Eli Wallach

RIP Eli Wallach, age 98

Today in HIstory

Today is 5 years since the death of MJ, and 64 years since the start of the Korean War.

Lebron News

From ESPN: LeBron James opts out of his Miami Heat contract and will become an unrestricted free agent July 1st

Picnic at Hanging Rock

Inspired by a recent post from Sandra M Gr-ski I just watched "Picnic at Hanging Rock". Afterwards, despite her warnings I looked up the excised final chapter of the source novel to find the "solution". Said solution is best forgotten.

A Week at Sea, er, Lake

At Camp Alice Chester dropping YaYa off for a week of yachting on Lake Superior

Stephanie Kwolek

RIP Stephanie Kwolek, the Polish- American chemist who invented Kevlar. She was 90 years old.

Thanks for the help Lu!

Lu not only climbed up on a ladder and cleaned out our gutters,  she waterproofed one too  Alas her hands were black with tar that wouldnt wash off until a half hour had passed lol thanks LuLu

Softball Camp

@ Rufus King High School watching Oj and GC at softball camp

The End of the 2013/2014 School Year

At the end of the 2012-2013 we jumped ship, abandoning the Catholic school the kids had attended since YaYa was in K-4 and signing up for the local public school. The reasons were many, and I can't say I was completely on board with the decision, which was largely Lisa's - but in retrospect, I was I had been. It's been a blessing for #TeamSlap.

Here's a pic of the kids on the first day of classes. You'll recognize this as a traditional shot for the family. Man, they were happy not to have to wear uniforms! LOL

We dropped them off because we needed to help them carry in the many supplies that were required. And because, me being me, I wanted some pics of the first day!

In this next shot you can (barely) see Lu , near the back in the white shirt and black vest. 

Lisa left the school that morning very upset. YaYa had sat in the corner and seemed very anti-social, and it seemed like she had squandered a perfect opportunity to start over. 

Boy were we wrong! She made friends instantly and has blossomed over the last nine months into a social - if occasionally grumpy - preteen. I don't think that would have happened at her old school. She even had her first boyfriend!

Smiley was blessed with a great teacher, Mr. Byrnes, who believed in and inspired my boy. 

LuLu, like all the kids, struggled slightly at first academically (so much for that high falutin' private school) but by the end of the year notched grades that were above her grade level in English! Socially, she never had a problem. Oh, and she loved having dyed hair at school.

Junie started off the year rough academically, and couldn't read a lick. By the end of the year, under the tutelage of a great teacher (Mrs. Eisemann) she was occasionally reading a 3rd grade level and had changed her allegiance to her new school, proudly announcing she liked it better because "I like learning and I learn there". 

Here we are picking them up after school. Looking back I can see they all lost a few pounds during their daily walks to and from school, yet another benefit of the change. 

Good decision Lisa!

Fox Sports is reporting that former running back Marion Barber was taken into custody Sunday and sent to a local hospital for a mental evaluation.

Want

A Visual Guide

Bird watching in the Obama era . .

RIP Tony Gwynn

I was just startled - and I mean that literally - by the news that eight time NL batting champion and Padres legend Tony Gwynn died today of salivary gland cancer. He was only 54.

What a loss, to MLB, to the fans, and most of all to his family (I used to enjoy watching his son play in the Brewers organization in the mid-aughts)

Fun Tony Gwynn fact (courtesy of Fox Sports): He faced soon-to-be Hall of Famer Greg Maddux 107 times. He hit .415 & didn't strike out. Not once.

Wonderful to see that almost every tribute to Tony Gwynn mentions that he was a great hitter, but a "better man". One of the nicest guys to grace the sport. I still can't believe he's gone.

An Old Injury

One day last August I went out to start our lawn mower, only to be met with a nasty surprise. The engine seized and the starter cord flew out of my hands. It broke my left thumb in three places and earned me a run of stitches down its left side. It was nasty to look at and was an awful 1st impression for the first week of law school. 

The picture below was taken weeks later, so it had healed up quite a bit. Shortly afterwards the nail fell out, as seen below. It's been nearly a year and the nail is 90% back to normal, although I still have a numbness at the very tip of the thumb. I'm hoping that's not a lifelong problem, but I'm not holding my breath. 

Not the Result I Wanted

F* the Spurs. Until next year my #Heat

A Father's Day Gift

Me: I was  11# 14oz at birth. 

Friend: I know.  I can't believe you weren't a C section 

Me:  Oh,  I was,  but my Ma coulda handled a regular birth. She was used to my Daddy. 

Youv can thank me later  Pop.  Happy Father's Day!

Casey Kasem

RIP legendary DJ and voice actor Casey Kasem

A Sleepover

Lu and Junie at a sleepover yesterday

The Sweet Science

For those of you who don't know, I am officially on strike from Major League Baseball this season. I can't tolerate the hypocritical witch hunt that resulted in Alex Rodriguez's suspension, and yes, I feel strongly enough about it to abandon my favorite sport for a year. I don't know who's doing well or who's doing poorly, and I have no idea about the standings. I DO know my hometown Brewers are whupping butt so far, and ain't that just my luck - watch them go all the way in a year I don't pay attention!

Anyway, thank the Lord I have boxing to fill the gap in my heart. I've always liked boxing and periodically binge on it, but my knowledge and fandom has solidified in the last twelve months. 

Today I watched the Sonny Liston - Eddie Machen bout from September of 1960, a great exhibition of Liston's prowess that descended into a glorified wrestling match in the final round. I think Liston was a great fighter - albeit one that did throw the famous "phantom punch" fight with Ali, IMO (his first loss to Clay being a frustrating but true defeat) - and radically under-appreciated nowadays. What a jab!

I also watched a nasty 1965 dustup between former champ Floyd Patterson and George Chuvalo. What a great fight to watch, if spoiled a bit by Floyd's awkward attempt at commentary on this '60's rebroadcast.

And for those of you who dismiss the great Larry Holmes as a pretender, or someone who reigned large only because the competition was weak, think again: on the 36th anniversary of the fight I watched his 15 round brawl with the great Ken Norton. Not only was Holmes skilled, he could take a punch and not bat an eye. I like him. 

If you haven't watched boxing recently, or gave it up for MMA, revisit the sport. It's still the Sweet Science.

Happy Birthday!

God Bless George HW Bush on this, his 90th birthday! Enjoy it #41!

Cream City Swirl

Great fro-yo in the greatest neighborhood in the city. Is at Cream City Swirl! Go there!

The Polish Outfit

I found this outfit free on Craigslist!  We picked it up today.

 

2 books

Two books I read Junie yesterday. 

Cotto-Martinez

I finally had the chance to watch last week's Cotto-Martinez middleweight championship fight. Great win for Cotto, who put on an intelligent "master class" as he took down the champ. Kudos to Martinez, who lasted nine rounds on two bad knees. The only cruddy part of the fight was having to listen to Larry Merchant call the action. I can't stand Merchant's perpetually cynical, dry and often as*holish commentary.

Alexander Imich

Alexander Imich, the world's oldest man, has died in NYC at the age of 111. He was born in Poland in 1903 and was a retired chemist and parapsychologist. RIP