Day 182

I'm sure you are all on pins and needles wanting to know what happened with the house. I will start by saying this - this has been a painful situation. When I last left you, we didn't know when out closing was going to be. We were pushing to get this done on Friday, but thinking it was probably going to be Tuesday of next week. The owner of the house was absolutely convinced that Friday would never happen. He had his movers set for Wednesday and like a moron, cancelled them. Our new lender gave him a 95% chance this would close Friday, and he still cancelled his movers. So now, he is scrambling because he wants his money on Friday. But since he cancelled his movers, he couldn't get a new appointment until Friday September 8th. So we were looked like we were stuck. We were totally bummed out and were through arguing over this.

Then out of nowhere yesterday, a woman from the title company, owned by the seller of our house, calls us and says "we are on schedule to close tomorrow, so come down here with your down payment money at 11 am tomorrow and be ready to sign." We were floored. We called his realtor to tell him and he was even stunned. This was the guy who said he couldn't move for a week and a half and he was the one fast tracking this closing so he could get his money. There was only one more hurdle to overcome. We talked it over and created an addendum for them to sign saying we will close Thursday, but only if we get possession of the house Friday at midnight. We gave him until 10:30 am to sign it and fax it to the title company. Once it got there, we would go down and sign the closing documents. He received the addendum around 2 PM yesterday and we went to bed still not hearing if he had signed it.

This morning, I spoke to his realtor who said they tried to re-scheduled their movers, but couldn't. I said "tell him to get a uhaul and hire some people from his company to help him move. Tell him to try other movers. If he wants his money, he will have to sign the addendum. That is it. If he can't figure out a way to move his stuff, we will fully wait until the 8th to close. But we will not give him the money until he agrees to move out of the house on our terms." About 11 AM, I get a call from the owner himself, and we had it out a little. I told him the same thing I told his realtor, if you want your money, move out of the house. It's that simple. Magically and hour later, he called me on three way with his movers, who agreed to move Saturday morning. He signed an addendum saying we would close today, title transfer would happen tomorrow, and they would be moved out by Saturday morning. That was the anatomy of a closing.

So the move is on, only 1 day behind schedule, but it is on. The last three days have been as hectic and stressful as any I can remember. My blood pressure had to be at all time highs. We had so many ups and downs. We re-scheduled our movers, cancelled, then re-scheduled again by begging. I had countless conversations with our realtor, my mother, my new lender, the sellers realtor, and my lawyers. Keeping Leah calm was another aspect that couldn't be overlooked. This was so stressful and she really kept as cool as she could be.

I won't believe this completely happened until the previous owners and their stuff is completely out, but this seems like a done deal finally. All the paperwork has been signed. I have to thank my mother first and foremost. Nobody, and I mean nobody, worked any harder to get this accomplished than she did. She made so many phone calls, delivered documents all over the city, had people checking on the house to make sure were weren't getting screwed in any way, etc. There is NO WAY we could have done this without her. Also, my realtor Susan Dale deserves a ton of credit for all the crap she had to put up with. The sellers were great for the first few months and unbearably difficult the last two weeks. Susan was an incredible buffer with them and an even better advice giver to us. Everything she told us, from the sale of the house through waiting them out as they were desperate for our money, pretty much came true. We owe her big time as well. I got great legal advice from Gregg and Uncle Jerry. The bottom line is of all the things that happened, we came out of this with great advice and an even greater house. We cannot wait for Saturday to be here so we can finally move into our dream home.

Quick Notes:
-I went to two Tribe games this week, both wins, moving my record this season to 6-0, all since I moved back in mid-July. It was great to attend the games with real Tribe fans, Bilsky and Ags. Nothing better than watching a Tribe game with Ags and listening to his Joe Tait impression.

-Saturday is my 5 year anniversary. Quite the anniversary present, moving into my new house. I will save the sappy stuff about how amazing Leah is, because I have covered that before in the blog several times. But she is an amazing wife and I can't wait to see what an amazing mother she will be. We will be celebrating tomorrow night instead of Saturday as we will be deep in moving mode.

-I know only my boy Beej in LA, Jen, Sheri, Leah, and I are watching, but Big Brother All Stars has been great this season. The evil Dr. Will is amazing. The guy should teach a college course on the manipulation. He is the only person in reality show TV history to manage to backstab and backdoor everyone in the game, and yet still be liked. Pretty amazing feat.

-My Fantasy Football draft is next Wednesday and I pick #1. Get ready to read a lot of how good Chiefs RB Larry Johnson is as I will be taking him #1. The Fantasy Football phenomenon grows ever year. This year I have seen unprecedented coverage on the internet, TV, and magazines. Everyone talks Fantasy. I know only two people who don't have a team anywhere, MD - the NFL hater himself, and Jeremy - who doesn't believe in fantasy leagues. I absolutely love it.

-The Browns preseason game is on right now - I pretty much refuse to watch it. But I happen to listen for about 5 minutes and the color man is Browns legend, "The Lord" Bernie Kosar. He sounds like he is drunk. I have to give MD credit on this: Back when Bill Belichick cut Bernie, he said he had "diminishing skills." MD said Bernie sounds more like "diminishing swills" when doing the color analysis.

Days Until We Move into the House: 2!
Song of the Day: "Our House" by Crosby, Stills, and Nash

Day 181

What a long day and weekend. I don't even know where to begin. So we went to Chicago on Thursday to get all of our stuff out of our condo as the movers were coming Saturday. We saw some friends, ate at some of our old favorites (Hacienda, Athenian Room, Four Moon Tavern), and got everything together. We were eagerly anticipating the movers Saturday morning. They came around 9:45 and there was only two of them. The guys were tatted up to no end. Combined, I'd say they had 25 tattoos. Since there were only two of them, it took pretty much all day. Leah and I then had to clean the place spotless. Saturday night I got some drinks with P and Dave and Inn Joy. I will say that after being in Chicago for 3 days, it makes you realize that the beautiful people are all here. The women in that city compared to Cleveland are like day and night. Everyone around in Chicago seems to be in our age range. In Cleveland, all we see are high school kids and people our parents age.

Now onto the issues. So Friday afternoon at 5 PM, a message was left at mom's house from our lender saying that our documents all have to be sent back in by Saturday morning or our loan will expire. We are out of town, my mom is at Nemacolon spa in Pennsylvania with Aunt Nancy and Uncle Keith. So there is nothing we can do. Our realtor goes nuts trying to find this woman. Turns out, the woman who set up our loan quit the company two weeks prior and never told us. Whoever took over our loan never contacted us and completely dropped the ball. So now we have no loan. We get back Sunday around 4 and at 5 is our walkthrough for our new house. Our realtor sets it up for a new lender to come over at 7:30 Sunday night to get us a new loan. Now we have to tell the people we are buying the house from that we don't have a loan yet, we are getting one in the morning, and our closing, set for Tuesday, is going to have to be pushed back. Of course, we have everything set up to arrive Friday - Leah's mom, our movers, the companies, the TV, the bed, etc. As of right now, the earliest we can close is Friday, but more likely it will be the following Tuesday. Which means we won't be able to move in until probably next week. The people we are buying from are real pissed. We asked to move in and pay them rent and were shot down. Now we have to call all the companies and hope they can accommodate our new timeframe. Does anything ever happen easily for us anymore? I think as you get older, the excitement over life changes grows, but the let downs and stresses grow as well. I feel like I have seen that hard core over the last 2 years. Nothing comes easy these days. I'm hoping that in a few weeks, I can look back on this and laugh. But I am not laughing right now. I feel like the waiting to get into this house has been forever. Now we have to wait longer. Also, MD and the kids are coming in for the long weekend and we were planning on not living here at the time. Now, we probably are. Another weekend of the nut house will be upon us. A full house we will have. I'll know tomorrow, but keep your fingers crossed for the Friday closing - holding off the companies 1 extra day isn't nearly as bad as 5.

A few quick notes:
1. Cousin Steve left me a message singing "Dancin in the Moonlight" for about 2 minutes. I saved it and cried laughing it was so funny.

2. Jace is now playing on a soccer team. He is bringing his full uniform, the shin guards and all, to town this weekend and Uncle Todd is going to teach him some pointers. MD and I some how got on the subject of the MISL tonight - the indoor soccer league we used to watch. The 4 of us went to a ton of games growing up at The Coliseum. I used to love watching the Force. Kai Hasskavi, Bernie James, Bennie Dargle, etc. The photo above is the Darth Vadar character that used to come out before the player introductions.

3. How about this John Mark Karr. You just knew he didn't do it. What a low life. Who admits to a murder that he didn't commit. He is still going to jail for child pornography charges in California. Have fun in jail you pederass.

Days Until We Move into our house: ?????
Song of the Day: "Off the Wall" by Michael Jackson

Day 180

On August 25th, 1946, a beautiful summer day in Cleveland, Paul and Grace Warren welcomed their first child into the world, Patricia Ann Warren. She was raised in the suburb of Shaker Heights, Ohio, went to the University of Wisconsin, and met a handsome young successful man she would eventually marry, Bobby Dery, in 1970. The next 34 years were as good as a wife and mother could have. Things over the past two years have not been the way she planned it, but nobody could have handled it as well as she has.

Today, my mother turns 60. I know that this big birthday for her has not been something she has been looking forward to, but she deserves a ton of credit. Nobody other than myself, Matt, and my father, saw how unbelievably strong she was when dad was sick. None of us expected the outcome that would eventually occur, but through it all, mom was the single best advocate that anyone could be for their spouse. Day in and day out, she was smiling, staying positive, and taking amazing care of my father. When he eventually passed away, the transition was tough for her, but I can honestly say I couldn't be any prouder of the way she handled herself. Even after being diagnosed with breast cancer a short 6 months later, she fought through it, did her treatments, and continued to live her life. I wish I had a dollar for everyone who has come up to me over the past year and a half and said "wow, your mom is pretty amazing, I don't know how she does it."

Growing up as her child was pretty great. I'm glad my dad was a big picture taker, because I have so many great shots of us when Matt and I were little. She was a big supporter and helper to me in my various endeavors as a kid. She was at all of my soccer games, tennis matches, and basketball games. In high school, dad traveled for work a lot of times and ended up missing a few of my best games. Mom was there with the camcorder (even though I still contend she didn't know how to use it) videotaping it for him. She was the only parent that would drive 45 minutes and sit in a rainstorm under an umbrella to watch me play. My favorite was that on Senior night for Basketball, I hit the infamous "three" and mom had the camcorder with her as dad was out of town. The next morning I said to her "how deep was that three I hit?" and she said "I didn't;t see you score any points, and I taped everytime you were on the court." She actually told dad on the phone after the game that I didn't score. Meanwhile, I hit what, at the time, was the biggest shot of the game in the last 4th quarter to take our first lead of the game.

Her golf game game is legendary around Cleveland and in our circle of friends nationwide. He classic "Hell-OH" phone answer is a staple. He smile is beautiful. Her attitude, while once being described my me as "the glass half-empty woman" has dramatically turned up beat. She knows that bad things happen to good people. We have to deal with it and move on; not dwell on them. She has definitely been hardened. She lost her father in her mid 20's. Her mother was never the same mentally after that and passed away when she was 43. Her husband of and best friend died and she battled breast cancer at age 58. But you know something, 99% of other people would have wilted under all of this. But not my mother. She is still playing golf, traveling, spending time with her grandchildren as much as she can, and exercising like a mad woman. She is strong in body and mind.

Living with her over the past 6 weeks, I have seen how independent she is, and you know something, she is doing pretty well all things considered. I have to thank her for taking Leah, Casey and I in for 7 weeks as we move into our house a week from today. For someone who has hated dogs her whole life, she has let Casey come right into the house and do whatever she pretty much pleases (other than go in her room!). I've got it pretty good in the mother department. Wherever you are today, drop her a phone message or email wishing her a happy 60th b-day. Mom - I respect and love you more than words can say. Have a great day.

Days Until we move into the House: 7
Song of the Day: "Give Thanks and Praise" by Sizzla

This is postponed until Friday as I am travelling all day....

Day 179

We spent the weekend in St. Louis to watch our friend Teddy get married. Leah and I flew in Friday late afternoon. We stayed at the Westin in downtown St. Louis, which I have to say was about as nice of a hotel as I have been in. Everything was brand new. Huge bathtub, the heavenly king size bed. It was great. It was so nice to see Teddy get married. Made me laugh watching him be the center of attention. Like Sean a few months ago, Teddy doesn't like being in the spotlight. Seeing how much Allison loves him was so nice as well. She was as happy as I have ever seen a bride.

So the wedding was at the same hotel we stayed in, right next to the new Cardinals Stadium. We went and took a look at it and took some photos. Looked pretty cool. That is the extent of things to do in downtown St. Louis. Sean, Nancy, the Buatch, Leah, and I drove out to this area in the burbs that allegedly had a bunch of shops and places to eat called The Loop. The good news was that Buatch and I went to town at a thrift store buying vintage t-shirts. We had phenomenal cheeseburgers at Blueberry Hill. The bad news was that it was now only 12:30 and we had nothing to do. We drove around Washington University, listening to Buatch rip St. Louis and the suburb of Clayton to shreds. We laughed so hard we were crying. So now its 1:15 or so and we headed back towards downtown. We saw a wedding party, taking pictures in this center square of downtown in 97 degree heat. We rolled by and Buatch yelled out the window at the top of his lungs "Run! Run Teddy Run!" They all glared back at us. Turns out, it was another wedding. Sean and I had to be dressed and ready by 4, so we just went back to the hotel. The girls and Buatch went to the movies. The only movie that the time schedule would allow was the one movie Nancy and Leah had no interest in - Talladega Nights. Leah fell asleep, Nancy thought it was stupid and the Buatch loved it. Leah came back raving about how much fun Buatch was and enjoying watching him bury his entire large popcorn with extra salt and wipe his hands all over his shorts. So our wedding run is over. We went to eight, have two left, but cant make it to either.

I haven't slept that well in a while. King size bed + no Casey = a great nights sleep. We have been sleeping in a Queen for years and Casey has been sleeping with us pretty much for 2 years now. She loves walking to the bottom of the bed and back during the middle of the night, but I have gotten used to that. It was so nice literally rolling over and not bumping into Casey or Leah. I cant wait for our King bed in our new house.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the arrest and confession of John Mark Karr for the murder of Jon Benet Ramsey. I have always been fascinated with this case and its history. Little known fact - my friend Jeremy's sister was at the time of the murder, the girlfriend of John Ramsey jr, Jon Benet's brother. She was at the funeral. She knew the Ramsey's well. Crazy. Anyways, In reading article and watching the TV reports, it sounds to me like this guy is just a crazed stalker of the case and had nothing to do with the murder. He just wanted out of Thailand, where he somehow was able to get a teaching job at a prestigious private school, even though he had an arrest record for child porn. Have you seen this guy on TV? He even looks like a text book child molester. What a creep this guy is. He was 19 and tried to marry a 13 year old. Then he eventually got married and had three kids with a woman who was 16. The thing is, I don't think he did it. His ex-wife said she was with him in Alabama the night Jon Benet was murdered. He says it was an accident and that he loved her? yikes. This guy may or may not be guilty, but he is guilty of being a sick freak who should be castrated.

Days Left Until we Move Into our House: 10
Song of the Day: "Ya Mom's in my Business" by K-Solo

Day 178

I have an ear to gear grin that has lasted since yesterday around noon. As many of you know, I have gone through some struggles over the past couple of years; the loss of my father, Mom’s battle with breast cancer, MD’s divorce. What many of you didn’t know was that while I was doing my best to keep myself sane through all of this tragedy, I was dealing with my own issues. For the past two years, Leah and I have been trying to get pregnant. People take for granted the ease of childbirth. The majority of the people we know have gotten pregnant with relative ease on the first try. That wasn’t the case with us. Without getting into the particulars, Leah and I have gone through the emotional wringer with this. But today, I am as proud as I have ever been. I am overly ecstatic to announce to the world that the Dery family you see above will be adding another person - Leah is pregnant and due on February 27th. Casey – watch out, the attention you have been receiving over the past two years is probably going to dissipate.

We had gone to different doctors in Chicago and now here in Cleveland. We have had three Doctors appointments since we moved back and each one we were more nervous than the one before. Two weeks ago we saw the first makings of what actually looked like a baby – the picture posted above – and saw the baby’s heartbeat. Everything was normal. We had two more weeks until our third trimester (12 week) end appointment. That was today. We sat in the doctor’s office and I have never felt Leah’s hands so sweaty. As the doctor took an outer ultrasound for the first time, he told us that we would be able to listen to the baby’s heartbeat if all things were good. They were. We heard our baby’s heartbeat and couldn’t stop smiling. If I am this happy about Leah being pregnant, I cannot imagine what I am going to feel when the baby is actually born. The Doctor told us that everything looked great and normal and we could go ahead and tell our friends and family.

Everything is starting to come together for us. We are moving into our new house in 2 weeks, Leah is pregnant and happy, and work is going well. It’s about time our luck is moving in the right direction. I’m sure the condo will sell soon and everything will be off the books. I’ll say this; the power of positive thinking has gotten me through a lot. It’s something that cannot be overlooked. Sturch has told me this for years – negative thinking does no good. Staying positive is good for your overall aura. Now I don’t believe in any sort of higher being, but things and timing happen for a reason. We will be settled in our house by the time the baby will be born. We will be with family, in the city I was born and raised. I can only hope that my baby will be brought up as well as I was in this easy going town.

I have to thank my family and friends for being so supportive throughout this whole process. I have said this before, but I am nothing without all of you. I have seen my mother in action with her grandchildren and know how good she can be, but I really cannot wait to see Max and Stacey with their first grandchild.

I promise to share my upcoming experiences with all of you through this blog. The February 27th date couldn’t be a better target – right before the NCAA Tournament! So the way I look at it, as I told Sean today, we can celebrate the birth of my baby and a Kansas National title all in the same 6 week period!

Days Until we Move into the House: 14
Song of the Day: “Lovely Day” by Bill Withers

Day 177

Had an interesting few days in Philadelphia for work. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t in the city itself, but rather King of Prussia, PA, which is about 35 minutes outside of Philly. They put us up in this awful Radisson connected to the convention center. Everything was basically on site. Meetings, meals, etc. The food was good….good and terrible. Seriously, it was low grade dog food. I ordered room service after dinner one night and had Tasty Kakes from the gas station before the next night’s dinner. Friday night was the long awards dinner that ends with everyone usually going out for drinks. There was this cheese-ball dance club that was connected to the convention center called “Ice” that everyone ended up gathering at after dinner. As cheesy of a place as it was, it turned out to be a great time. It is funny to see everyone cut loose like that. Pretty much 60 or so of my client’s sales reps and the vendors like myself took over the place. Seeing overweight, out of shape, mid-50’s sales reps dancing was worth the lack of sleep I got. I was flying out the next morning at 6:30 am, so I stopped drinking around 12:30, knowing I would have to drive to the airport around 4:30. I ended up going to bed around 1:30. Luckily, I had plenty of time to nap Saturday late afternoon, and did so. Dave calls it “The TD nap zone.” It is on Saturday’s between 3-5 PM usually. This weekend, I added an hour to it.

While we are on the subject of flying, this blog is being typed on yet another flight, this time back to Chicago for my big mid-year review with my client. Since the foiled terrorist bombing plot, I have flown now three segments. Flying out of Cleveland is a snap. Security lines are rarely long, I park in the close garage for less than what the O’Hare long term lot costs, and the flights are rarely full. (By the way, on my flight out to Philly, I sat right next to Browns GM Phil Savage. 6 other front office guys, including Browns legend Paul Warfield were also on my flight). When flying back from Philly, the airport was a zoo, even at 5 am. I flew Continental and only because they aren’t a hub there, I was able to make my flight. Because I wear contacts, like to brush my teeth, and use hair gel, I had to check my bag. The line for bags at US Airways, a hub in Philly, was worse than security. Same for the sky cap. I waited in security for an hour. The whole thing is nuts. We are such a reactionary country, but I know it is the right move. Yes, having to check my bag pretty much every time is an inconvieniece for me, but I’ll deal. For this short trip to Chicago, I wore my glasses, brought my toothbrush, but will get toothpaste from the hotel – less time I have to wait at the airport.

Back to the Phil Savage story. When he sat down next to me, I decided I was going to leave him alone and only ask him a few questions. He was a nice guy, looks like Ron Howard, baseball hat and all. This doesn’t even compare to the time Roy Williams, the former KU basketball coach, now coach at North Carolina, sat next to me on my way to Vegas. For those of you who don’t know the story, I will recant. In September of 1999, I was flying on Southwest to Las Vegas for Pav’s bachelor party. It was one stop in Kansas City. When we get to KC, a new heard of people get on the plane. It was a full flight. I was on an aisle seat and when the “C” boarding group havd started to come through, on walked Roy Williams. I couldn’t believe it. Roy Williams, doing the cattle call on Southwest like everyone else? The middle seat next to me was empty. He walked towards my row and I said “Coach, I’ll take the middle, you can have the aisle.” He smiled, told me thank you, and sat down. I couldn’t have been more excited. I tried hard not to bug him, but it was tough. I mean, this guy was someone I have revered for years. When would I ever get the chance to have this forum wth him again? So I asked him a few questions. A few more. A few more. Then I decided I had to stop before I completely annoyed him to death. When we got off the plane, he walked to baggage claim and I saw him again. I had my camera and asked him to take a picture with me. He did. He shook my hand and said “it was a pleasure talking to you” and walked away. I got the picture developed and sent him two 8 x 10’s with a letter, telling him how much I appreciated meeting him and could he sign these pictures, one to me, and one to my dad. 6 days later – 6 – he got them back personalized “To Todd, best wishes, Roy Williams.” The other made out to my dad. All class that man. Now there are a ton of people in the KU fan base who think Roy is a traitor and will not root for him to do well. I am not one of those people. I am over my initial bitterness. I know he is corny, and some of his routine he puts out to the media is folksy, but I still love the guy.

Lastly, we had a great time down at the Jake Saturday night with Uncle Keith and Aunt Nancy. It is so nice that I actually enjoy spending time with my aunts and uncles the way I do. Not every family is this way, as I’m sure you all know. Even better was the Tribe’s comeback win 6-5 over the Royals, and our 6 game winning streak. Leah is now 2-0 at games and I told her that she is the good luck charm and may need to go to more games. Hahaha. I buried those mini-burgers again. They are the whup. Also, is there anything better than a hot dog with Stadium mustard (right P?) at a ball game? I think not. So good. I don’t care how bad the Tribe is, I just love being down at the Jake, sitting in the stands, and enjoying the game.

I am happy to report that I got an email from MD today saying that Jace had his first Soccer practice and he kicked ass! He was a star, wearing #7, and has his first game on Saturday. I love that kid....He is gonna be a soccer star like his uncle!

Days Until we move into the house: 17
Song of the Day: "Paid in Full" by Eric B. and Rakim

Day 176

It has been a fun, tiring, and interesting week to say the least. MD and the kids are still here. I am en route to Philadelphia for a conference and I had a ton of work that had to be done before I left. My biggest client's mid-year review is on Monday, so I will be heading to Chicago for the day. I certainly wouldn't be able to get things done without distraction here, so I worked over at my cousin Amy's house. She is on her honeymoon and he house was empty. They have wireless internet there, so it was perfect for me.

Tuesday night MD and I went to the Tribe game and took Jace. It was hysterical. Now Jace has been to games before, but at the last game he had his first close encounter with the Tribe mascot Slider. Lets just say he is not a fan. He was beyond frightened of Slider and kept looking over his shoulder for him. When we got to the seats, he just seemed out of sorts. He had been talking about going to the Tribe game all weekend and how excited he was to "go to the Jake and see Travis Hafner, Jhonny Peralta, and Grady Sizemore." We went down to our seats in the 5th row behind the Tribe dugout. He didn't like all of the people around him, so MD took him for a walk in the middle of the first inning. They came back, he was fine for a half inning or so, and then he wanted to go home. MD pointed to the mostly empty upper deck and told him to check it out; He then wanted to sit up there. So off we went. I told MD I was going to get food and to call me to tell me where he was. The call came when I was in line and he said "we're in 561, top of the stadium." I went up to 561, looked up, and there they were, 15 rows higher than everyone else. Last row of the stadium. As I hiked up what seemed like a mountain, I could see Jace's demeanor had already changed. The rest of the game was a 180. He was totally into the game, having a great time, cheering loudly. When new Tribe OF Chin Soo Choo came up, we yelled "Chooooooooooooo" all together and he loved it. It was hysterical. Just before Grady Sizemore stepped to the plate, MD said "Jace, he is going to hit a HR for you." Next pitch he went deep. Jace went crazy. Loved the fireworks, etc. Then he called my mom and said "Grandma, Grady Sizemore went deep just for me!." It was so cute. I thought during the first inning we'd make it 2 innings tops. We ended up leaving in the 8th. We took a ton of cute pictures, tow of which I have posted above. Something really hit me that night; to see MD's eyes light up in joy being at the game with his son and having Jace go crazy when Grady went deep. You could just sense the pure happiness a father gets while watching it through his son's eyes. I know our dad had the same feelings with us when we were kids.

I've got to give MD credit - he is a pretty amazing father. I don't know how he does it, these kids are great, but they will tire you out. Leah, Mom, and I are worn out just watching them. The guy deserves a ton of credit.

So I am on my way to Philly, and I am interested to see what happens during the screening process at the airport in light of this morning's arrests of 21 people plotting an alleged terrorist attack aboard flights from London to the U.S. It is scary to think about, we try to block it out of our consciousness, but terrorism is such a reality in our world today. I'll be checking my bags since we can no longer take any sort of liquids on the plane with us. What is amazing to me is that not only is my 5th anniversary coming up, but it is also the 5th anniversary of 9/11. Time just flies by.

Cleveland is the city of confirmed sightings. All we do is run into randoms here. Last night at Costco we saw my boy Todd's parents, as well as the best random sighting of them all - my old Chinese Teacher, the great Kay Voss-Hoynes, better known to all as "Wu." I took Chinese for three years in high school as my language, mostly because it was easy, Wu was the nicest teacher in the school, and I needed the A. I saw her and said "Wu! Todd Dery." She came over and said "Tie De!," which was my Chinese name and gave me a big hug. Leah was dying. She said "I'm so glad I finally met the legend, I've been hearing about you for 10 years." The best was how I told Wu the extent of my Chinese vocabulary, and it always includes "Wa sure che suela" which means, "I am 18 years old." Wu said "17." HAHAHAHA. So all of these years, I have had that one wrong. It was great to see her. What a great lady.

Days left until we move into our house: 21
Song of the Day: "On a Plane" by Nirvana

Day 175

While day 175 is a milestone on the blog - today is a sad day for me. Today, my dad would have been 64 years old. This day is even more strange to think about because I am now living in his house, temporarily at that, and walking the same steps he walked every day. I'm in his city, and there are reminders of him everywhere. Whether its the DQ on Chagrin where he took me after my little league games, The backyard where he taught me how to catch a football and catch a baseball, or the TV room in which he sat everynight in his robe and slippers watching sports. Its a sad day for us all, but having the kids here really helps, especially for my mom. We went as a family to the cemetery this afternoon to see him a spend a little piece of his birthday with him. It just is so hard to see his name their in the ground. I never just go there, talk to him, and leave. I have the same routine. I stop and see him, walk over to my Grandparents, then see my Grandpop (dad's father) and then back to my father for a while where I sit, collect my thoughts and work myself into a good cry. It is like clock work.

While I did have a nice weekend watching my cousin Amy get married, I wanted to dedicate this blog the memory of my dad and to perhaps his last best birthday, his 60th. Dad's 60th birthday was a full celebration for him. I'm glad we did what we did, because he had such a zest for life and this fed right into it. We had a family trip, including my aunts, uncles, and cousins to Cedar Point, the best amusement park in the country. We went on ride ride after another, one bigger than the next, and till we couldn't ride anymore. At night, we went to Uncle Kenny's house where he was the grill master for a huge steak dinner. Dad, who loved steaks about as much as anyone could, was presented with a 40 oz porterhouse by Uncle Kenny. He just loved it. The Kamakazi's were flowing, he ate like a king, and had an amazing day. The best part was yet to come. His actual birthday was on a Wednesday, MD and I flew in as a surprise. Mom told dad that they were supposed to meet a city tour guide outside of the Jake to see the new Guitar exhibit all of the city. We came around the corner with a video camera and he was blown away. He thought that we just flew in and we were going to the game. We then told him we were going to dinner at the Terrace Club before the game and he was so thrilled. Little did he know what was to come. At the end of the meal, the Indians head of P.R. Bob Dibiasio, who my dad knew, came over to the table and said hello. He sat down next to dad and said "how does that arm feel?" My dad looked at him quisically, and MD said "get ready dad, because you are throwing out the first pitch tonight." He was beyond excited. Dibiasio then took dad down with him to the field. He was in the Indians dugout and shook hands with many of the players. My favorite was how he told us that Jim Thome stuck out his hand and said "Hi, I'm Jim" and wished him good luck in such a nice way like a neighbor would. So the time came. Most people throw the pitch from in front of the mound, so they don't bounce it home. Not dad, he went right up on the mound, toed the rubber, and threw a strike down the middle to Tribe Utility man John McDonald. We got the whole thing on tape. It was such a great moment and he was in all of his glory.

August 7th, 1942 Robert Bruce Dery was born. He passed away on November 24, 2004. He lived 62 of the fullest years a man could live. He loved my mother unconditionally and was a model husband. He was incredible to Matt and I as a father. He did everything he could for his kids. He is missed by his many adoring loved ones, friends, and colleagues. Not a day goes by that someone doesn't reference a Bobby D story, bad old joke, or time they spent laughing and smiling with him. I miss my dad more than words can say.

Day until we move into our house: 25
Song of the Day: "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon - Dad's Favorite Song.

Day 174

Short blog today as I have a pounding headache that I haven't been able to shake all day. A few things I wanted to hit on.

-For many of you who don't live in Cleveland, this won't mean anything to you, but Cavaliers TV play by play man Michael Reghi was suddenly fired Tuesday with two years left on his FSN contract. Reghi, to me, is one of the best in the business. He is enthusiastic, very entertaining, and has no problem being real. He is well respected in the business. His 12 years of service are dumped down the drain essentially because Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert wants more of a homer calling the games on TV. That is what he is getting with the man replacing Reghi, Fred McLeod. He is known in the NBA circles as a total homer for his team. He has been doing Pistons TV play by play for years. Reghi will sorely be missed by all Cavs fans. I feel sorry for him. FSN clearly still wants him around as they have him doing their new Browns nightly show "Browns Camp," so the writing is on the walls - The Cavaliers organization was behind this move. I think it is a lame move and a step backwards. The overall tone in this city is that people aren't thrilled with this one bit.

-This Mel Gibson story is just astounding. Now the p.r. machine for him is in full swing. Its like his firm went out and found the one black person and the one Jew in the business to defend his character. I heard some quotes saying what a great guy and philanthropist he is. Then you hear guys like Dr. Phil saying "he sounds contrite and we've all said things when we were blind drunk that we regret." Hey, Phil, so that means if you call a Black person the N word when you are drunk, its ok? That is the most ridiculous thought process. I dig Barbara Walters stance on this. I heard a clip of her saying she would never see a movie of his or do any promotion for him at all the rest of his life. I totally am with her. I can't wait to see who the first sap director who gives him a job is. What about the alleged documentary he was working on for ABC on the Holocaust? Think that was done to appease Jews in the wake of all the anti-Semitic reaction to The Passion of the Christ? Bottom line, he is a bad guy who should be shunned. I love now that he is going to rehab. Please with that. Lock him up for a 20/20 interview in 6 months to try make him look good.

-Still no condo sale. Still no Job yet for Leah.

-My cousin Amy is getting married this weekend. It is crazy to me that my little cousin Amerz will be walking down the aisle in a wedding dress. It is gonna be hilarious to me, but I am really looking forward to it. Seth, the man she is marrying, is a great dude and a welcome addition to our family.

-Poor Fausto Carmona. All my man wanted to do was make the Tribe. He went from Buffalo starter, to key middle relief guy in June, and now he was thrust into the closer role after Bob Wickman was dealt. Tribe brass wanted to see if he was ready for next year. Looks like he isn't so far. I watched him blow another save last night in painful fashion. Two outs, nobody on, he hits two guys, then walks another guy, then gives up the game winning double. Game over. He went from one strike away, to a loser - a microcosm for the Tribe season.

-You all need to be watching The Contender on ESPN. Great Boxing reality show. Leah and I are hooked.

Days until we move into our House: 28
Song of the Day: "Fakin The Funk" by Main Source