Thank You David Akers

Whooohoo David Akers aka my 14 fantasy point  - at halftime! -  kicker, who just made history by hitting a 63 yrd field goal, tying an NFL record. I want a Packers win, but another 14 points for Aker in the second half would be swell . . . .

The 2012 Fantasy Draft

Fantasy draft in five hours. I have two great keepers (Victor Cruz and Gronkowski) and because I acquired them in deep rounds last year, I have three pics in the first 20 slots of the draft. Gotta do well . . . .

UPDATE: 

1st pick: Ryan Matthews (RB)

2nd pick: Michael Turner (RB)

3rd Round pick: Eli Manning

4th round: Stevie Johnson, WR

Round 5: Jonathon Stewart (RB)

Round 6: Darrius Heyward-Bey (wr)

Round 7: Michael Crabtree (WR)

Round 8: David Akers (K)

round 9 (keeper pick) Victor Cruz

Round 10: Dustin Keller TE

My first logistic error of the draft . . I had Keller listed as a week 7 bye, but in fact he's week 9, which means I have both my TE on bye that week. Sigh.

round 11: Houston D

Round 12, keeper pick: Rob Gronkowski TE

Round 13: Lagarrette Blount, RB.

round 14: Ryan Fitzpatrick QB

round 15: Nate Burleson WR

Final pick/Round 16: Robbie Gould, K

The Week on Facebook

October 15th

"After dinner Lisa and I watched "Hey, Boo: Harper Lee & To Kill a Mockingbird" a documentary on, duh, Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird. There is nothing earth shattering or original in the doc's content, but it certainly reminds you of how great a book that really is, and if nothing else, that makes it all worthwhile."

This week I added Victor Cruz/CIN Def/John Kotsay & dropped Sam Bradford, ARI D, & Rob Bironas. My lineup for Wk 6: Cutler, Desean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Victor Cruz, Hillis and Turner at RB, Kotsay, Gronkowski (TE) and CIN. Versus: Brady, Reggie Wayne, Greg Little, Colston, Mendenhall & Ingram at RB, Jimmy Graham (TE), Janikowski and TB's Defense. Wish me luck.

"Congrats to the Texas Rangers and their fans" [on winning the AL Pennant]

"‎60 yrs ago today I Love Lucy debuted on TV"

"‎Carlos H- says: Facebook should have a limit on times you can change your relationship status... After 3 it should default to " Unstable ""

Today is Sweetest Day. If you're going to buy your sweetie flowers (and u should) please go to --- btwn 9 & 1 and ask for Lisa. U won't b sorry!"

October 14th



My Pumpkin Farm Monster! Today was Ginger's first school field trip to the pumpkin farm, and she brought home a teeny-tiny Ginger sized pumpkin home with her!

"Got home from work, wrote and submitted a column, made dinner, now off to sell Cub Scout popcorn and Brownie nuts door to door. BTW, if anyone wants either POPCORN or NUTS, please let me know. Thanks!"

October 13th

"There, Brewers win, LCS tied at 2 games each. Happy now? Jiminy Cricket, I said it in the NLDS and I had to trot it out again yesterday: have some confidence and act like you've been there before. Watching Fox 6 Wake up News this morning was like watching a funeral for the team. Until the last out of the elimination game, have faith."

"watching teen wolf too"

“Even the devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.”
-William Shakespeare”"

October 12th




October 11th

"Today I finished reading 'Shockwave', a Virgil Flowers novel by the great John Sandford. It's a serial bomber in a small Minnesota town, who appears to be trying to stop the fictional equivalent of a Wal-Mart from opening. As expected from Sandford, it's a fine read with plenty of style and a who-dunnit that actually kept me guessing. Recommended."

"BREAKING NEWS: Twitter is reporting that long-time Brewers groundskeeper Gary Vandenberg has lost his battle with cancer. RIP."

"“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.” - Elmore Leonard"

"CNN is reporting that the US has disrupted a plot by "elements of the Iran government" to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S."

NJ Gov. Christie has endorsed Mitt Romney

"Just FYI, I lost my fantasy matchup by 92.52 points. Not only was it the biggest whupping of the week, my opponents 164.67 points is some kind of league record. Good grief."

"The Beast of Bray Road is a low budget horror film centered around the werewolf legend of Walworth County (here in Wisconsin). This was awful, but in a 'make you smile not retch' kindaway. The acting is rec-class awful (although the lead & Kelly were good), the costumes were ill fitting, everyone in WI apparently wears Stetsons, cops don't retaliate when punks spit at them, and the werewolf looked silly. But it was set in WI, there are two nice sets of breasts bared for your viewing pleasure, and what the hell - it's set in Wisconsin."

"LuLu is a big fan of the book "Porkenstein" by Kathyrn Lasky and has read it 2 or 3 times since checking it out of the school library this week."

October 10th

"Breaking News: The NBA has officially cancelled the first two weeks of its season."

I don't care about pro basketball at all, but i do mind that the hotels, restaurants, bars, parking garages, vendors, ticket exchanges, etc in Milwaukee that profit from the games will now take a hit.

"This morning we watched "The Perfect Host" an indie horror film starring David Hyde Pierce (Niles from Frasier). A bank robber on the run worms his way into a dinner party hosted by Pierce, only to discover the foppish host might have plans of his own. Pierce was great, the early twist was devious, and we enjoyed it. My one complaint was that the story should have ended at dawn, and ixnayed the rest. Available to stream on Netflix."

Lisa made a great dinner of chicken and mashed potatoes. She made the chicken perfectly, following a method advocated by America's Test Kitchen, and the results were easily the juicest, most perfectly cooked chicken I've ever had. Unfortunately, I like my chicken dry and slightly overdone LOL

"Down by 91 points in my fantasy game going into tonight. All I need is for Jay Culter to throw 400 yards, w/ 4 TDs and scramble for ten yards - and I'll still lose by 50 points. A humbling week."

"I just got word that the column I wrote Friday will be in tomorrow's (Tuesday's) Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Please feel free to comment on it the JS site."



(a wax covered leave the kids made)

Ginger in the Columbus day hat she made at school (yes, we still celebrate it!):



"‎125 years ago today New York millionaire James Potter showed up at a dinner party wearing a new style of jacket, one suggested to him by the Prince of Wales. The jacket proved a hit and people soon referred to it by the name of the place where Potter debuted it - the Tuxedo Park Club."

October 9th

"‎100th Career TD tonight by Aaron Rodgers"

"‎56 yard field goal by Mason Crosby just now, w/ plenty of oomph to spare. It ties GB's all-time FG distance mark."

RIP Pianist Roger Williams

"I'm a 30 point underdog going into this weekend's fantasy matchup. Playing QB Cutler WR's Moore/Desean Jackson/Manningham RB's Benson and Turner TE: Gronkowski K Bironas DEF New England. Opponent: Brees/Bowe/Calvin Johnson/Steve Smith/Jones-Drew/Adrian Foster/Vernon Davis/Minn D/Philly's kicker."

Humbled

Down by 91 points in my fantasy game going into tonight. All I need is for Jay Culter to throw 400 yards, w/ 4 TDs and scramble for ten yards - and I'll still lose by 50 points. A humbling week.

Facebook - October 1st thru the 4th

October 1st

"It's Saturday morning and our fantasy commish has finally! acknowledged my awesomeness in Week 3. I won the weekly cash prize (deducted from dues) by whupping on my opponent 115.30 to 67.9, a league best difference of 47.40 points. Quoteth commish: "Thumbs up to Slapjacks for winning ass kicker bonus - thumbs down to Slapjacks for whinning about the lateness of this post.""

"Unless MLB has failed to update stats in the last few days, Pujols finished shy of 100 RBI, thereby ensuring Arod's consecutive streak of 100RBI/30HR years is safe for another decade. Booyah. And all this talk about how Terry Francona should be held accountable (but not to blame) for the Red Sox collapse ignores one issue: where was their so-called "Captain" Varitek? He bragged about that 'C' on his uniform enough in the past, but where was his leadership when someone needed to yank those guys out of the weeds?"

AT&T sent me 3 statements for the same account, all dated Sept 27th, all w/ different totals. I called & was transferred 2x then was accidentally disconnected. Time wasted 12:44. 2nd call, transferred 2x, ended up on the phone with an Indian woman w/ no English comprehension beyond her script. I was not kind, and was tx'd to a woman in Chicago who did a decent job but had to transfer me again, waited five minutes on hold, hung up. Total time wasted: approx 47 minutes. WORST COMPANY EVER.

Worked the concession stand at the kids' school, then stayed late when our replacement failed to show. Then home to watch the Badgers-Nebraska matchup in primetime.









"Congrats Badgers! What an impressive wupping of Nebraska - 48 to 17 @ Camp Randall! Great game, great team, great state."

"Before I forget, today marks the 50th Anniversary of the day Roger Maris set the MLB record with his 61st home run of the season. I'm not an anti-steroid nut, barking at the moon and asking for records to be wiped, but when it comes to Maris and Aaron, my gut and my heart still think of them as the *true* home run record holders. RIP Mr. Maris, 61 is still the number to beat."

"Writing with "McCartney II" playing in the background ("Waterfalls" at the moment). My current job may bankrupt me and drive me to the Rescue Mission, but I'll say this for it - it's given me a great appreciation for the catalog and talent of Paul McCartney."

October 2nd

"Wise sayings often fall on barren ground, but a kind word is never thrown away - Arthur Helps"

‎"Speak to the organ grinder, not the monkey"."

"If I were asked to name the . . . writer who I think has stuck most closely to that idea—STICK TO THE STORY, STICK TO THE GODDAMN STORY—it probably would be James M. Cain. There’s not a word in Cain that does not apply to the story he’s telling you - Rex Stout"

"Playing my hunches today. With Hillis weakened by illness I'll play Benson in his place, and w/ Sanchez playing Baltimore I'll start Cutler. After Knox was announced as the #2 WR for Chicago just an hour ago, I decided he'll sub in for the 'probable' Manningham. *Fingers crossed*"

"Whoo-hoo! Netflix has added additional seasons of The Office, 30 Rock and Parks & Recreation to streaming! G'd bless 'tis a good night!"

"Dang it, I lost my fantasy game by *point six five* points. My decision to start Cutler looked like crud when he earned 1.85 pts (!) but in fact it was the right move; Sanchez earned *negative 9.98*. Benson outscored Hillis, ditto Knox over Manningham. So far so good - except I played Arizona's D over NE. There wasn't much of a scoring difference, just four points, but it was enough. Losing sucks, but I'm confident I'd make the same decisions again, and I was right 3 out of 4x - and the 4th was by a hair. Slapjacks now 2-2."

Monday October 3rd

"The column I wrote Friday will/should be published in Tuesday's Journal-Sentinel. Please buy a copy, or at the very least link to/tweet/FB/comment on the published piece on jsonline."

Amanda Knox wins appeal, judge orders release . ."

"Smiley and I walked to his Tiger Cub den meeting today. It was a nice walk on a lovely evening, but near the end he was pretty tired - until some girl from school saw him walking and said hello. Then he was all smiles and asked if we could walk home afterwards too. :) At the meeting my suggestion of a relay race involving Q&A on the motto, etc, rocked. . . .BTW - Park's selling popcorn as a fundraiser for the Pack. If you'd like to place an order, let me know. A heapin' helpin' of the $ raised stays in his personal Scout account."








October 4th

"Quoteth the Ginger: "Pig-a-lee Wig-a-lee, Shop Da Pig!""

Fantasy Football - week 4

Playing my hunches today. With Hillis weakened by illness I'll play Benson in his place, and w/ Sanchez playing Baltimore I'll start Cutler. After Knox was announced as the #2 WR for Chicago just an hour ago, I decided he'll sub in for the 'probable' Manningham. *Fingers crossed*

update: Dang it, I lost my fantasy game by *point six five* points. My decision to start Cutler looked like crud when he earned 1.85 pts (!) but in fact it was the right move; Sanchez earned *negative 9.98*. Benson outscored Hillis, ditto Knox over Manningham. So far so good - except I played Arizona's D over NE. There wasn't much of a scoring difference, just four points, but it was enough. Losing sucks, but I'm confident I'd make the same decisions again, and I was right 3 out of 4x - and the 4th was by a hair. Slapjacks now 2-2.

Some Sports Tidbits

It's Saturday morning and our fantasy commish has finally! acknowledged my awesomeness in Week 3. I won the weekly cash prize (deducted from dues) by whupping on my opponent 115.30 to 67.9, a league best difference of 47.40 points. Quoteth commish: "Thumbs up to Slapjacks for winning ass kicker bonus - thumbs down to Slapjacks for whining about the lateness of this post."

* * * 

Unless MLB has failed to update stats in the last few days, Pujols finished shy of 100 RBI, thereby ensuring Arod's consecutive streak of 100RBI/30HR years is safe for another decade. Booyah. And all this talk about how Terry Francona should be held accountable (but not to blame) for the Red Sox collapse ignores one issue: where was their so-called "Captain" Varitek? He bragged about that 'C' on his uniform enough in the past, but where was his leadership when someone needed to yank those guys out of the weeds?

A wee bit of this, and a lot of that (with 'That' being quick movie reviews)

Let's lead with the big news of the day: The Sad Sack Slapjacks notched their first fantasy football win of the year (117.07 to 105.42) thanks in no small measure to stellar performances from K Rob Bironas and TE Gronkowski (not to mention a midweek addition of Mark Sanchez). Whew. 0-2 would have been devastating. I needed this win.

Today was also Smiley's 1st Tiger Scout Den meeting, and it went fine, although I wish it had been more structured.


As an assistant leader I'm going to have to make sure I have some fallback activities ready to go in the future.

Some reviews: I rented the medieval action film "Ironclad" in part on the strength of its cast. Paul James Purefoy, Paul Giamatti, Jason Flemyng, Derek Jacobi, Kate Mara, Brian Cox, etc. Sadly, that was the only real bright spot in this Magnificent Seven/Dirty Dozen vs King John pic. I thought it was needlessly gory, ret-conned religious and social views, and worst of all was pretty darn dull.



At least it introduced me to Archbishop of Canterbury Stephen Langton, who seemed like a heck of a fellow.

Continuing a recent downturn in my luck with films, Lisa and I watched Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, a documentary on CoCo's 2010 tour in the wake of the Tonight Show fiasco.

We love Conan, but Lisa hit it on the head: at one point she stopped watching, saying his bitterness and treatment of his staff was taking the shine off our affection for him. By the end of the film, however, as some of the bitterness and anger leeched out, Coco seemed back to his 'normal' self, and the tone of the movie picked up.



There were a few laughs, but not nearly enough.

On the other hand, Arthur was a pleasant surprise.



No, more than that; it was a delight. It was sweet, funny, and well acted. Russell Brand continues to impress me as a genuine talent, not just an idiotic drunkard with a big mouth. We loved this movie. Go rent it right now. Go on - git.

You stuck around? Well, more the fool you, since the final review of the night is another Debbie Downer. The People I've Slept With is a comedy about a very (very) promiscuous woman who gets pregnant and seeks to determine the paternity. Lisa felt it was very pro-life, and I guess it is, but it was hard to snoop that out from among a dizzying array of flaws.



I don't think the writer did the actors any favors, but they sure repaid it in kind. This was some of the worst non-porn acting you'll find outside of a campfire skit at a special needs camp. My word, it was bad. (the only exception being 'Mr. Boring', and curse the director for limiting his screen time.)

Plus, I didn't dig the lame justification the narrator provided right at the start, rationalizing her insane promiscuity away as being nothing more than a case of a "woman with the mores of a man". Uh, no, hun. Even Charlie Sheen would draw the line shy of where this character stands (she has a stack of photos several inches thick, each one belonging to a man or woman she's slept with in the last seven weeks).

If you're going to make the character unself-consciously sex crazed, then stick with your guns and play it straight (no pun intended). There's no need to excuse it, and it's a crime to do so with a voluminous cliche.

A Good Day

A long day, but overall a good one. The bday party went much better than I expected, YaYa's team won their first game, after a tight contest I surged ahead to score a fantasy W at the close of SNF tonight, and Lisa's got a list of job openings highlighted and ready for my attention. Oh, and we had bacon and eggs for dinner. Can't go wrong with that.

History Repeats

I kicked off the NFL season by continuing a grand tradition: the Sad Sack Slapjacks got their butts handed to them 134.08 to 75.42 in fantasy football. 134 points is a monster game (my opponent's D earned 33 points alone) so a loss was all but inevitable, but I didn't help  by starting a WR benched for injury and going with Bradford over Cutler. Ugh.

2011 fantasy draft

Less than half an hour until my fantasy football draft . . .

update -

Results:

 1. Michael Turner RB Atlanta

 2. Peyton Hills, RB Cleveland

 3. Desean Jackson, WR Philly

 4. Mario Manningham, WR, Giants

 5. waived in trade

 6. Sam Bradford, QB, St. Louis

 7. Cedric Benson, RB, Cin

 8. Lance Moore, WR, NO

 9. New England D

10. Jay Cutler, QB, Bears

10. (compensation pick) Brandon Jacobs, RB, NYG

11. Johnny Knox, WR, Chicago

12. Gronkowski, TE, NE

13. Rob Bironas, K, Tennessee

14. Marcedes Lewis, TE, Jacksonville

15. Derrick Mason, WR, NYJ

16. Arizona,  DEF

Fantasy football, some more RIP's, books, and Indian food

October 16th

RIP Mrs. Cleaver (Barbara Billingsley)

Oct 17th

The Badgers knocked off #1 Ohio State! Whoo-hoo! On Wisconsin baby!

German Chancellor Angela Merkel states that German multiculturalism has "absolutely failed." Huh. Between France and Germany, it looks like Europe is finally wising up. Wonder when it'll be our turn?

Neck to neck in my fantasy matchup this week. My gut says it'll come down to the numbers Peyton puts up tonight.

Despite a 3 digit score my fantasy team lost by under 5 pts. Take away Manning's fumble & Cooley's exit, and the game was mine. That makes *3* losses decided by 10 pts or less. An optimist would say that means I've done my homework & just had some bad luck. A pessimist would say that the scores mean I could've won, if only I'd put forth one extra bit of effort. A Dan would say, who cares? I'm 1-5 & dead in the water.

Oct 18th

I just returned from a 90 minute interview with two regional managers who came in from Chicago for the Q&A. Wish me luck - if I don't get it, it certainly isn't for lack of effort.

Oct 19th

Lisa's van had a flat tire this morning, a gash in the sidewall that meant a good chunk of change was spent before 9 a.m. OTOH, our local Pick 'n Save now carries sushi! About time. Whoo-hoo!

RIP Mr. Cunningham (Tom Bosley)

Howsabout that? My fantasy commish intervened in the outcome of last weekend's game, noting that Yahoo failed to properly post a lineup change that should have *cost* my opponent four points. The other owner concurred. The result? I won, changing my W/L to 2-4, which sounds a heck of a lot nicer than 1-5.

I finished Carter's "White House Diary" & will prob do a write-up on my blog. Meanwhile, I polished off Robert B Parker's "Painted Ladies" on the Nook today. It's (presumably) the late author's last Spenser novel, & while it was enjoyable I thought I caught a few instances were characters spoke or acted 'off' - perhaps the hand of a 2nd author polishing the text? Either way, RIP RBP, RIP.

I've been listening to Yankee radio out of an Albany station. So far Texeria pulled a hammy, the Yanks can't bring a run to the plate if you gave them an armed escort, and Josh Hamilton has homered twice tonight (4 for the series). We're going to lose this game, but hopefully we'll regroup and come back to win 3 in a row.

Oct 20th (Lisa's Bday!)

We received our first Christmas card of the year (!), from a blog reader in Great Britain. She wrote that she was sending it on what her post office claimed was the "last possible" date for overseas mail to arrive by Christmas, but acknowledged they were probably full of it. I guess mail service employees are the same the world over, eh?

Whatever your political leanings, the JSOnline "Choose your Candidate in the 2010 Governor's Race" quiz is woefully biased. Every ? is phrased to make one side the devil and the other sound like Christ himself. I would have been turned off by something that blatant on a partisan site, much less in an 'objective' major newspaper.

‎'finished "Write it When I'm Gone" by Thomas DeFrank. It's a collection of Gerald Ford interviews done over a 30yr period, all w/ the understanding they were off the record until his death. No surprises, other than that he was quite an astute predictor of future political events. The text is often circuitous & repeats the same anecdotes chapters apart, but it's an interesting read. B-

Oct 21st

We watched LESLIE, MY NAME IS EVIL (alt title Manson, My Name is Evil). It's either a poorly written attempt to rationalize the Manson murders as a by product of Vietnam, -or- a platonic love story btwn a fictional juror and Leslie Van Houton. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't good either. Ample sex scenes with beautiful women; unfortunately they were covered in blood much of the time. Yuck. C.

A taxpayer funded entity [NPR] fires a man [Juan Williams] for expressing the right to free speech. If his comments were about Christianity and not Islam, NPR would no doubt give him a raise.

The paper today has an article on 'dirt rain' that blanketed Milwaukee recently. As a victim of it myself, it was quite a pain to wash off the car.

Most people are mostly good, most of the time - Gerald Ford

We had white chili and cheese quesadillas for dinner, & the kids gobbled it up without complaint. As a matter of fact there were no leftovers. Bully for them - when I was a kid I wouldn't have tried so much as a bite of it. We've more or less agreed that since the kids are so willing to try new food, we'll cook up Indian soon. Quote Lu: "Indian? Like, Indian corn and stuff?"

Books, a notorious, tongue-in-cheek FB rant, and a day at the ballpark

September 7th

I'm watching an old Torchwood episode. My cat is a better actor than John Barrowman, albeit not as handsome. I've also just watched my first episode of Jersey Shore. Yuck.

Anyone else remember the movie Turk 182?

September 9th

We finished the second season of Big Love - a mighty fine show. It's become a favorite around here.

RIP LFO lead singer Rich Cronin. I met this man, and in fact had a . . . business dealing with him (which my old co-workers may remember; it was one of my more infamous anecdotes from 3rd).

TIME SENSITIVE: Anyone out there have 12 old Sunday papers (or their equivalent in size) laying around? My wife needs them for a Girl Scout 'sit-upon' project. The other leader had her basement flood and the papers were ruined. The meeting is THIS AFTERNOON.

I finished "Marathon: How one battle changed west. civ" by Richard A. Billows. It was good, but of the 200+ pgs, only 30 were about the battle, w/ the rest devoted to centuries of Greek/Persian history. Some background is always nice, but you don't need to know the history of bratwurst making to understand how Rommel fought, do you? So why should I care about similar minutiae in Greek history?

The NFL season starts tonight, which means my fantasy team has yet another opportunity to match the .333 winning percentage I've notched so far this century. Yeehaw! Ah, but I shouldn't let it get me down. After all, "Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein". -Joe Theismann

According to a status update by media writer Tim Cuprisin, Donald Trump is attempting to buy the site of the proposed Ground Zero mosque. [it didn't materialize]

September 10th

When a man comes home from wrk, sometimes all he wants to do is park himself in front of the TV in his undies, air out the Lebowski's, and eat some Manwich while watching Dr Who. That's all. So when you invite your SUPER HOT friend over at midnight, thereby forcing me to clothe myself and eat only human sized portions, I get a little pissy-wissy. I apolgize for the bed-wetting, but otherwise the fit was warranted.

September 11th

Here's a shot of Smiley, YaYa, and one of YaYa's friends




Farmville friends - I'd appreciate it if you could send any of the FV.com exclusive gifts, or better still the white apple tree unique to the iphone. Thanks in advance.

I'm @ the Brewers/Cubs game @ Miller Park. Courtesy of my buddy Tre, I'm seated in the Founders Suite (#2) right behind the Brewers dugout. Pics to follow.

Best t-shirt so far: I'll root for the Cubs the day they play Al Queda

A moving rendition of God Bless America here @ the ballpark, w/ the flag @ half mast for 9/11. @ least for a moment, common ground w/ the Cubs fans here.

GREAT catch by Braun! (8:09 pm)

Note: The Brewers lost the game.

The Fantasy Football Season is Starting

The NFL season starts tonight, which means my fantasy team has yet another opportunity to match the .333 winning percentage I've notched so far this century. Yeehaw! Ah, but I shouldn't let it get me down. After all, "Nobody in the game of football should be called a genius. A genius is somebody like Norman Einstein". -Joe Theismann

Facebook March 4th (cont.) - March 6th

March 4th:

* Whodathunk I could make a cake from scratch? Having mastered all the Manly Arts, it seems I'm destined to conquer the kitchen as well. :) The apple cake is out of the oven & looks and smells wonderful. I made it for Friday's dessert so I can't judge the taste yet, but I'm gonna go on a limb & type out the recipie on S...lapinions. I can always delete the draft if the cake is hurl-worthy.

* [on the brutal slaying of Rachel Thompson and her children here in Milwaukee] Ah, man. They killed the 4 yr old first - a child that greeted them by name - & then took turns stabbing a toddler in the neck. Then, and only then, did they kill the woman who'd seen her own mom, and now her own children, murdered. Monsters like this walk the streets, freed by our legal system, while people piss & moan about due process for terrorists. What a f*ed up world.

* two links, neither of which I can get to work today: a lock of Napoleon's hair was found in an Australian vault, and coins from the time of Alexander the Great were unearthed in Syria

March 5th:

* My parents just left. I'd invited them over for a Lenten meal of cajun style salmon cakes, rice, salad, and that homemade apple cake I made yest. Personally, I think the cake was a litte dry, but everyone seemed to like it.

* Luda's "How Low Can You Go?" came on when I was driving w/ Smiley. When the chipmunk voice chimed in he got very excited & asked me to turn it down so he could tell me something. "Daddy, t'ose Zhu-Zhu [Pet] sounds!" he said, a typical grin plastered on his face.



* From the comfort of a chair in WI, the 'race' seems like no big deal, if silly, but I'm sure it's a big no-no. Here's an interesting bit: I didn't know the USN had female Capt's on warships - or that this one (Holly Graff) has been relieved of duty for unprofessional and cruel behavior towards her crew. That behavior ...incl.'s assault, verbal abuse, & allegedly using her rank for personal gain. Way to be a pioneer for your gender there, Capt'n. Navy Captain Demoted After Warship Drag Race Surfaced

* [on news that Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger is alleged to have committed a sexual assualt] Here we go again. No idea if he's guilty or just an easy, easy mark, but enough already. Get your ass out of bars Ben, and hit up Craigslist personals and the local liquor store. The results certainly couldn't be any worse.

March 6th, my niece's birthday and the anniversary of the fall of the Alamo:

* Screw a dislike button. What FB needs is a spelling and grammar check.

* I woke up at 6 am, got dressed, scraped the frost off the windshield and drove to work, ready to start at 7 . . . only to discover my shift didn't start until 10.

* *93.6%* of Iceland's pop. votes 'no' to a bank bailout that would have cost them the equiv of $5.3 billion in payments to Britain & the Netherlands. Now International Moneary Fund may block a financial rescue package, the gov't might be destablized, and folks are p.o'd. Welcome to the messy, squabling Europe. Same as the old Europe, really, but w/out trench warfare. So far.

* After a busy day at work I came home, chilled for a bit, then noticed we were down to only 2 kids (after my niece's bday party YaYa stayed over, Smiley is at Gma). So I packed up & burned part of my paycheck on dinner at Villa Roma. Click on that link for a review of our experience. Lu and Ginger were dolls. A nice end to the day.

* My family ate at Villa Roma Saturday night. It was a nice atmosphere, relaxed and adult but more than accomodating to the kids - to the point they were given Princess and Hannah Montana plates! The pizza was typical Milwaukee style - thin cracker crust, a sweet tomato sauce, sausage and cheese. Very good, and quite affordable: $15.50 for a 12x18 pizza. The garlic bread was great but a little pricey for the amount that we were given. Service was quite friendly. We'll be back!

* [on an article debating whether or not civility and politeness in a crisis is directly related to the time you have to react] Interesting. I agree w/ the idea, but also w/ several of the rebuttals. The Lusitania, cited as an ex. of panic induced selfishness, did sink quickly, leaving no time to re-exert sociatal norms. But passengers had just been attacked & sunk during wartime, & they had full knowledge of the Titanic disaster. Put those conditions on the Titanic & a similar panic may have emerged, regardless of the time it took to sink.

My January (continued) . . .

January 23rd: FYI: a short bio of me (under 100 words) should be appearing in Sunday's Crossroads section of the Journal-Sentinel. Feel free to add it to your Danny scrapbooks. I'll even autograph it if you send me a SASE and $1.99 for processing and handling (no COD's).

Grant Desme was a 2nd round draft pick in 2007, won MVP honors in the minors, and was a 30/30 player (30 homers/30 steals) in 2009. Now, he's decided to quit baseball and enter a Catholic seminary. Good for him. I wouldn't do it, but good for him for doing what he feels is right.

Ok, I was sent this link and assumed it would be tasteless, but it's actually pretty damn ROFLMAO. For the record, it DOES NOT equate Hitler with our President (in fact Bush and Obama are both insulted by Hitler - by name), and is part of a string of videos that use this clip to express outrage at events. Watch and LOL, if you have a sense of humor. [Hitler finds out Brown won in Mass]



This one (Hitler finds out there is no Santa Claus) is truly funny! "Bull-hit! You are allergic to chocolate!"



January 24th: I'm sitting here listening to Lisa play Uno with the girls . . giggles and singing galore. A great moment.

@2am last night I sat on my front porch listening to the corner house across the street. Wickedly loud, but it's hard to get angry at a party that's blasting the Eurythmics and Culture Club. I was on my porch because Lisa, returning from a visit up north to her friend Jolene, called to say she needed help getting the sleeping girls into the house.

Sure, I'm with Coco [Conan], but the best, funniest talk show host out there: Graham Norton. Laugh-out-loud, pee your pants hilarious.

Congrats to Indy and the best QB of this (or any??) era on their victory over the Jets. Now, it's time to root on the Saints.

YaYa is seven boxes shy of her Girl Scout cookie goal. If anyone is interested in closing that gap, let me know. Her goal is 150 boxes @ $3.50 a pop. We've gone door to door twice, including that day.

RE: NFC Championship Game Tied at halftime, thanks to Brett's lousy handoff - and just as they were about to step on NO's throat too. ('tho I think it was more Peterson's fault myself). 2nd half should be good.

Again w/ the prepared script. Brett does something stupid on the field and IMMEDIATELY he's in pain, wincing and carrying on. But hark! Moments later, after the TV crew has time to laud his [fighting back from] injury and gloss over the INT, he's fine. Imagine that. Douche.

Hey Joe Buck - get over your man crush on the Vikings and pretend to be objective, Mkay? I cannot believe Troy Aikman is the voice of reason in that booth. My word.

Booyah! Once again Brett chokes in the post-season and goes home empty handed. My phone is ringing with friends calling to bask in the gloat - - and I've already called my traitorous sister to rub it in! Whoo-hoo! Enjoy your one and ONLY ring!

From a FB friend: "Last two NFC Championship games Favre played in, his last pass was an interception....it was bitter the first time, it's sweet the second time." Amen!

* * *

A few random, non-Facebook notes: Smiley's favorite phrase: "Diarrehea!"

We are pleased to announce that Ginger is potty-trained, meaning we're out of diapers until the grandkids! She's really got the knack, and wears panties throughout the day (we put a diaper on overnight). Congrats little girl!

We had to take Smiley in for an evaluation with the principal of the school he'll attend next year. Never mind that he has two sisters there or that they never ask for a meeting - she'd heard rumors of Smiley's speech and development and was craving a "No!". He was so jittery in the office he wouldn't make eye contact with her, which seemed to support her beliefs, but we put the kibosh on any plans to reject him. Screw that - he was just scared. We then toured his future classroom where he fit right in and joined the kids at the table and did an art project. He'll do fine!

Just a routine 3 a.m. update

Howdy. I wouldn't be up at all at this late hour if it wasn't for a toothache that seems to come roaring to life only when my head hits the pillow. I'm groggy as heck, but as I wait for the Advil to kick in, let's type.

* * * *

The van is still down, although estimates have dropped the bill to $1550. Whoo-hoo. Since we won't have that money for a long time, we've been walking quite a bit, juggling rides, and leaning heavily on the (fingers crossed/knock on wood) Escort.

I actually got pulled over in the Escort last week while running to the store to buy Smiley an apple for school. The exhaust system is ghetto-rifficly loud until it's warmed up, but the officer let me off with a warning. Unfortunately, I don't really have the money to replace that system right now either. Later that same day I took Smiley for a "man day", spending time at the DMV, getting the van towed home, and grabbing a quick bite to eat.

Oh, speaking of that exhaust the girls are horribly embarrassed and so, when I drop them off/pick them up from school, I park a half block away and walk them to the door. Fun.

All that is reinforcing an inferiority complex Lisa and I have. We never had the money of the other parents, but quite apart from that I don't have the time or energy to devote to all the petty little things that seem to consume a "quality" parent there. It doesn't help when on a day like today, when I was running late, I brought Smiley along wearing a mismatched outfit with chocolate smeared across his brow.

Screw it. As I told Lisa tonight "We're good parents. Not Cosby Show good, but right up there with Roseanne."

* * *

I took the girls to the eye doctor for checkups. I warned YaYa, in the Dr.'s presence, that she better not think of tanking the test just to earn a new set of glasses. Lo and behold she did fake the results, and the doc called her on it. No matter. On the redo her eyes did come up as worse than before, and her prescription was strengthened. LuLu on the other hand, came out A-1. She recited the letters machine-gun style. :)

* * *

I watched the Twins and Tigers battle for the AL Central crown in the do-or-die one game playoff today. It wasn't a flawless game, but when it comes to drama it was damn near perfection. For me it ranks right up there with the '91 and '01 Series, the Rockies-Padres playoff a few years ago, and the 2003 ALCS.

Congrats to the Twins - and I hope you're swept by my Yanks.

* * *

Speaking of Minnesota: what a crappy football game Monday, at least for Packer fans. You can't give up 8 sacks and win, you just can't. You can point fingers every which way, and bow down to Favre if you like, but again - you don't give up 8 sacks and walk away with a W.

Oh, btw I notched my third consecutive loss in fantasy football. I adjusted my roster for bye weeks and racked up a respectable point total, but my opponents defence went nuts for something like 35 fantasy points, and I lost by ten. Sigh.

* * *

Congrats to the Badgers for their 5-0 start!

* * *

Back to baseball. A St. Louis blogger made a boast last week. He bragged about how his Cardinals would beat down the Brewers for their "arrogance" when they went to Missouri to finish the season. Hmm. I'm all for partisanship, no problem there, but since his team was going to the postseason and mine sucked I reckoned his commentary was pretty assholish and unnecessary.

Naturally, in the first game of the series Milwaukee came back from a 6-1 deficit to win, and then swept the rest of the set. Ha-ha.

* * * *

Team victories are what matters, not individual numbers, but I have to congratulate both Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder.

Braun finished at .320/32/114 with 20 SB, 39 doubles and 203 hits - only the seventh time in Brewers history a player has cracked the two-century mark.

Prince finished at a staggering .299, with a .412 OBP, 35 doubles, 3(!) triples, 46 home runs. While starting every game of the season he also set a new Brewers single season mark with a whopping 141 RBI's, tying him for first in the NL.

Well done. I'm truly proud of you both.

* * *

I'm also damn happy with Alex Rodriguez, my favorite player in the game. He entered the final game of the season needing two home runs to reach 30 on the year, and seven RBI's to reach 100.A long shot of course, but he reached both goals IN A SINGLE INNNING, setting a new record in the process.

That marks the 12th year in a row he's gone 30/100, tying him all-time with Jimmie Foxx. Keep in mind, he sat out an entire month this year and still reached those goals.

Arod, you are the man.

* * *

My MLB predictions

AL: Yanks over Twins, Angels over Red Sox. Yanks over Angels.

The National League is much more complicated. I'd like to see the Dodgers move on to face New York, but I'm not feeling it. Hmmm.

NL: Phillies over Colorado, Dodgers over the Cardinals (but my gut says St. Louis). Dodgers/Cards over Phillies.

WS: Yanks over Dodgers/Cards

Fantasy Football Wk 3

Some more good news tonight. After a vigorous contest that saw my team post 104.16 points - good enough to beat all but two teams in my league - I lost the game by a tenth of a point. A tenth of a bleepin' point.

That's right. I lost 104.26 to 104.16.

Bright side: the point total should move me up the standings among the 1-2 losers. Downside: I'm 1-2. Duh.

Slapjacks falls to 1-1 in Fantasy Football

I don't know if you can make out the scores below - click on the image to enlarge and clarify it - but all you really need to see is the big fat zero by Antonio Bryant. He sat with an injury but I didn't notice and replace him in my lineup. So despite a 25.6 pt game from Miami's Ronnie Brown, I lost by just under four points. D'oh.

That drops me to 1-1. I don't want to drop in the hole, so I'll have to regroup and pay close attention this weekend.

Slapjacks 1-0 in Fantasy Football 2009

Whew. It was a narrow victory in Week 1 of my fantasy football league, but a victory all the same.

[You'll have to forgive the odd formatting here. I'll master it as the weeks go by. ]

Here's my opponent, the Deerslayers.

Note that Phillip Rivers was his starting QB. As he played in the latter half of the Monday Night Football double-header, I had to wait on his stats. It was a rough first half for him (aka a great one for me) but as LL Cool J says, he went all "Phillip Rivvvers!" in the 4th quarter. But it wasn't enough.

The guy that saved the weekend for me was tight end Zach Miller of Oakland. His unexpected 10.20 points preserved my narrow lead. In the end, it was enough. Final score: Me: 86.06 Deerslayers: 81.28.

The numbers aren't 'final' yet, as stat corrections can still be made, but I'll need to improve next week. My point total would only have won three of the games this week, and I'd have been smoked by some of the front runners. That's not good.