A-Rod hits his 400th, Joe Torre is ejected and some women flirt with my son June 8th

Anyone who knows me knows I love the Yankees. So when interleague play brought them to Milwaukee this week, it was a given that I’d be there to cheer them on.

I decided to bring my three-month old son along too. After all, what better way to introduce a son to the great game of baseball than to show him what 26 world championships looks like?

[Yes, I know the Yanks are sputtering along this year. Maybe they will watch the playoffs on TV, but I’d watch my mouth if I were a Yankee-hater. I think the best is yet to come]

[personal note #1: Sure it was a little conflicting for the kid, rooting against the home team while wearing a Brewers outfit and a Yankees bib. Life is one big confusing mess; its best he learn that lesson young]

I made it a multi-generational affair. Just my me, my father, and Parker. Testosterone, hear us roar.

Except that once we learned I’d have to buy a ticket for Parker if I brought his car seat along, I took it back to the car and carried him in a Snuggly.

It’s hard to project manliness with a baby strapped to your belly.

The little guy did me proud though. He was very alert and curious about the sights and sounds around him, much more than I remember his sister being at her first game.

It was not, I admit, the most family friendly atmosphere. Success breeds jealousy, especially in a town that hasn’t seen a winning season in over a decade. While the Yankees were well represented, the Brewers faithful were not only vocal but bloodthirsty.

The best (PG)chant the crowd came up with? "Yankee fans suck, you only like them 'cuz they're good."

Uh, yeah.

‘Tis a shame for them then that the Yanks piled on 16 hits and 12 runs before it was over.

[personal note: while I am a rabid Yankees fan, I’m also a lifelong Brewers fan. Normally I wouldn’t conceive of betraying the home team, but I’m still reeling from the Brewers disheartening collapse of, oh, 1994 to the present]

With a two minute exception, Parker was the ideal child.

Quiet, alert, and cute, earning no less than fawning compliments from three hot women in the crowd.

Sadly, my son is already doing better with the ladies then his old man ever did.

You can’t blame him for paying attention. Not only was it a riotous atmosphere, history was made.

Along with home runs by Carlos Lee and Derek Jeter (accompanied by chants of ’Jeter has no peter’), and the unusual sight of having Tino Martinez ejected while playing in the field (leading to Joe Torre joining him moments later), there was one big milestone that was reached.

I’d mentioned to my Dad on the way to the game that Alex Rodriguez had 398 home runs, putting him on the cusp of history.

“Watch him hit two today,” I said.

Add psychic to my resume.

In both the first and the eighth innings A-Rod took the Brewers deep, becoming only the 39th man to ever rack up 400 home runs.

Even the Yankee haters gave him an ovation.

So the Yankees won. My Dad was disappointed in the lopsided score, a Yankee fan came up and shook my hand after the game, we got a free hot dog with our tickets, and waited out the crowd in the parking lot while soaking up a gentle summer breeze.

Not a bad time at all. We even had a chance to see the start of a drunken fight in the parking lot.

Good times, good times.

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YaYa's Final Week of K3 and my ensuing Depression June 8th

note:the pics of YaYa's first day of school featured in this post are of dubious quality as they were taken with an old, borrowed digital camera. Sorry about that  - Dan

This is my daughter’s final week of school before summer vacation.

I should be grateful. It means no more twice daily trips across town, no more school board meetings, and no more worries about whether or not her uniform is washed and ready to go each morning.

I should be grateful, but in fact I’m a little down in the dumps.

When the school year began she was two months shy of her third birthday. When I told people we were putting her in a full-day, year long K3 program the reaction was somewhere between pity for my daughter and disgust with us for ‘shipping her away’.

Much as I hate to admit it, I sort of agreed with them.

But my wife thought it was a great idea and my daughter, truth be told, had been asking to go to school since she learned to talk.

So I sucked it up and agreed to it.

I’m glad I did.

Of course that didn’t stop me from nearly crying when I learned she was required to eat breakfast at school, ending the daily routine I’d shared with her since her birth.

And it didn’t stop the actual waterworks that came every time I wrote out a tuition check.

It sure didn’t start on a great note We’d been sold on the promise of an ethnically diverse Catholic school with a strong tradition and even stronger academics.

What we got was a school where not only was my daughter one of only a handful of Catholics, she was the only white child in an otherwise all African-American school.

No one had mentioned that we were the reason they could henceforth use the word ‘diversity’ in their sales pitch.

When we showed up for orientation I think they were expecting us to walk back out again. It certainly would have been reasonable; no matter how open you are on the subject of race, no child should be put in a position where they are so easily singled out as ‘different’.

Thankfully, with the rare speed bump the issue quickly became moot.

Within weeks YaYa became the most widely recognized kid in the history of the school. When I dropped her off everyone from eighth graders on down would call out to her by name and say hello.

As a side effect, I stopped being an individual and simply became known as “YaYa’s dad“.

[I suppose I should have demanded some more respect, but it’s hard to be taken seriously when you’re seen doing the ‘Tootytot” dance with a class of three year olds.]

They were spot on about their academic promises, though.

As of this writing YaYa, now age three and a half, can identify and write the letters of the alphabet. She can count to 40 (if you don’t mind her constantly forgetting ‘17’). She can write her name and the word ‘the’. She knows her prayers and the meaning of each holiday. She’s learned to brush her teeth after every meal ,wash her dishes after snack time, and just shy of a thousand ways to create art with macaroni and a glue stick.

Smart as we are, with two other kids to take care of, I can’t imagine her learning all that at home.

She’ll miss the routine, the interaction, and the challenges over the summer. No amount of swim and play classes can take the place of that.

But there’s a far more insane reason the end of the year brings a tear to my eye. Miniscule as it may be in the long-term, she’s done with K3.

Her first year of school is over, forever.

To me, it seems like the days of driver’s ed and prom dates are just on the horizon.

I’m not ready for that yet. If it was up to me, I’d like her to stay in K3 for, oh, another decade or so.

Which is why, I‘d imagine, father‘s don‘t have much say in the matter.

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Best of the Best

 

While, ironically, I find most of the hallmarks of blogdom annoying (quizes and memes and assignments, oh my!), I think I'm going to start a new blogish feature here at the good ole U.S. of Slapinions.

Every once in awhile I'm going to feature a blog I actually frequent on a daily or near daily basis. I'll still have the blogroll on the sidebar, but consider this the Best of the Best.

The fine author of  (sometimes)photoblog has done me the honor of spotlighting me on two occasions, so the humble first offeriing goes to him.

His site (updated daily) features some beautiful photos, mostly of nature and the insect kingdom.

I respect his work and enjoy having the opportunity to view it. Please stop by and take a look for yourself (and tell him slapinions sent you).

*A word of warning though - if you are going to subscribe to his site, skip the aol alert feature. He updates daily - no really - and it can clog your incoming mail in a hurry. (I have the misfortune of having my alerts ring my cell phone. My phone bill is now sky high :)

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Quote of the Day

I was at work the other night when a boy approached the desk.

"I'd like a Henieken please," he said in his best immitation of a James Earl Jones bass.

My co-worker and I laughed. The kid was no more than eight, ten tops, with a nervous but impressive habit of twisting his right ear into a knot that stayed tied until he unwound it.

"Do you have I.D?" I asked.

"Why do I need I.D?," he said. "Don't I look twenty-one?"

By now my co-worker had collapsed in giggles. Somewhat cooler, I kept a straight face and looked him in the eye.

"Either you come up with some I.D showing your twenty-one, or you find a hundred dollar tip for me. Those are the only two ways you're getting a beer tonight," I said.

[Yes, I was joking about the hundred dollars.

I'd have done it for fifty.]

The kid broke into a big grin and dropped the rumbling voice.

"I'm only kidding, I don't want no Heinie," he said.

He paused for a moment, just long enough for us to let our guard down.

"The stuff tastes like shit. I'm a Bud man myself.", he said.

I haven't laughed that hard in a good long time.

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The Birthday Party June 5th

Okay, I said three updates, I meant four. :)

We had the party at a McDonald's. When YaYa had her 2nd bday party at McDonald's it was a disaster. Crowded, ill-run, just a horrible experience. This time my wife scouted out a location at the far end of town with a heck of a play area and less of a midday crowd.

It worked. Not only was it roomy, it was well-run and just a very pleasant, relaxed party. They even had a tiny toilet in the playroom - perfect for my daughter, who is in the midst of potty training (two successes at the party, 1 mistake :)

Anyhow, here's Parker at the party

and YaYa

and the birthday girl on her throne

we brought a cake just for the adults

while McDonald's provided one for the kids

speaking of kids, here's one of the four group shots I took. Good luck getting them all to have their eye's open and a smile on their face at the same time.

and one of my daughter with one of her godmother's (she has two godmothers and no godfathers; YaYa has two godfathers and no godmother. Long story)

And lastly, I thought I'd add this pic of one of the many great gifts she received. It's a sandbox that now resides in our backyard, courtesy of her other godmother.

Really, a nice, nice day.

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One pic of Park for good measure

What a stud.

My Daughter's 2nd Birthday

Man, I can't believe it's been two years since this little cupid came into our lives. While her birthday party was today, her actual birthday was Saturday. As a present we took her to Build a Bear at the mall.

While there she picked out a bear

helped stuff it by using a pedal

and put a heart inside her bear

and gave it a bath

We named it (drum roll) Birthday Baby Bear. She loved it, almost as much as we love her.

 

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Family Pics

This is the first of three - yup three - family pic updates due today.

These were taken Wed or Thursday in our backyard. Note the long sleeve shirt. It's the last you'll probably see of it, as the temperature has been a muggy 80ish for a few days now.

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Reader Survey/De-Lurker Day

Welcome to my 1st annual?

De-Lurkers Day

and

Readers Survey!

With 14,000 visitors and relatively few comments, I know there are folks who take a peek without saying hello.

That’s fine by me, but for one day I’d like to change the rules.

Whether this is your first time on the site, your fifth, or your hundredth, leave a record of your visit. If you‘re not on AOL, it isn‘t a problem. Just click here to leave a comment.

(btw - if this is your first time visiting, click here for an introduction to the site, and be sure to check out the blogroll and guestmap now up and running on the sidebar to the left!)

Thanks!

For people that have stopped by before and found something they enjoy, could you please take the time to answer a few questions?

1. What’s your site address/screename/email address? (optional)

2. Do you subscribe to this site? By what method?

a. AOL updates

b. Bloglines

c. RSS feed

d. Atom

e. other

3. How did you find this site?

a. Blog Explosion/BE Directory

b. Blog Clicker

c. AOL journal directory

d. other traffic exchange

e. another site’s blogroll

f. a comment I left on a site

g. other

4. If you came in on a traffic exchange, what ‘surf settings’ where you using when you found it? I.e. general, family, kids, politics?

5.How often do you visit Slapinions?

6. What category of post interests you most?

a. politics

b. sports

c. family comedy

d. photo posts

e. ‘scrapbook’ family entries

f. other

7. What’s your favorite post? (click here for a rehash of the past seven months of entries)

8. Would you continue to visit if/when this site moves to Slapinions.com?

That’s it. Just leave the answers in the comment section or email me at slapinons at aol dot com.

I appreciate it, and hope you continue to visit!

Dan

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Deep Throat: Hero, Villain, or Both? June 1st

Somehow, when I imagined how one of the 20th century’s greatest secrets would be revealed, I never thought Vanity Fair would get the credit.

Of course, that’s exactly what happened. W. Mark Felt, former number 2 man at the FBI, admitted in a Vanity Fair article to being Deep Throat, the Woodward and Bernstein source that's perceived as being critical in exposing the Watergate scandal.

The Washington Post confirmed his role Monday.

“I guess people used to think Deep Throat was a criminal, but now they think he's a hero,'' Felt is quoted as saying.

I’m sure the majority of people do view Felt as a hero, a man who brought down a corrupt administration that was involved in a criminal conspiracy.

“Felt had the means and the motive to help uncover the web of internal spies, secret surveillance, dirty tricks and coverups that led to Nixon's unprecedented resignation,” the Washington Post wrote.

Unfortunately, it’s Felt’s motives that bring the debate back into focus.

When J. Edgar Hoover died Felt believed he deserved an appointment to the top spot in the agency he loved. He didn‘t get it, and the Watergate scandal began with a key figure in the FBI disgruntled with the President he served.

“Wounded” and “furious” are how the Post itself described Felt’s state of mind.

And he wasn't leaking information in idealistic opposition to Nixon. On the contrary, he had a reputation for talking to reporters, and had fed Woodward secret information related to the shooting of George Wallace.

Moreover, he was hardly an innocent: less than a decade later he was convicted of authorizing illegal wiretaps and was pardoned by Ronald Reagan.

For thirty years Felt denied his role in Watergate, going so far as to tell his son that Deep Throat was no one to be proud of, that it was wrong to leak information for any reason.

So why the about face?

Now 91 and in poor physical and mental health after a stroke, the new motive seems to be cash - though he may not have much say in the matter.

His daughter said she hopes his admission allows him to "make enough moneyto pay some bills, like the debt I've run up for t[my] children's education."

Woodward, for his part, said he doubts Felt has the mental acuity left to make the decision.

Personally, I think motive is irrelevant, at least after the fact.

If a man rescues a drowning child solely to land on the news, so be it: the child is still safe. And if the man keeps walking and the child drowns, who cares if he had a good motive for his action?

If Deep Throat was the sole conduit to the truth, if without him the law would have been abused and cast aside, then I could care less if he did it out of a sense of justice or revenge.

The problem is he wasn't that important.

Woodward and Bernstein have always seemed a tad annoyed at all the attention their source received. To them, Felt was nothing more than a source that collaborated facts learned after endless hours of pounding the pavement.

In other words, history books would probably be the same, with or without Felt.

(of course, there’s that pesky motive word: Deep Throat’s importance diminishes their own hard work, rendering their opinion suspect)

My opinion? If Felt was anything more than an embittered employee he would have skipped talking to the press and gone to the grand jury, or publicly resigned his position in protest.

He may have been a necessary evil, but he’s no hero of mine.

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