I have no idea why it took so long. I didn't recognize Robert Duvall or Diane Keaton at all. Promising Young Woman was also a fascinating movie that really stuck with me.
Best TV Show: Bluey
I watched a lot of TV in 2021, and even with that, there are still so many shows that I want to see. While I should probably pick Succession, Ted Lasso, or Mare of Easttown for the best show of 2021, I'm going off the board here and picking Bluey.* This is an Australian cartoon that I first learned about in 2021 and is really sweet. The dad dog reminds me of a smarter and more caring Homer Simpson. Best of all, the episodes are only about 10 minutes long, so you can watch one quickly before getting the kids ready for bed!
Honorable mention: The Other Two. I really enjoyed the first season on Comedy Central about the older siblings of a famous teenage singer. The second season on HBO Max was just as good as the older siblings manage varying degrees of success and recognition. It's consistently funny with an amazing cast (Molly Shannon is perfect as the mom and now daytime TV host) and all of the guest stars fit in remarkably well.
Worst TV Show: Robot Trains
My kids watched part of the first two episodes recently. In the first episode, one robot train tried to kill another robot train. Either later in the first episode or the next one, a train has amnesia. It was awful.
Honorable mention: La Brea
I watched all ten episodes of NBC's attempt to recreate Lost, and I really don't know why. The premise seems cool. A giant sinkhole opens in Los Angeles and everyone who fell into it gets transported back millions of years. From there, it just gets ridiculous. The "dad" who is in present-day LA has visions so he can see what's going on in the past. Some people manage to go back and forth between the past and present. Oh, and then there's a Back to the Future story line where the kids will disappear if something doesn't happen. Even with all of this, I still plan on watching the show when it comes back.
Best Song: good 4 u by Olivia Rodrigo
Once again, my rule is that the best song must be featured in a blog post from earlier in the year. This year's best song was easy for me. I love good 4 u (even if the title should be Good For You) and I'm still not sick of it.
Worst Song: Hurricane by Cheat Codes featuring Grey and Tyson Ritter
We drove thousands of miles this summer, so I listened to a lot of pop music. Hurricane isn't a bad song, and I like hearing Tyson Ritter of The All-American Rejects again. The problem is the chorus:
Three cheers to the ones that don't grow up
24 forever till we self destruct
Lifestyles of the broke and dangerous
Maybe they'll name a hurricane after us.
The World Meteorological Organization is responsible for naming hurricanes. All of the names are singular. There's no such thing as a hurricane named Tom and Jerry or Thelma and Louise. Therefore, they aren't naming a hurricane Cheat Codes, Gray, and Tyson. NO ONE IS NAMING A HURRICANE AFTER YOU!
Worst Sports Moment: Many
2021 was an awful sports year. We started in January with the Steelers losing in the playoffs to the, I can't believe I'm typing this, Cleveland Browns. Wow, that actually happened. In May, Sheffield Wednesday tied Derby 3-3 in the final match of the season. A draw doesn't seem bad, but the result caused Wednesday to get relegated to League One, the third division of English soccer. In hindsight, it's been kind of nice seeing Wednesday win matches and do well in League One over the last few months, but at the time, seeing that Wednesday would have to play teams like MK Dons, Crewe Alexandra, and Accrington Stanley seemed devastating. A few weeks later, the Penguins got knocked out of the first round of the playoffs by the New York Islanders. Pens goalie Tristan Jarry just had a terrible series basically giving game 5 away. Then, the Pirates went 61-101. Overall, not a great sports year for teams I support.
Best Sports Moment: Little League Baseball
Not counting a coach-pitch league three years ago, The Moose played baseball for the first time this fall. The coaches were fantastic in teaching the game and making sure that the kids played multiple positions. The Moose pitched and played every position in the infield and outfield. In the playoffs, his team trailed 4-0 after the top of the first inning and 6-0 in the middle of the 4th. Then, The Moose stepped up to the plate and did this:
He started the rally leading to the team scoring 4 runs in the half inning. The team battled back all the way to 6-5 and had two runners on base before the opposing team got the final out. It was such an exciting game, and we were all proud of The Moose's team. After the game, instead of feeling sorry for themselves for the loss, the coaches gave each of the players a baseball, and they all signed autographs for each other. It was fantastic.
Best New Podcast: Bit Season
One of my first ever blog posts in January 2005 was my disappointment of waking up and finding out that The Sports Junkies were no longer on the radio thanks to a station format change. While they generally go by The Junkies, 17 years later, I still listen to their morning radio show when I can. The show's producers created a podcast called Bit Season several months ago with a behind-the-scenes look at the show as well as things about their lives. It's a fun listen.
Best Book: How Lucky by Will Leitch
I've pretty much stopped reading during the pandemic. For years, I read on my bus and Metro rides to and from work. I worked from home for well over a year, and when I started working from the office again, I drove. While I've found it difficult to focus on reading at home, I managed to make it through a handful of books in 2021. My favorite has been How Lucky by Will Leitch. It's a fictional story about a wheelchair-bound protagonist with a neuromuscular disorder, his life in Athens, Georgia, and a missing college student. I'll let this review explain more, but it's an enjoyable read.
Best Live Concert: Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer
Ah, August. A simpler time. This was well before omicron and even delta.
Warm weather meant more time outside. Sure, I still wore a mask indoors and limited time in crowds, but I made an exception for this concert where I purchased tickets in 2019. Of course, COVID-19 was still around as evidenced by the fact that one of the members of Fall Out Boy (or their crew) contracted the virus causing the band not to perform, but it was fun doing something that seemed completely normal.
Best Blog Post: NHL Outdoor Game Ideas
The NHL hosted an outdoor game on the banks of Lake Tahoe. The pictures and views were absolutely stunning. I had fun coming up with ideas for future outdoor games.
Honorable mention: My immediate reaction to the January 6th attack on The Capitol Building. It's amazing how many people (particularly many House Republicans) are trying to minimize this attack and are actively against any investigation.
Worst Blog Post: Honey Nut Cheerios with Blueberries
I successfully wrote 30 blog posts in just over 30 days. One of them was sharing my excitement about adding blueberries to my morning cereal. While this continues to be a tasty edition, this was probably not blog worthy.
Please feel free to share some of your best and worst of 2021 in the comments section.
* After I finished drafting this post, I listened to The Watch podcast where Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald were joined by Sam Esmail in discussing the best TV shows of 2021. Greenwald mentioned that Bluey would have been his number one show except that there were no new episodes in 2021. I guess my out of the box pick wasn't out of the box!
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.
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