Day 246

I don't even know where to start: I love long weekends. One less day of work. This one in particular was jam packed with activity. Leah, Andrew, and I were all sick at points last week with colds/sore throat/fever. Andrew had a 102 on Wednesday. So Friday night we were going to take it easy at home. Our good friends Jaime and Steve were in town with their daughter Ella, who is 2 weeks younger than Andrew. We have been dying to get these two together. Steve's parents live literally in our backyard, so we ended up going over there for a little bit to get some good photos. When we got their Ella was wearing a bib that said "I Love Andrew" and they got Andrew a bib that said "I Love Ella." Its was the cutest thing ever.

Saturday morning was the bar mitzvah service. I'm no big temple fan, but I went to see my cousin's son Brian "become a man." Leah stayed home with Andrew. I personally think that whole "becoming a man" thing is comical. Brian did a dual service with his cousin Jalyn. You know what that meant - extra long service! Brian definitely did a great job and was I'm sure relieved that he didn't have to go to Hebrew school ever again. Saturday after the service MD and his girlfriend Heather drove in for the party, so we all went for lunch at Corky and Lenny's - MD wanted Heather to get the full C-Town experience. Saturday MD, Heather, Andrew and I made a stop over at Jeremy's to see a couple of his college buddies, including one of the greatest guys going, "The Biebs" who was in town for the weekend.

Saturday night was the party. Now lets get into it. Bar mitzvah parties are not what they used to be ladies and gentlemen. Its become a "can you top this" situation for many parents. Now since this was a dual party, I can honestly say I know that my cousin Debbie and her husband Steve were not behind this completely. This was a production of their sister in law. They called it "Club Joseph." It was huge. 300 people. they had three different rooms, a jazz club area for the adults, two rooms for the kids that were loud music, strobe lights, the works. Lots of great food for teasers - sushi, potato pancakes with ahi tuna on top, shrimp, stuffed artichokes. The main room was huge as well. Mad props on the dinner as well. They had a ton of different stations - pizza, pasta, burgers, fries, onion rings (with dipping sauces or ranch, buffalo sauce, and cheese), salads, and fajitas. The Vodka was flowing, as was the red wine for Leah. I took a ton of great photos. Leah was so cute. I haven't seen her have that much fun in a year. She was dangerous on the dance floor. Speaking of which - lets talk about 7th graders these days. I know that Jalyn didn't really have an outfit change during the evening, did she? These little girls all dress like they are 23 and wear more makeup than Tammy Faye Baker. The best is that Brian's brother Mitch, who is an 8th grader was giving me all the scoop on these girls. I was stunned at how advanced they are these days. Made me laugh, but shudder as well. The good news is that I have a son. Chek out Brian enjoying the ladies at his party above. We had a really good time and again, I have a great family. We know how to have a good time. We had three new entries into the group this time too - Heather, Julia - Cousin's Steve's woman, and Andrew - cousin Julie's man. Thumbs up to all. An other solid performance by Uncle Kenny as well. My man loves his Grey Goose and gets funnier after every one.

Leah and I didn't get to bed until around 12:30. Naturally, the night after his first full night of sleep without waking up. Andrew greeted us at 2:30. I told Leah I'd handle it, even though that is usually her shift. Nothing like feeding a crying baby after eight glasses of vodka and passing out two hours earlier. Sunday Debbie and Steve had a family brunch at their house and we came home to catch up on some rest. We needed it as we were going to expel a ton of energy at the Cavs/Pistons game Sunday night.

With MD working for the Pistons, he was working on getting us tickets for the game. He tried for four and ended up with six. So me, Leah, mom, Heather, our neighbor Peggy and Ags, in town for the weekend as well, headed down to the Q. What an atmosphere they had. You've got to give Cavs owner Dan Gilbert a ton of credit. he puts this all in motion with his energy and enthusiasm for his team. We walked in and everyone was a buzz. They gave everyone a "Beat Detroit" t-shirt and this flashing light necklace. As we were walking to the seats, Leah and Peggy disappeared and came back wearing their shirts. Do I have the best wife or what? She was so cute. Totally into the game. Waving her white towel in her Beat Detroit t-shirt. Ags and I just raved about the game day atmosphere all game long. Lebron played an unbelievable game with 32 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, and one monster slam over Rasheed Wallace. He willed the Cavs to the 88-82 win. Gotta prop up MD for getting us in the building. We were in the upper deck pretty high, but there is not a bad seat in the house. And you just had to be there.

Some classics from the game: Two people sitting behind my mom and Heather screamed so loud all game long, plus the bad finger whistle. They had 10 beers each. The more my mom turned around, the louder they got. They were also big on the "Detroit Sucks D*ck" chants and the woman screeched like you've never heard. One time during a Pistons free throw, she screamed, they made the shot, and my mom turned around and said "that worked." HAHAHAHAHA. My dad would have been so proud - Up four with the ball and six seconds left, the Cavs were fouled. Ags and I bolted out and the girls followed. We parked at the Ritz valet and gave the guy a $20 to keep it in front. By the time we go to the car, it was ready, the girls followed a few minutes behind and like my dad used to, I zigged and zagged us to the freeway in 3 minutes. We were home in 20. It was shades of the old days. We missed only six seconds of action and beat the crowd out. So tonight is game five. My buddy Jared just called me with an extra seat so I'm in! 10th row midcourt, lower bowl. How good? I hope I can bring us home a winner. Cleveland owned Detroit this weekend. The Tribe swept the Tigers and the Cavs took down the Pistons. The way I look at it is, my teams need me. I'll be at Tribe/Tigers Friday night this weekend as well.

Memorial Day was spent mostly outside. It was beautiful here. Leah got up in the middle of the night with Andrew, so she was exhausted. I was up with him at 7:15. At 10:30, I had to go up and make sure Leah was still breathing. We went for a long walk with Andrew, Casey, and our Peggy before heading to the Schneiders for Ella and Andrew time and lunch. We got some great pics. At one point, Ella and Andrew were lying on a mat and Ella reached out and grabbed Andrew's hand and held it. It was so classic. I got a great pic of it above. I'll tell you there is nothing better than seeing a lifelong friend with their child who is two weeks apart from my own. Jaimo and I have been close since 6th grade and watching her with her daughter is amazing to me. Its just too bad we don't live in the same city. Makes these times more special I guess. We had to go to Oakwood for dinner (again). I think it may be Andrew's last appearance there for a while. He cried most of the night and we had to bail early. Great weekend overall though.

Happy Time: Happy one year anniversary to my sister in law and brother in law Jessica and Justin. Tomorrow is the birthday of the great Scott Robuck himself. Next year at this time, Scott will be getting married and i am lucky enough ot be his best man. Can't believe it, seeing as though it seems like yesterday Leah brought me to his bar mitzvah. Unreal. You da man Scott!

Prairie Update: The sale of my company goes through Friday and still to this minute I haven't heard as much as a peep on what is going on. It is very odd, but I am just going about my business as if nothing is going to change until they tell me otherwise. Another thing coming to an end this week are my Dallas re-runs. I forgot how bad the final year was. One person thrilled by this is Leah. She thinks I am nuts watching every episode of a show that ended 16 years ago. Can't say I disagree.

Song of the Day: "It Ain't Easy" by 2Pac

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEEZ!

MD turns 34 today. To quote cousin Steve, he's "Paul Pierce all year long." Anyways, the deez is on his way to C-Town this weekend for the Cavs/Pistons games and for my cousin's son Brian's bar mitzvah. He is bringing in his girlfriend Heather to meet the natives! Anyways, Gotta give mad birthday love to the #1 Tribe fan and my closest friend.

Day 245

Weekend Update: We had visitors this weekend. Leah's best family friends came to visit. Saturday morning they arrived; we had Jamie and her husband Darren with their two year old daughter Mira, and Wendy, Jamie's sister. The shame of it was the weather was crappy all weekend long so many of our outdoor plans had to be nixed, but we made due. Having a two year old running around here gave us a glimpse of what life is going to be like. It definitely has to be harder at that age. She has to be down for naps in the middle of the afternoon, she always has food or a cup of milk in her hand, lots of talking, lots of screeching. Mira is adorable, as you can see above, but it is very exhausting running around with her. We did have a great time with them, consumed a lot of wine and Geraci's pizza Saturday night, and showed these city dwellers what C-Town suburban life is about. Unfortunately, Andrew had his worst day since he has graced us with his presence Saturday. Seemingly every time Jamie or Wendy tried to hold him, he started crying. He wailed all day long and ate more than any day I've seen. It also took me much longer than normal to get him down. The good news was he slept all the way through 6 am Sunday morning. Sunday he was the direct opposite - he slept all day, even at Oakwood when we went for brunch with my mom, he slept through the entire meal. We had dinner at mom's with my grandmother and we finished up a great weekend by seeing the rest of our family on the webcam. Andrew got to see Aunt Jessica, Uncle Justin, Uncle Scott, and Gramma. No Max though. Props to the new webcam service sightspeed. A great find Justin...

A Perfect Night: Friday night Leah and I went with Jeremy and Amy and Steve and Aimee to the Tribe game in the Amtrust suite. (A side note - people in Cleveland call luxury boxes or suites "a loge." Its a term I used from 0-18 and once I hit college I realized nobody outside of Cleveland had ever heard that word. Therefore, I refuse to ever use the word loge, its beneath me. Like the Michael Stanley Band, its C-Town only and lame.) The Cavs were playing the Nest in game six at the same time, but in New Jersey. Being in the suite, we had two TV's, one outide, one inside, and we of course had the Cavs game on. Early in both games, our teams took big leads. The Cavs jumped out to a 19 point second quarter lead and the Tribe bounced back from three run deficit with a big six run second inning, led by Ryan Garko's three-run homer. (another side note - my rule always is wait until the Indians bat, and then once they are out, you go get food. Since the girls wanted to go get grub and could care less, the six of us went down in the bottom of the second. I wasn't in charge and the wives all had to put up with us barely talking to them while watching two sporting events. So when they wanted to get grub, who were we to say wait? So naturally I was getting food during the six run second.) Once the second half of the Cavs game started, Steve, Jeremy, and Jer's brother "The Mikester" were pretty much all Cavs. When Lebron picked up his third foul with six minutes left in the third, the Nets went on a huge run to cut it to one at the end of the third quarter. That is when Jer and I moved inside. I don't know what it was, but the seat changed seemed to work. What was hilarious was that the TV outside where Steve and the Mikester were watching was about 2 seconds ahead of the TV in the suite. So everytime Donyell Marshall or Daniel Gibson hit a big three, We'd hear Mikester yelling "YES!" at the top of his lungs. The Cavs closed it out to move onto the Eastern Conference Finals and the Tribe ended up winning 9-4, moving my season record to 5-0. But what a night. You all know me, was there a better night for me than watching a Cavs playoff game at a Tribe game? It was too good. Now I've got MD working on getting me and Leah in for game three, the first home game, of the Eastern Finals this coming Sunday night. Series Prediction: The Pistons just have way too much for this average Cavs team who is still Lebron James and a lacking supporting cast. The Detroit guards are such a mismatch against the Cavs that it will be too much to overcome. Pistons in six.

Catering to the West: Let me ask you this, why is it that all TV events, sports, award shows, etc, are catered to the West Coast audience? These tip times for the Cavs/Pistons series are a joke. 8:30 tip time on Sunday night? Do you think that anyone in LA, Phoenix, etc where the weather is beautiful all the time give two shits about this series? Network executives are so worried that west coasters will miss the game. Ratings don't dictate it, so why do it? Earlier in the playoffs, the riveting Warriors/Mavericks and then the best series of all, Spurs/Suns, all started at 9:30 or 10:30 EST. See a double standard here at all? West Coast dwellers can watch any game they want, while people in my time zone can barely make it to halftime unless the game starts at 8.

Nice Mayor: Once upon a time, Cleveland had the biggest joke mayor of them all, Dennis Kusinich. The so called "boy wonder" ran this city into its deepest depressions. I thought I had seen the worst mayor of all time, and then, my brother moved to Detroit. A few years ago, MD turned me on to the new mayor of Detroit, the great Kwame Malik Kilpatrick.

Folks - if anyone wanted to know why Detroit is viewed the way it is, look no further than the mayor. He was elected at age 31. Look at some of his classics over the past couple of years. On May 8, 2007, WXYZ-TV reported that Kilpatrick used $8,600 from his secret Kilpatrick Civic Fund to take his wife, three sons and babysitter on a week long vacation to a a five-star California resort, the La Costa Resort and Spa. The fund, controlled by Kilpatrick's sister and friends, was created to improve the City of Detroit through voter education, economic empowerment and crime prevention. Tax and accounting experts said Kilpatrick's use of the fund was a violation of IRS regulations. This week's Kwame blunder. WXYX is quote "out to get me" says Kwame. When the station sent a reporter to get a response directly from him on the civic fund fiasco, he did everything he could to avoid the reporter and then grabbed his microphone and threw it. It was all caught on camera here. Because of this, the mayor has abruptly canceling his trip today to a public pension conference in Hawaii, after he learned that local television stations had sent reporters to Honolulu to follow him.“Mayor Kilpatrick doesn’t wish to have the international body gathering in Hawaii or their mission misrepresented,” said a statement issued by his press secretary, Matt Allen, this afternoon. “The administration has been made aware of several local television stations who have sent reporters and camera crews to Hawaii to follow the mayor and the pension board representatives. Any distraction created by his attendance with our local media would be unfair to those present.”

Speaking of trips, Kilpatrick frequently hands over the city credit for charges at nightclubs and spas. Here on the mayor’s February bill: an $831 charge by a South Africa hotel where the mayor bunked in for three nights at a luxury Capetown hotel, traveling on a Congressional “fact-finding tour” to Africa. He traveled with his mother, Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick and others and supposedly at no expense to hometown Detroit taxpayers. The mayor’s office claims the $831 charge was just the phone bill, that U.S. taxpayers paid for the room. No, these records show Detroiters paid for it all; phone calls, laundry, porters, AND the room for the mayor, too, at least for this stop on the junket. Class act Detroit has running the city.

Cleveland's mayor Frank Jackson is nothing to write home about either. Any guy who has the man I bought this house from as his financial advisor can't be that great. yes, that's true. I miss mayor Richard Daley of Chicago. Now that's a man of power and balls. He's like the Tony Soprano of mayors. He is one tough SOB who doesn't back down to anyone and gets things done.

Peace: Last Tuesday, the reverend Jerry Falwell, creator of the "Moral Majority" died in his office at Liberty University. Can't say that I'm too sad about it. I don't like to speak ill of the dead, but this schmuck deserves a rip session. Falwell was nothing but a hate monger who used religion as his cover. Remember his famous quotes after 9/11? "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich eulogized Falwell in front of 17,00 students in Liberty's Football stadium late last week. Some of what he said was stunning. He told the crowd
"A growing culture of radical secularism declares that the nation cannot publicly profess the truths on which it was founded. We are told that our public schools cannot invoke the Creator, nor proclaim the natural law, nor profess the God-given equality of human rights......Too often, the courts have been biased against religious believers. This anti-religious bias must end."

And this nut job wants to run for President? I bet he gets George Bush's vote. These are the things Bush wishes he could say, but doesn't. Has Gingrich ever heard of the division between Church and state? No religion in public schools? To quote Dick Dodge in the Distinguished Gentlemen: "Nobody wants to hear a sermon." People shouldn't push their religious beliefs on anyone, especially at the high office Gingrich is potentially seeking. I sometimes am guilty of passing my anti-religious beliefs on others, but I won't be putting this on Andrew. I want him to grow up believing in something. His mother believes in God and the after life, why shouldn't he? I'm just very very jaded.

Sopranos, Entourage, and Idol: Last night from 9-10:30 PM EST was about as good of a 90 minute period on television I've seen in years. If you haven't watched Sopranos yet, STOP READING HERE. I had my hands over my mouth and a pit in my stomach when A.J. tried to kill himself in the pool. That was one incredible scene. What about when Tony kicked the crap out of the guy who harassed Meadow when she was on her date? He went brass knuckle technique on him followed by American History X style, making him eat the curb. The whole show was phenomenal. Entourage didn't disappoint either - how much better has the show been since Vince went back to Ari? But again, the reason to watch the show was Drama and his pursuit of a part in Rush Hour 3. Lastly, tomorrow night is the American Idol finale. Why I still watch this show is beyond me, but its like a bad movie, you have to hang on to see how it ends. I'm sure we will be stuck with several of the lame-ass all finalist medleys that are always brutal. The talent level here was mediocre at best, but Jordan Sparks can blow. She will win, but Blake Lewis will have a career.

Song of the Day: "The Mission" by Special Ed

Day 244

Happy Mother's Day: Yesterday as you know was Mother's Day. It was Leah's first so I had to make sure that I went all out for Leah. I will admit, I had a hard time trying to come up with something good. I also wanted to get her something I know she would like and/or use. I ended up talking to Leah's mom and getting the name of places where I could get her a massage, manicure, and pedicure in Arizona when we are out there this summer visiting. I also had some custom cards made on the Kodak Gallery website with pics of Andrew and Casey. Andrew was so excited about his first Mother's Day that he was up at 6 AM (gotta love that when we finally spent a night out with the Goldberg's and the Miller's and had a real babysitter. Great meal at Fahrenheit. Best Short Rib going. Drank way too much wine). Leah slept until 9 and Andrew and I gave her her gifts. We also spent part of the morning seeing MD's kids on the webcam. We saw Jace's missing tooth and watched Reese make goofy faces at us. She loves seeing Casey and always asks to "talk to" her on the phone. I always bark into the fun and she giggles and says "again." Its adorable. We then got dressed and dropped off my mom's gift and went over to my grandmother's and Leah's grandparents and gave them flowers and cards from Andrew. It's a tough day for my grandmother. Very bittersweet. She has three sons. One who is no longer with us (my dad), one who she is estranged from (Jimmy), and one who she remains close with (Kenny). I'm glad we could make her day a little better. We ended yesterday by going to Oakwood for dinner.

Now I grew up going to Oakwood and Leah and I got married there. They always do a great job with special occasions and the food is solid, but I'm just not into the country club scene. It was real crowded last night and it felt a little stuffy to me. It's a dog and pony show most of the time. My mom loves going there, but she is an avid golfer, so it is worth it for her. As good as the food was last night (I buried some roast beef with horseradish sauce, Caesar salad, and curly fries from the lids table - I cant take credit for that, it was all Uncle Kenny. Add in the sundae bar and apple crisp) give me grilling hot dogs and burgers at our house with the family over all day. Andrew was great during dinner. He literally was sleeping the entire time. I went to go feed him after dinner and ended up sitting in the same room that Leah and I were married in. It came to me while I was giving Andrew a bottle that I have certainly come a long way - almost six years ago, Leah and I were walking down the aisle in that very room and now I was sitting in the same spot feeding our son. Then I thought of Dad and how I still can't believe he isn't around to know his grandson.

Sincerely, Orenthal: During the weekend of the Kentucky Derby, every one's favorite murderer, O.J. Simpson was in Lousiville "searching for the real killer." On the eve of the race, O.J. and 11 others came into an upscale Steak Restaurant looking for a table around 10:30. Jeff Ruby, the owner of the restaurant, made news by refusing to serve O.J. and asking him to leave. You have got to give props to this guy. In classic O.J. fashion, he immediately drew the race card and having his lawyer look into legal action. "He screwed with the wrong guy, he really did," said O.J.'s lawyer Yale Galenter. You know what the real amazing story is here, that 11 people were dining with O.J. How anyone can hang out with him is beyond me. The guy is a murdered who flaunts his freedom in the face of the Goldman and Brown families. No clue who he lives with himself. If any of you want to tell Fred Goldman, the father of Ron, how you feel, go to Fashion Square mall Scottsdale. He works at the Nordstrom men's department. We see him every time we visit my in laws. I have always felt the most sorry for him.

Things You Don't Think Of: It's great to have a house. I love the space. I plan of staying in the house for 30 plus years. There are so many great things about it. I could never have a house like this in Chicago in a million years. With all of that said, when you buy a house for the first time like we did., you don't think of all the added things that pop up. We've got lawn issues. Our air conditioning works fine, but the high ceilings and sky lights cause the great room and kitchen to become unbearably hot when its 70 plus and sunny outside. etc etc. The heat is a serious problem. I have no clue how these friggin morons we bought the house from lived like this every summer. Cold air was blowing out of the vents and it still wouldn't cool the house. We've got the AC being serviced now and Wednesday we have a company coming out to quote us on tinting the windows. Like my father before me, I love air conditioning and need to be cold. The window tinting may do the trick. Bottom line everything costs money, my company is being sold and Leah currently isn't working. Real adult problems here now. Does this mean I'm getting old? Our babysitter is 22. When she came over she told Leah and I "when I'm your age I hope I'm as fun as you guys." That, my friends, is what I like to call a backhanded compliment.

Gas, Gas, Gas: No, I'm not talking about my son, but the rising gas prices. Even here in Cleveland gas is $3.19 a gallon. What a joke. I remember at KU I used to roll down to the Jayhawk Food Mart and fill up the Lebaron for $18.00. Gas was $.89 a gallon. That doesn't seem like that long ago. Meanwhile, the idiot running our country is hosting a White Tie Dinner for Queen Elizabeth in Washington last week. The cost of the dinner was upwards of $1 million dollars. That's right - a million dollars for a dinner. This guy just doesn't get it. Is it 2008 yet?

The Blog, Bringing People Together: In LA this past weekend, two of my friends from different worlds were at the same wedding. I had them track each other down and take a photo. Boith are avid readers of the blog and great friends, so the photo has been posted above. Its Beej and his wife Megan aka 'The Hammer" with Jen. Easy to see who the luckiest person in this photo is. Speaking of my friends, we are anxiously awaiting any day now the arrival of the second Graines child. I have also posted a pic of a couple of two girls who are already fighting for Andrew's affections, Winter Rafal and Ella Schneider.

B-Day Wishes: May is a big month for b-day's in my family. Gotta give mad love to my cousin Jan as she turns the Big 4-0 today! Jan (she goes by Janet now, but like my cousin Susie, who goes by Susan at work, she will always be Jan to me) is one of the top writers and the CJN and model's in her spare time (I'm not the only good looking Dery you know, hahaha). We have both moved back to Cleveland this year and it is great that we get to see her more often. I do have solid cousins. That is the truth. Also gotta send birthday love to my sister in law Jessica who turns 28 tomorrow. She is now out of Chicago and back in New York. There aren't many people with a bigger heart than Jessica. I definitely miss seeing her all the time, as does Casey. Lastly, Justin graduated Northwestern law school yesterday. Congrats to him - I honestly say nobody worked harder than Justin and it paid off for him. He is going to work at the #1 mergers and acquisitions firm in New York, Wachtel. They only take people from Harvard or Yale as first years, and he managed to buck that trend.

Song of the Day: "Syncronicity 2" by The Police

Day 243

The Best Wife Going: Now I know next week is Mother's Day, but I have to start off this entry by saying that by far, I have the coolest wife out there. Wednesday night, I went to the Tribe game and she stayed home solo with Andrew. Thursday night she went with me to the Tribe game on our "date." Now we get one night off from Andrew where we had a baby sitter and she was all good going down to the Tribe game. It was a beautiful night, we had a great time and saw a Tribe win. With the score tied I'm the 8th, I promised her we would leave after the Tribe hit. Grady Sizemore delivered a big two out RBI double and the Tribe took the lead and eventually won. We were in the car by the third out. Friday night we got the call from Jeremy and Amy inviting Leah and I to go to Game One of the Cavs/Nets series on Sunday. My first Cavs playoff game since 1992? We had to be there. Our neighbors Peggy and Cliff watched Andrew and we happily accepted. We saw a Cavs W, the crowd was great, I obviously loved it, but Leah had a great time too. It was all good. Leah has chosen to embrace her future of sporting events rather than fight it. You gotta love that. I'm one lucky man.

Andrew and his admirers: I've got to give a huge thank you to the various neighbors of ours who love Andrew already. Its literally become a fight to see who can hold him around the neighborhood. Debbie who lives three houses down always stops us to see him and offers to babysit. We needed one on Thursday and we called her. She picked up the phone and said "please tell me you are asking me to babysit." Our next door neighbors Peggy and Cliff come over all the time to see him and watched him yesterday during the Cavs game. Vera comes over once or twice a week for about 4 hours during t5he day to watch him. Andrew LOVES Vera the same way I do. Its great because Vera gets such a kick out of it - she was there when my parents brought me home from the hospital and now she helps me out with my own son. We really have been very lucky. We don't have a true baby sitter yet, but we are meeting a potential one tonight. We got her from Peggy's law firm. She is going to go to law school and wanted to babysit to make extra money as she is still living with her parents.

Playoff Atmosphere: As stated earlier, I haven't been to a Cavs playoff game in 15 years, so it was a great opportunity to go. The crowd was jacked up and very loud. Everyone was waving their white towels, the Cavs played a great defensive game and turnbed it on offensively in the fourth quarter to win 81-77. The crowd hit its peak with the Cavs leading by four with under 2 minutes left. Nets PG Jason Kidd stole as pass and headed in for a breakaway layup. Out of nowhere came SG Sasha Pavlovic to swat it away. Cleveland fans are so starving for something to get excited about and you could really feel that yesterday at the Q. I cant imagine how amped the crowd would be if they ever made it to the Finals. I still think the indoor fireworks are ridiculous, the music is about 2 notches too loud, and the atmosphere is not conducive for young kids, but the ownership doesn't care - young kids don't buy tickets. Regardless, it was a great time and it was great being a part of 20,000 screaming fans watching our team win a playoff game. I wrote a story for theclevelandfan.com about how this is a boom time for Cleveland sports. Take a read if you'd like.

More Sports Takes: I know we are carrying a sports theme today, but I have to touch on this Roger Clemens situation. For those who don't know, over the last two years, the future hall of fame pitcher has held himself hostage for teams, saying he is retired, skipping Spring Training and then coming back at his leisure to pitch for over $20 million for his hometown Houston Astros. He pitched under the arrangement that he didn't have to go on road trips unless he was pitching, and essentially did whatever he wanted. This year, he pulled the same stunt. This time, he was holding the Yankees and Red Sox hostage along with Houston. Yesterday, out of nowhere during the seventh inning stretch at Yankee Stadium, the crowd was told to turn their attention to the owner's box where Clemens had a microphone to announce he was coming back to the Yankees. He will be making $4.5 million A MONTH. Click here to watch this crap. Is there a bigger ego-maniac than Clemens? This is such a tired bit. he just wants to be loved and wooed and told how great he is. Announcing it the way they did was probably exciting for Yankee fans, but I find it so arrogant and typical Steinbrenner bullshit. I can't wait until the Yankees don't even make the playoffs this year and Steinbrenner wastes another $200 plus million dollars.

Celebs Love Getting Loaded: Two great stories out this weekend. I hope you catch it, and if you didn't it's right here, but maker sure you see the David Hasselhoff video. The former Baywatch star the man loved by German's all over the world has a serious drinking problem. he has been in and out of rehab. Watch the video and you can tell it hasn't worked. On this tape, The Hoff is loaded out of his gourde and has his 16 year old daughter taping him so he can watch what a jackass he looks like when he has been drinking. Watching him try to bury a cheeseburger is priceless.

Then we moved to one of my favorite hollywood starlets, Lindsay Lohan. The smokin hot 20 year old has been spotted doing coke on video tape. Good thing she is also straight out of rehab. The article linked here, has some classics in it. Check out this gem according to one of her "friends": "One night we had gone back to her place and, as always, as soon as she walked through the door she stripped down to her thong, bent down and snorted cocaine off her coffee table and then off her toilet seat." But Lindsay is not only addicted to booze and drugs, she is also hooked on sex with some of Hollywood's hottest men, says our insider. "She has told me that she has slept with James Blunt, Jude Law, Calum Best, Joaquin Phoenix, Benicio Del Toro, Jared Leto and James Franco," admitted the friend. "She loves Brits and has told me she has slept with the singer James Blunt a few times over the past month. "The last time was on April 15 after another house party. I think they went back to a hotel together afterwards. She is very protective over him and when she heard I had met him she sent me a text saying, ‘Stay away from him Bitch, he is mine.' "Lindsay told me she has messed around with Leonardo DiCaprio a while ago too but claimed that she didn't sleep with him. "She also flew to New York about two months ago to go to bed with Jude Law. Last November she slept with Calum Best. She didn't tell me if he was any good but she is usually too wasted to know what is going on anyway." I mean how good is that?

The there is the despicable human being that is Paris Hilton. The hotel-heiress and the epitome of famous for being famous, sentenced to 45 days in jail for violating her probation. Judge Michael T. Sauer, who I hail as the smartest man on the planet currently, told the court room that he wasn't planning on any jail time, but Hilton showed up 25 minutes late for her court appearance and was "powdering her face" once she arrived throughout. The blatant disrespect of the court caused Sauer come down hard on Paris. I for one applaud him. Its about time this bitch was derailed.

Happy B-day: Gotta send happy b-day wishes out to my nephew Jace who turned six this weekend. i cannot believe he is six. He is such a great kid. He had a birthday party at Duck pin-bowling in Indy and he was sporting a custom bowling shirt with his name on it. So cute. How good is that picture of him above?

Song of the Day: "Good Girls, Bad Guys" by DMX

Day 242

Good to be Back: A long week finally came to an end. I''ll say this; I knew I'd miss Andrew, but I didn't know it would be this much. I found myself showing his pictures to anyone who I could. Its definitely good to be back home. Jessica was here this weekend and was a great help to Leah while I was gone. After the baby naming Sunday, I took Andrew while the girls went shopping. Andrew, Casey, and I went for a long walk in the neighborhood - it was a beautiful day. Everyone was out in the neighborhood. Tons of kids and dogs. Andrew slept half the time and was just content quiet and chilling while I was pushing him around during the other half. Babies have it pretty good. They are fed, have their asses wiped, play or sleep most of the day, and get a ton of attention. Sounds good to me.

The Road: Canada and Texas - two places that couldn't be any different. I have to say, Texas might as well be its own country. Its so big, there is so many different aspects of the state, and the people are essentially their own species. Those crazy Texans. I love that at one point this weekend I was told that I talked in a "funny accent" by a woman who was clearly born and raised in Dallas. My view of Dallas before I started going there for work years ago was the TV show, Dallas - which is still one of my favorites (Leah thinks I am crazy, but I still TIVO the reruns every day on Soap Net). Strange how JR Ewing had a thick Texas accent, yet his brother Bobby didn't, nor did his mother, but his father Jock did. Anyways, I did have an interesting time discussing the Pactiv buy to everyone I was in contact with. More good news for me - at my biggest account, Edward Don, we won this sales contest for biggest growth over prior year nationally. That should be another feather in my cap when it comes time to make decisions on the Prairie sales force. Every indication I am getting is that won't be able to do anything right away and there will be an evaluation period. I will continue to bust ass until they tell me otherwise.

Is the the beginning?: Could the Cleveland Browns actually be going in the right direction? This weekend's NFL draft gave a very telling look at the Browns brass. GM Phil Savage and Coach Romeo Crennell knew they had to do something drastic and make a splash because they are running out out time to turn things around for this sad-sack franchise that has been the epitome of pathetic since returning in 1999. At #3, I was really hoping they would skip Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn. They did. In drafting Tackle Joe Thomas from Wisconsin, they have finally addressed a serious need for the first time since 1970. That's right. 1970! They haven't drafted a tackle in the first round since I was -6. You now have a guy every scout loves and can pencil him in as a starter from day one - he should remain there for the next 10 years. He will be playing next to the top free agent linemen available, guard Eric Steinbach, signed this offseason. Poor Brady Quinn kept dropping, dropping, dropping. At #22, he was still there and Savage made the bold move to trade next year's #1 pick to get the QB they almost took at #3. This is brilliant on many levels. In drafting Quinn at #22 whom they almost took at #3, they can now pay him #22 money. The difference in price tag is enormous. We are talking a $30 million difference. We all know Charlie Frye isn't the answer. If the Browns had another bad year in 07, that pick would be another top five selection, where odds are they'd be looking at a QB. Now they have Quinn in the fold for less money and can groom him essentially a year in advance. Even if Quinn is a bust, Crennell and Savage won't be around to see the end. It's a move they had to make. Another risky move was taken talented, but red-flagged CB Eric Wright out of UNLV in the second round. They traded up to get him. He has first round talent, but the new conduct rules probably hurt his stock. Bottom line, if he stays in line this is an absolute steal. A+ from this guy on the draft overall. At least they have piqued my interest again.

Excellent Parenting: Don't miss this you tube clip of a 4 year old getting run over at a Colorado State Spring Football game. Its definitely worth watching. The kid gets BURIED. I haven't seen a little kid get run over that badly since a 14 year old cousin Steve floored me during the family softball game in my parents back yard when i was 5.

The Truth: My friend Betsy G is another of the many women we know who are pregnant. In our never ending crusade to tell whoever we can that it isn't as easy as it looks, Leah and I were filling her in on the realness. We do this is a public service announcement. Nobody told us about the issues one could have during pregnancy. Here we are two days short of nine weeks, and Leah is still not 100%. Hopefully one of these days she will. I will blast the doctor her botched her episiotomy and delivery - Dr. Barry Peskin. Call it slander, I call it the truth. This guy did a half-ass job and Leah has been feeling the effects ever since. The sad thing is that a friend of Leah's told her a few weeks ago that someone else this woman knew had the exact same problems with her delivery and afterwards. The doctor? Barry Peskin. Thank goodness Andrew has been so good. You take the good with the bad. My cousin Susie had a son, Griffin, a few weeks again and we attended the baby naming yesterday. She didn't go through the same problems at all and she goes to the same practice as Leah. (By the way - props to Susie and Bill. At the naming yesterday, they spoke of how Griffin's middle name is Royce, a family name, but the R is Royce is for Robert after my father. A classy, and much appreciated move).

Congrats: My old friend Aimee Lurie, aka "Germ (hard G)" had her second baby, a son, Joey Ryan Lurie. He was born Thursday in Cleveland. Germ and I have re-connected after being close in high school and she has become one of Leah's best friends here. She is one of the sweetest people you will ever come across. Props out to her and her husband Steve. Also gotta send happy b-day shoutouts to Sheri and Teddy.

Weak: Anyone else but me think Sopranos has been pretty weak thus far? Same thing for Entourage. The Ari Gold character minus Vince is not interesting. Although my guy Artie Lange did an excellent job as Ari's old college buddy in last night's episode.

Song of the Day: "Higher" by Q-Tip

Day 241

Finally: There is nothing better than when you have the first good days of the spring. The weather turns and it seems like everyone comes out of the woodwork and is outside. This weekend we couldn't have had better weather. It was 70 and sunny both Saturday and Sunday. We did out best to take advantage and make the most of it. We spent Saturday walking outside at Legacy for a couple of hours and chilled on our deck in the morning. Yesterday we spent a couple of hours walking through the Metroparks with Casey and Andrew. Andrew slept pretty much the whole time and Casey loved it. A side-note: I haven't been to the Metroparks in years and it is very quiet with lots of places to walk dogs, ride bikes, and they have horse trails as well. My dad used to go to the Metroparks by himself during the summer, throw his headphones on and go for a walk. So when we were looking for a place to park we ended up down a big hill where other calls were. We started walking up this big hill pushing Andrew and walking Casey. Halfway up I turned to Leah and I said "I know my father, there is no way he was hiking up this hill, he must have found the only flat trails and walked them." Sure enough, my mom said that was indeed the case. We ended the weekend by grilling with my mom and grandmother at my mom's house. Andrew was pretty good across the board - real quiet and slept a lot. That was a positive. On the other end, he probably didn't eat as much, therefore didn't sleep very well. He was up at 3 AM Sunday morning and last night 11:30, 2:30, and 6. Leah and I took turns. Since I am gone the majority of this week for work, the guilty conscious kicked in. No naps for me this weekend and two 6:15 wake ups for me. I did get in The Godfather over Saturday and Sunday mornings (which by the way, is better than II - I don't care what others say. As good as II is, I is still the best.) Andrew also had his first meeting with one of his new girlfriends, Laila Bilsky, on Saturday night. He is eagerly anticpating his first date with Ella Schneider.

C-Town Sports: Some of you will be proud of me - yesterday was Game 1 of the Cavs/Wizards playoff series. The game was at 12:30. It was such a beautiful day and as much as I wanted to watch the game start to finish, it was just too nice to sit inside all day. I was home by halftime though. I was working the solid split screen technique with the Tribe/D'Rays game. It shows you where my priorities with my teams are though. This was one of 162 regular season Tribe games while the Cavs were playing a playoff game, but they got equal standing. If this was a later round, things would be different; but I love my Tribe. So the Cavs are in the playoffs where with their draw they should easily dispose of the Wizards. The Tribe is always a hot topic and have kicked into their season. Yet everyone in this town wants to talk about the Browns still. All of the sports talk shows are "who should we draft, Brady Quinn or Adrian Peterson." I've been hearing this for the last month. What have the Browns done to deserve all of this attention and love? Since they have come back in 1999, we've seen nothing but a pathetic product, overhaul of management three different times, terrible drafting, and an overall lack of talent. Yet, the people of this town come back for more. I just don't get it. MD dropped the Browns from his radar screen back in 95 and never looked back. He's all Tribe all the time. Meanwhile, my uncle Kenny loves one team and one team only, the Browns. The best sports writer in town, Terry Pluto wrote a similar column this past weekend. He doesn't get it either.

Speaking of the Red, White, and Blue - I have officially seen it all with them. Thursday the Indians were attempting to avoid a three game sweep at the hands of the hated NY Yankees. After a big Victor Martinez three run HR and an insurance run, the Tribe led 6-2 going into the bottom of the ninth. New closer Joe "Bob Wickman redux" Borowski retired the first two Yankees and was one out away from the W. Then the wheels came off the wagon. Next thing you know its 6-5 with two on Alex Rodriguez, baseball's hottest player, stepping to the plate. Borowski uncorks a wild pitch and the runners move to second and third. So now first base is open. Its a no-brainer, A-Rod's run means nothing and he is on fire - you walk him. Not our genius manager Eric Wedge. The next pitch, A-Rod hits a three run home run to center. Tribe loses 8-6. Cleveland teams continue to find new ways to lose. Classic. In the meantime, the Tribe was in town last weekend when it was 35 degrees and this weekend it was 70 and sunny and they were in Tampa Bay. They did win two of three and are 8-7 to start. With all things considered - the four cancellations because of snow, moving to Milwaukee for three games, being the worst fielding team I've seen in years, and the fact that we can only score by hitting home runs, things could definitely be worse. I scared Andrew again when I went nuts on Ryan Garko's game winning three-run homer in the 9th.

Thoughts on a Tragedy: There is no doubt in anyones mind, what happened at Virginia Tech last week was a horrible, senseless act of violence that is beyond tragic. You start to hear these stories of the people killed by this mad man, and it really makes things so much worse. This could have happened at any college in the country. That is what is so scary. None of us are safe - there is a mad man roaming in every town in America. So this nut job puts together an 1800 page manifesto, takes pictures of himself pointing his weapons at the camera, and sends a videotaped message blaming everyone but himself for what he was then about to do. So NBC News received all of this information and went straight to the air with it. At first, I thought it was ok that they aired this - we all had the right to put a face to this nut case. The more I thought about it, the more I thought the videotapes should not have been aired. This is exactly what this guy wanted - to become famous and let the world see and know the reasons why he committed 32 murders before putting the gun on himself. That's about the only good thing - the guy is dead. But with these videotapes, the families of the victims as well as the people who escaped will be haunted by his words for the rest of their lives. Its just so sad. The whole thing. my thoughts are with everyone in Blacksburg, VA.

Gun Control: Piggybacking on the Virginia Tech tragedy, I have to talk about guns. Now I am not one to go hunting. There are plenty of people I know who do and love it. But is there any reason that handguns are legal in this country still? I haven't done the research, but how many people die because of guns every year? Whether its an accidental shooting, a murder, whatever, to me, there is little to no reason why anyone should own a handgun. So many people own them for protection. Maybe I'm naive - I never lived in a world where anyone needed a gun to protect themselves. They say Guns don't kill people, people kill people. I don't buy that. The access to guns in this country is a joke. They can be obtained legally with no problem assuming one passes a background check, but in any city in America, if you want to get a gun illegally, you can. Call me too liberal, but it is what it is. Is there any good reason that semi-automatic weapons are legal? For sporting reasons? Please with that. To me, all handguns and semi-automatic weapons should be banned. Let the hunters stick to rifles, old school style.

Song of the Day: "Why" by Jadakiss

Day 240

A Shocker: Since Andrew was born, I have always started off by giving you an update on him. But this past week, I was knocked a little bit off kilter. My company, Prairie Packaging, is a family owned business. The Shapiro family owns and runs it. Not for long. I was informed via conference call that Pactiv bought Prairie for $1 billion dollars. Pactiv is a giant in the disposables and packaging business. They are a gigantic corporation who owns Hefty, makers of trash bags, foam plates, plastic cups, etc. They are also the kings of the foam hinged carry-out containers that you see everywhere. I had just spent three days on the road and prepared two Power Point presentations for reviews at my two biggest clients. I sat through these meetings discussing the future. Turns out it may have been all for naught. From everything I have heard and read, Pactiv bought us because we have been so successful in an area that they need the most work in - foodservice. That is our bread and butter. Pactiv's CEO has been quoted as saying they have been long attracted to our company and have been trying to buy us for 6-7 years. Now was the best time for them and for the Shapiro's. Our plants are at full capacity and have $600 million in projections for 2007. We are strong with the three biggest foodservice distributors in the country - Sysco, Edward Don, and GFS. I wish my last name was Shapiro. How would you like to cash out for $1 billion? So how does this affect me? I won't know until June 1 at the earliest. I am choosing to think positively. Part of the reason Pactiv was so attracted to us is because they love how our sales force and system works in the market place. My two accounts have numbers that are all growing like gangbusters. I have great relationships in place and hopefully when and if my number is called, the Pactiv team we see my value. The key for me is my boss. If he ends up in a position where he is running an aspect of sales, I will be ok. But again, i think this could be a great thing for me in the long term if I can weather the early storm. I have to give Ags credit on this - he went through a similar situation with his old company. He too worked for a family owned company which was sold to a big corporation. He said I am now an all star for the Milwaukee Brewers and have been traded to the New York Yankees. We will see how I work under the spotlights. Obviously, I will keep you all posted on what happens, but it is probably going to be a few months before I know anything. It has been eerily quiet at work since the announcement.

Out Like Imus...: To nobody's surprise, that old windbag racist Don Imus was fired by CBS Radio after is now infamous "Nappy-headed Ho's" line referring to the Rutgers women's basketball team. Here is my take. What he said was obviously stupid, but he didn't deserve to be fired. He has been saying crap like this for years and getting away with it. Nobody seemed to care before. Where he lost his career was not by the comment, but rather when he went on his bad publicity tour apologizing to anyone who would listen. Had he just taken his two week suspension without saying a word, this would have gone away. Whoever handles his public relations should be fired. Imus went to the "some of my best friends are Black" card during his apology tour and it came off so hollow. How many times do we need to hear about how he helps little black children on his cancer ranch and how he is a champion for sickle-cell anemia? How dumb can one man be to go on the Al Sharpton show to apologize? I knew it was over when a woman called in to yell at Imus and his response was "I can't win with you people." The guy is and has been a racist for years. Several employees at WNBC where both he and Howard Stern used to work have said for years that Imus used to call two black women the "N" word in public. He doesn't even deny that fact, blaming his drug and alcohol abuse. Please. Keith Olbermann has said on his show that everyone at MSNBC and CBS Radio if given a vote, would gladly get rid of him in a heartbeat. He has treated everyone around him like garbage for years. Guess what, the chickens have come home to roost. All I can say is good riddance this fossil. How disturbing is he to look at by the way?

"Sharp" Criticism: Since when did Al Sharpton become the #1 African-American in the country? Any time their is a racial incident in thsi country, everyone runs to Sharpton for his opinion. Why? Ok, the man is definitely down for the cause whenever he is needed, but he sees everything is Black and White, regardless if he is wrong or right. So he was all over the Imus incident, taking up for the Rutgers Women's Basketball team. Where was he defending the Duke Lacrosse players who's lives have been ruined and had all of the charges dropped against them last week in the highly publicized rape case? These kids' lives were ruined by these trumpeted up charges. Do you hear Al Sharpton defending them? Of course not. I'll give Sharpton this, while I know what he is all about - the cameras - he at least steps forward on a national level for the African-American community. But its more self-serving than anything I believe. You want to see a classic - Don't miss this you tube clip. Its Jason Whitlock, a black sports writer for AOL and the Kansas City Star, ripping into Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Great stuff. The best article and quotes I have read are in this Dan LeBatard Miami Herald piece. He interviews legends Jim Brown and Charles Barkley about Sharpton and Jackson:

”I hate it,” Brown said when asked how he felt about Sharpton being a voice for black America. “I really hate it. It is a cheap shot. It is too easy. Look for the headlines. Go where the cameras are. Jump on these basically helpless individuals and don’t put in the real work. We’ve got language by these rappers. We have a gangsta culture. We’ve got athletes on the page of USA Today not doing the right thing. We have a community of kids killing each other. Our schools are going down the drain. Why not try to elevate real situations? We can’t make a living off Imus and chasing ambulances.”

Says Barkley, “People went crazy. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson are like gods. It drives me nuts. That’s why black people are struggling. All our black leaders are jocks or entertainers. We’re not really leaders. We didn’t suffer any hardships or indignities like other black leaders. We’re rich and famous. That doesn’t give you the right to be a black spokesman. Only hardship I went through was having to decide whether to stay at the Four Seasons or the Ritz-Carlton. It is unfortunate and sad that all our great leaders are either passed away or really old. It is a reflection on our community.”

The Enterainer: Friday night Leah and I went out for the first time and leaving Andrew with a baby sitter. Props out to Maddy Friedman, mama Fritzer, for watching him. We went to see Billy Joel at the Q. I've seen him twice before, but we love his music and this was something fun to do to get away for a night. I'd give the concert a B-. He started off and played too many songs from the early 70-'s that nobody knew. Nothing worse to me than a guy who does a self-serving move like that. We are all paying $100 a ticket to see him do his hits, not "Zanzibar" from the 52nd Street Album. He tried a little too hard to entertain though. He should stick to singing. Dude should not be trying to dance. After about 5-6 bad songs, he went on a big run of all of his hits. It was solid. I bet you can;'t guess what his encore was? There were two kids, probably 14 years old, sitting behind us and they were having the best time. They knew every word to all of the hits. It was funny to see that. This was the single most white-bread crowd I've ever seen. When I went to see Paul McCartney a couple of years ago with Mark P, we counted the amount of black people there were in the crowd. I believe we counted 8. Friday night? That would be zero. Overall though it was great to spend a night out and a much needed breather for Leah.

Andrew Update: Nothing really new to report. He is growing like a madman and seems like he is always hungry. The last few nights the sleeping has been a lot tougher - he is getting fussy earlier in the night and it is taking longer to put him down. Its still the best thing going. Nothing better than seeing his face in the morning.

Rental Review: I watched United 93 yesterday morning. It was very well done and a fitting tribute to the passengers and flight attendants who were on that plane and were true heroes. I won't lie - the movie is not for everyone and is tough to take. You know how it is going to end and the buildup to the actual hijacking was unsettling. But the footage on the plane is about 35% of the movie. What is most interesting was the inner-workings of the military and the air-traffic controllers who were watching it all in horror. I would advise seeing it if you can handle re-living 9/11.

Props: Andrew's got a new friend! Last Tuesday, my cousin Susie and husband Billy welcomed their second child, a boy, Griffin Royce Preisler. He was 7 lbs, 11 oz, and 20.5 inches long. He is my grandmother's ninth great-grandchild. I saw some great pics of Griffin being held by his big sister Shayna. They are both adorable. Congrats to the Priesler clan.

Song of the Day: "In the Woods" by De La Soul

Day 239

Andrew and Leah Update: The good news this past week is that (fingers crossed), Leah's bladder problems may be a thing of the past. She went to the doctor on Friday to have her catheter removed and to see if she could go to the bathroom on her own. What they do to test it is fill her with 300 cc's of saline to see if she can pass it 200 or more. She passed 200. They said she needed to do it again before they could make the decision. She did 200 again, so they let her go home catheter-free. This was as happy as Leah has been in a while. Having to walk around with a leg bag and not knowing whether or not her bladder was going to function definitely weighed on her. You have that on top of her regular mother duties of feeding seemingly every two hours and the lack of sleep that comes with it and it can be a lot for anyone to handle. As for Andrew, he had another solid week of sleep. This was our first week nurse-free, so we were hoping for good results. He had a solid end of the week streak of 4 nights sleeping from 10:45-6. Nothing really changed with him this week - he is still the same great kid. My brother and his kids were in town this weekend and there is nothing better than seeing all the kids together. Its so cute. Reese just adores Andrew. She is always wanting to hold him and give him kisses.

In all of my years...: Friday was set to be the Tribe home opener here in Cleveland. MD, Jeremy, and I went down to the Jake for the festivities. The three of us haven't been to a Tribe game together since the mid-90's. Last Tuesday I was in shorts and a t-shirt and it was a record setting high, 80 degrees. Wednesday the temperature dropped 45 degrees. No Joke. Thursday the snow began. It it hasn't stopped since. We were still on schedule to go to the game, despite sub-30's temps and dressing we were going to a December Browns game. Keep in mind it has been snowing for a day and a half straight. We get in at 3:40 for a 4 PM first pitch. We find out the game is delayed an hour. So we walk around for a while, go into the team shop and get stuff for the kids, etc. The game starts at 5. The snow began to get heavier and during the second inning, the players were called off the field for about a 2 minute delay with the Tribe up 1-0. Out they came again and as they came back out, the snow got heavier. Tribe pitcher Paul Byrd threw one pitch and was again yanked off the field by the umpires. So we re-grouped and decided to get a hot chocolate and make our decision on whether to stay or go. As we were doing this, out came the grounds crew with leaf blowers, blowing the snow off the field. A drunken fan ran onto the field and made a snow angel; the crowd went wild. After another 20 or so minute delay, the players came back onto the field and we headed back to the seats. The Tribe led 4-0 going into the top of the fifth, needing three outs for the game to become official. The heavy stuff then really started. Byrd walked the bases loaded with one out. Then a line drive way caught by SS Jhonny Peralta for the second out. Needing just one out, Byrd was ahead of Mariners 2B Jose Lopez 1-2. Lopez pointed to his eyes and then Mariners manager and ex-Tribe skipper Mike Hargrove came running out of the dugout in protest, claiming it wasn't fair to his players, they couldn't see the ball to hit it. Tribe manager Eric Wedge came firing out of the dugout to yell at Hargrove. Meanwhile, a blizzard had broken out. Needing just one strike for a win, the umps once again ordered the players off the field. They waited an hour and 17 minutes before cancelling the game. I've been to roughly 1,000 sporting events in my day, and by far this was the single strangest.

The snow literally has not stopped since. They tried for a doubleheader yesterday to no avail. They tried again, no luck. So they will try again tomorrow for two games. What is so stupid in all of this is the fact that the Mariners are here once all year for four games. The Indians play once in Seattle in September. They play in a retractable dome stadium. Why would they start here where the weather is so bad? More scheduling that doesn't make sense - Florida started on the road in Washington. Arizona started on the road in Colorado. Tampa Bay started on the road in New York. Genius scheduling. The weather is supposed to be bad again this week, and the LA Angels come to town for their sole visit to the Jake. More brilliance by the MLB schedule makers.

A D.C. FYI: A few week ago, our friend Jamie Ratner was walking in a popular trail, Capital Crescent. Out of nowhere, she was struck from behind by a guy on a bike and blacked out. She woke up with blood gushing out of her head and a crowd of people surrounding her. She is also pregnant. As it turns out, the guy stood there for a little while, then left with nobody getting his information. What if she had lost the baby or suffered permanent damage? Nobody thought to call the police or get this guy's contact information? Meanwhile, two separate people wrote in to the Washington Post about the incident and Jamie was contacted, causing her to respond. its a pretty interesting story. To read the Post story, click here. Anyone who has lived in a big city and rode a bike/rollerblades/run outside can relate. Again, the good news is that Jamie and the baby are ok and she and her husband Brian are expecting a boy in early September.

Sunday Night TV Review: Last night was the season premiere's for two of my favorite shows, The Sopranos and Entourage. I thought Sopranos was solid, started a little slow but (IF YOU DIDN'T SEE IT YET, STOP READING HERE) things really picked up when Bobby Baccala buried Tony in the face that started an epic brawl between the two. Things haven't really up yet, other than the potential RICO case building on Tony. Was it just me, or did Carmella look real attractive in a bathing suit? My other favorite was AJ's girlfriend's kid who looked like he was 6 with a pacifier in his mouth. The show has only eight episode and will go down in TV history as one of the all time greats. Truly a groundbreaking piece of TV. Entourage I give a B-. Not one of the better episodes I've seen, but there is still no better character on TV right now than Johnny Drama. How good was it when he was making Turtle take pictures of him in front of the billboard for his new pilot TV series to see if anyone would notice him?

The Week: We have reviews at my two largest accounts this week. This morning I'm off to Grand Rapids, back tomorrow. I go to Chicago Wednesday for meetings all day, but on my way I am stopping in to meet little Ella Schneider. I also have reservations with my boss and clients at Joe's Stone Crab. Solid. I cannot wait. I am back Thursday morning and hopefully will be going to Tribe/Angels Thursday at noon, weather permitting.

Song of the Day: "War" by Nas

Day 238

Here is your Andrew update: Another week and more growth for the little guy. We took Andrew to the doctor last week and were delighted to hear that doing great. He is up to 9 lbs 20 ounces and grew an inch in length. The doctor told us to keep doing what we are doing. Andrew seems to be on a mini-schedule right now. He has a bottle goes down anywhere between 9:30-10:30, sleeps until 2:30-3, gets changed and has another bottle, then goes back to sleep again until 7:00-8:00. It definitely could be worse. We have been lucky so far. Without the nurse, Leah is doing most of the week night 3 AM feedings, I do the weekends and this week I told her I would switch off on the late night shift since I am not travelling. Saturday afternoon we took Andrew on his first foray that didn't involve the doctor's office. We went to the mall, had lunch, and walked around. Leah asked me which day I'd rather go, Saturday or Sunday. My response was simple "Saturday - Chik-Fil-A is closed on Sunday's." It turned out to be great. We got out of the house for a couple of hours, I buried a Chik, no pick, nuggets, and waffle fries, and Andrew slept the whole time. (On a side note - props out the new food court for building spacious, door to the floor stalls in the bathrooms.) Sunday we took him over to my Grandmother's for lunch. Again, he was relatively quiet and it was nice to get out. After a month of pretty much staying in, Leah and i finally were able to go out for our first meal alone since Andrew was born. My mom watched Andrew. It was a quick meal at Taza on a Tuesday night, but it was so nice to get out for a quiet meal. I so took that for granted before Andrew was born. We've got some more outings planned in the upcoming weeks that I am very much looking forward to, including Tribe games aplenty and seeing Billy Joel in concert at the Q.

Work Travel is definitely not the whup: I said a few posts ago that I missed work travel, and while that was true and I am back to the schedule, Friday's trip was weak. This is why people who think business travel is glorious sometimes need to re-think that statement. I had a two hour sales meeting in Cedar Rapids, Iowa at 12:30 CST. To get there from here is not easy. i flew on a 7AM flight to Cincinnati on Delta. If you've never been to the Cincinnati airport, its about the dumbest setup of all time. I landed in one concourse and had to take a shuttle bus literally through the middle of the run-ways to another concourse. There you sit in what can only be described as a train station terminal. Everyone is headed into one area where every 5 seconds they announce another flight is boarding, you then line up and walk down some strange corridor where there are probably 20 entrances to planes. It was odd. So I then fly to Cedar Rapids, get in my car, grab a quick bite to eat at some dive, then go to my sales meeting. Its over by 2. I drive back to the Cedar Rapids airport and the cycle repeats itself in reverse. I didn't get home until 9:30 Friday night. Sounds like fun huh?

"Pass" me the Haroset: Happy Passover to you all by the way. Passover is my favorite Jewish holiday. It has nothing to do with the religious aspects and everything to do with the food. I love me some haroset and bitter herbs. Nothing better. I want to know why haroset is not an all year long kind of food. Am I right? That is so tasty stuff. Nothing wrong with a little bitter herbs on matza as well. My dad was the king of the bitter herbs. The spicier the better for him. He used to love loading up. When we lived in Chicago, we would go up to the burbs to our "Chicago Family" the Rosenstein's for Seder. They took such good care of us. Their seder was relatively short, which is right up my alley. Tonight we are going to my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Keith's. Rumors are swirling of a long Seder, an hour or so. Hey, that's all good for others, just not my cup of tea, but we must play the cards we are dealt. Lets see if Andrew stays quiet during that time frame as well. I'm giving it 50/50 tops. Leah did make some chocolate covered matza that I am also looking forward to getting my hands on. For the story on what used to be the Dery family Seder featuring "The Wrestling Rabbi," click here.

Best Day of the Year: There is no better day to me than opening day. Today is day one of the major league baseball season. Every team starts with renewed optimism that this is their year. I equate opening day with so many great memories of my father. He was as big of a baseball fan as there was. It was no surprise to catch him in his robe and slippers past midnight on a Tuesday watching the Dodgers and Giants on the west coast. We went to so many opening days together. From when I was in college until last year, we went together every year. Two seasons ago was the first opening day without him. My mom, MD, and I went together and put my dad's Indians hat in the aisle seat where he belonged. We of course lost that game, proving once again that there is no good karma surrounding Cleveland luck. 94 opening day, the first game at the Jake was perhaps the best opening day I've been to. The Tribe was no-hit by Randy Johnson through into the 7th inning before rallying and winning it in extra innings on a Wayne Kirby RBI single. Another classic opening day was in 2000 when I flew in "for the game," as Leah thought. Actually, on my way to the game, I picked out Leah's engagement ring. Friday is the Cleveland opener. MD, Jeremy, and i will be trekking down to the Jake. I cannot wait. Of course, its been 65-70 degrees here for the last week and Friday is supposed to be a high of 33 with potential snow. Today, the Indians start their quest for the postseason in Chicago, where they have the last three years. We haven't won on opening day in four years. Ive got a good feeling about this year's team. I don't want to be a total homer, but I love our young talent, we've got a rock solid rotation headed by C.C. Sabathia. Either Travis Hafner or Grady Sizemore could be MVP this year. It all is going to come down to our revamped bullpen, which was completely overhauled after it was the worst in baseball last season. My predictions: I enter April with a lot of optimism, but it is tempered. I see big years from C.C. Sabathia, Jake Westbrook, and a breakout season from Jeremy Sowers. The rotation's strength will keep this team in contention through September. Trot Nixon will be a bench player by July - he may be finished. Andy Marte will flame and Casey Blake will be at third by June 1, giving Ryan Garko the first base job he rightfully deserves. Joe Borowski does one stint on the DL. The problem is the strength of the AL Central. All of that will add up to a 90-72 record, and a second place finish to the Detroit Tigers.

It Should Be Us: Of course I am bitter, but tonight is also the national championship game in College Basketball and my Kansas Jayhawks are not playing. Ohio State and Florida are meeting again in what is a rematch of the college football national championship game. It would be nice to be a fan of those teams. How about Florida? They are going for the unprecedented feat of winning back to back to titles with a football title sandwiched in between. That is sick. When watching the final four Saturday night, all I could think of was how my team is jinxed. UCLA's Arron Afflalo and Darrin Collison couldn't miss against us, yet against Florida, they went 5-14 and 3-14 respectively and Affalo's last three FG's came with under a minute to go in garbage time. I've got to get over the bitterness, we lost 9 days ago. I think Florida wins with ease tonight.

EDIT: As I typed this, the Tribe has jumped out with 9 runs in the first two innings to take a 9-2 lead on the White Sox. LOVE IT!!!!!

Happy B-day: Shout outs to Allison Kaufman, Todd "Fritzer" Friedman, and old school friend Elissa Levine on their B-days this week.

Song of the Day: "Can U Hear Me Now" by Erick Sermon