Published writer, compulsive reader, Old School Whovian, Match Game enthusiast, NKOTB fan, data hoarder, and - surprisingly, given that list - married with four kids. Welcome to my take on life, fatherhood, entertainment, and whatever strikes my fancy. Enjoy!
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Jack Klugman
RIP Jack Klugman. From The Twilight Zone, Odd Couple and Quincy, I loved your work. And what an instantly recognizable voice. RIP
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Facebook - October 2009 (bonus coverage of the Yanks run to their 27th World Championship!)
Nice to
see TBS pimp the "A-Rod is in a slump cr*p" every time he steps to
the plate. [bleep] [bleeps].
October 7,
2009 at 6:26 pm 
2 out RBI
hit for A-Rod. :)
October 7,
2009 at 7:06 pm
Followed
by a two run blast by Matsui. The floodgates are open.
October 7,
2009 at 7:10 pm
Arod: 3
AB's with RISP and 2 out = 3 hits, 3 RBI. I may just swoon from all the love I
feel. Seriously.
October 9,
2009 at 7:20 pm
2 run home
run by A-Rod in the bottom of the ninth to tie it up . . . I bow to you, Oh
Great One of This and Any Era!
October 9,
2009 at 8:42 pm
Arod does
it again. He toyed with Pavano, then yanked one to the opposite field to pull
the Yanks even.
October
11, 2009 at 8:07 pm
"There
goes an A-Bomb from A-Rod!" lol
October
11, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Congrats
to my Yanks as they move on to the ALCS for the first time since 2004. ARod's
line in the 3 gms of the 2009 ALDS: .455, 2HR, 6 RBI.
October
11, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Ok!
magazine is running with a story claiming ARod has asked Goldie Hawn for
permission to marry her daughter (Kate Hudson). This can't wait til we have
ring #27 people? There's playoffs to worry about!
October
12, 2009 at 3:04 am
Lisa just
took LuLu to the ER after she woke up short of breath with chest pain.
Hopefully (?!) it's 'just' her first/last horrific asthma attack.
October
12, 2009 at 6:24 am
RIP
Legendary
wrestling figure Captain Lou Albano, perhaps best known for his association
with pop singer Cyndi Lauper, died Wednesday, according to World Wrestling
Entertainment.
October 14, 2009 at 3:07 pm
"Safety
Third!" - Mike Rowe
October
14, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Random Jon
and Kate thought: Jon's full name is spelled "Johnathon", which is an
odd spelling, but then he shortens it to 'Jon', which to me has always read
like a poor man's spelling of "John". Huh. Deep.
October
15, 2009 at 1:35 am
Another
night’s sleep lost to this damn toothache, w/ the dentist appt. pushed back
another week. At least I got something done 2night, hammering out a column for
the Journal.
October
15, 2009 at 3:48 am
Funniest
snark comment I've gotten: merging my whine about my tooth with my Mike Rowe
Quote, Carlos wrote ""Mike Rowe's dirtiest job would be your
dentist"
October
15, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Milwaukee
Public Library just Facebooked to say their health presentation @ Center St.
library is cancelled today . . due to illness
October
15, 2009 at 12:59 pm
I was
going to say this week’s episode wasn't worth a prison riot, but the show in
question was actually the Jim and Pam wedding, so . . . yeah, it was.
Apparently
one Sheboygan County Jail inmate isn't a fan of
October 16, 2009 at 8:20 am
A-Rod, 0-2
in the bottom of the eleventh, blasts a game tying home run to the opposite
field - and w/out full arm extension! Truly, my man love for A-Rod has reached
unhealthy proportions.
October
18, 2009 at 12:18 am
Lest
we forget, Mariano shut down the Angels for 2 1/3 innings.
October 18, 2009 at 1:15 am
Pope
Benedict XVI has has created a new church structure for Anglicans who want to
join the Roman Catholic Church.
October 20, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Barnes
& Noble is launching the "Nook" in November to compete w/ Kindle.
October
20, 2009 at 4:06 pm
RIP Vic
Mizzy, age 93, the man who gave us the theme songs from Green Acres AND The
Addams Family.
October
20, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Uh, why
are you on Facebook right now? You should be watching Glee on Fox.
October
21, 2009 at 8:08 pm
If you
happen to be in England, lucky you. Not for the commie medicine that weakens
your soul ;) but because Sarah Jane Adventures will be on in ~11 minutes on
BBC1
October
22, 2009 at 10:20 am
Who wants
to buy some girlscout nuts? LuLu’s goal is 45....damn her ambition! LOL....
October
25, 2009 at 12:12 am
Sure it
was great watching the Pack win and the Bears collapse (sorry Ken), but best of
all, this NFL.com headline: "Favre fumble, INT help end Vikings'
run". Sweeet!
October
25, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Yankees
win the pennant! Yankees win the pennant! Best. Anniversary Present. Ever.
October
25, 2009 at 11:08 pm
Anyone
who looks at Arod's #'s in this ALCS, and the impact he had, and *doesn't*
think the MVP snub was PED based . . . well, share your stash, cuz it must be
kind sh*t.
October 26, 2009 at 1:07 am
Had anyone
else heard of this? A Columbian soccer team was kidnapped in Venezuela, chained
in the sun to trees for weeks, then brutally murdered. A freakin' TEAM.
The Los
Maniceros massacre was the kidnapping of twelve members of a Colombian amateur
association football team Los Maniceros (Peanut Men), ten of whom were later
murdered. The dead were aged between 17 and 38.[1]
October 26, 2009 at 10:44 am
I'm
watching Tony LaRussa's press conference as he names Mark McGwire as the Card's
new hitting coach. Kudos to Tony for the helping hand to restore Mark's place
in baseball.
October
26, 2009 at 11:20 am
"You
can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."- Henry Ford.
'Course, Henry never met the Prez.
October
27, 2009 at 9:23 am
{shudder}
I just had the misfortune of reading something penned by Joy Behar. Wow.
October
27, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Hot damn,
the Escort is fixed and back in my hands! Now the big question - how to cover
the check I just wrote to pay for the repair. Eek.
October
30, 2009 at 4:56 pm
Reminder:
if you are setting your DVR to record Kate Gosselin's much anticipated
interview w/ Natalie Morales, it's on Monday under the title "Kate: Her
Story" *not* "Jon and Kate Plus Eight"
October
30, 2009 at 4:06 pm
And don't
get me started on the Duggars. I love me some Duggars.
October
30, 2009 at 4:55 pm
The Phils
will start Blanton in game four, saying Lee shouldn't pitch on 3 days rest . .
but they'd toss Lee back out there for a possible gm 7 on 2 days rest!?
Okeedokee
October
30, 2009 at 7:32 pm
"One
of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one's
work is terribly important."- Bertrand Russell
October
30, 2009 at 10:59 pm
Arod
homers, Yanks win and take a 2-1 lead in the Series.
10.31.09:
Alex Rodriguez is awarded a homer after the umpires use instant replay, the
first postseason homer ever awarded in this manner
Friday, December 21, 2012
The Tragedy at Sandy Hook
For a nation at peace – or at least, at peace on its own soil – the elementary school shooting in Newton,
Connecticut is truly a tragedy beyond our comprehension. 26 victims are dead, twenty of them childrenv of only six and seven years of age.
Tragedy? It’s a nightmare.
Here’s another bit of trivia I noticed as I sat down to write this: there’s been so many of these mass murders that we now unconsciously rank them in order of their misery. How many dead? How many wounded? Were they all adults? Was the shooting at a workplace, or at a place of worship?? Was the shooter unknown to them, or someone they feared?
These mass shootings aren’t an epidemic; they’re a damn competition to see who can ratchet up the most attention from the grave.
I don’t know what motivated the killer. I’ve heard plenty of rumors, but I’m old enough to remember the half-truths that emerged post-Columbine, misconceptions that still skew our attempts to understand the horror. Just a few days ago the media publicly labeled the wrong man the Connecticut shooter, so you’ll have to forgive me if I doubt what they scrounge up now. Whatever the eventual consensus is on his motivation, I call foul.
I was bullied, and I know what it feels like to be an outsider, but I can guarantee you the thought of picking up a gun and killing children never occurred to me, or to the millions who share a similar lief story. I do not believe that video games, TV, or bedwetting inspired his actions. Gun ownership isn’t to blame (though let’s get real: no one could walk into that school with a baseball bat or a knife and kill twenty-six people). Maybe his Mom was great, maybe she was awful; either way, plenty of people deal with the repercussions and live a normal life. If he was truly mentally ill, then yes, he needed help, but blaming his illness would be to wrongfully smear the millions of American with mental illness who aren’t murderers.
Go back for a moment to what I said about this being a competition and look at all the attention paid to these shootings. The victims are the focus at first, but soon enough we hyper-focus t the killer and reduce the victims to historical footnotes. In time what remains? I can’t tell you the name of a single Columbine victim, but I can rattle off the duo of ‘Klebold and Harris’ without pause; show me a picture of a victim of the Colorado theater shooting and I’ll draw a blank, but I can ID the killer from any photo lineup. We do the same with everyone with blood on their hands – in time, they become the focus ofour memories and achieve a dubious, sick immortality.
I don’t blame the media. When dozens of people are murdered it is news, and must be reported. I blame you and me, the people who three weeks after the tragedy eagerly scoop up a magazine about it, or years after the fact plop down hard cash for a true-crime book with a lurid title. If it was up to me,the killers would never get their name in print. “We” don’t need to learn from them to prevent future deaths; that’s a job for psychiatrists and law enforcement, and they are welcome to immerse themselves in their biographies if it will do any good.
Take away that promise of fame, that proof that their otherwise worthless life was worth remembering,and I think some – not all, but some – of these future tragedies will be avoided.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Say What?
Whoa! 3x Olympic runner and 7x national champion Suzy Favor Hamilton, a Madison resident, has admitted leading a double life recently as a prostitute. "[I was]drawn to escorting in large part because it provided many coping mechanisms for me when I was going through a very challenging time with my marriage and my life." Uh, ooookay.
Infantry in Vietnam: Small Unit Actions in the Early Days , 1965-66 edited by LTC Albert N Garland, USA (Ret)
Book #101 of 2012: I’ve completed reading Infantry in Vietnam: Small Unit Actions in the Early Days , 1965-66 edited by LTC Albert N Garland, USA (Ret), with a foreword by William Westmoreland. It’s an excellent collection of contemporary accounts of platoon and company sized actions during the early years of the war, complete with wonderfully specific details that are largely lost to time. (50 years on, the emphasis is rightly on the broader handling of the war, not, for instance, the subtle agricultural clues that give away the presence of VC in an area).
As I read the book I picked up on the fact that action after action, the US was learning. They were adapting tactics, technology, and thinking to the odd new war they had inherited, and it’s a fascinating transition to experience - second-hand. I’m glad I wasn't there to iron out the kinks myself.
One troubling thing I read was a passage on pg. 110. “ . . . Brigadier General Ellis W. Williamson . . . emphasized whenever he could the deliberate and effective use of firepower. . . [he] advanced the concept of using this firepower in any and all situations where its use might precluded the unnecessary exposure of personnel to hostile fire. He continually urged his subordinate commanders to use firepower first, and to use as much as necessary in lieu of or to precede the actual advance of the troops.” [emphasis mine]
Jump ahead twenty years to a documentary about the Gulf War, in which Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf referenced his time during the Invasion of Grenada. He mentioned, with disdain, that infantry movement stalled at the slightest hint of enemy contact, with troops calling in air strikes or artillery to eliminate a single sniper. The aggressive, offensive nature of infantry had been curtailed by this holdover mindset from Vietnam, and he made immediate efforts to change that culture.
During the rest of the book you see evidence of that defensive idea influencing action on the ground. Oh, there was plenty of fighting, and no one, least of all me, is equating that doctrine with cowardice, but from a distance it’s hard not to scream “What are you doing? You are giving the VC the initiative.” Unit action reports end with American units surrounding VC only to sit and wait for air support or daylight, allowing their escape, and one chapter revolves around a unit that expended an ungodly amount of air, naval and artillery support, all for a single Viet Cong, without ever once attempting to initiate contact themselves.
This book was the last of three I bought in an Ebay lot earlier this year, and I’m happy to say that was $1.99 well spent. I hope there are other titles in the series detailing the later years of the war. Grade: A+
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
The School Christmas Concert
Today is the annual Christmas concert, and while Lisa is at the show even as I type, I attended the afternoon rehearsal. Being me, I texted my review of the show as it went on!
1:39 PM: YaYa doing well
1:43 PM 3rd grade doing dance #, no vocals [not one of our classes]
1:49 PM 4th grade (LuLu's) kinda blah so far
1:51 PM 4th grade 2nd song muuuch better. . . Lu doesn't enjoy the stage like the rest of our kids I think ;)
Lisa's response: She waaaants to, her fear gets in the way of her being a star - but she wants to shine!
Me: Ok - MOM! LOL
1:58 PM Smiley singing proud
2:00 Singing at full joyous volume :)
2:07 PM Ginger on stage. Whatta smile!
2:10 PM - Oops! Ginger one beat ahead on her hand motions!
02:11 PM - [the school's traditional, infamous] Russian Dance!!
2:22 PM YaYa up on stage again
Anyhow, I know the pictures don't sync with the text, but I'm pretty darn exhausted. It was a pleasure to watch and later I posted this on Facebook:
I spent the afternoon at the rehearsal for tonight's school Christmas concert. Yes, these buggers annoy me often, but when I catch myself grinning ear to ear at one of these things, or getting a big hug from all of 'em afterwards, I know the truth: if nothing else, I was born to be a Daddy.
Merry Christmas from the kids of Team Slap!
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