Sunday, August 30, 2009

What is new

Everyone that reads this also reads my facebook, so I am not going to report the same pictures unless someone wants me to, but we just got back from vacation a week ago. Jumped right back into stress.

Z has 3 teeth now, she had been sporting the 2 bottom ones for a while now there is a new top tooth poking through. she is amazingly strong, as the wife says BamBam strong. she can stand from just about any position, and when she gets ahold of you she can inflict damage.

A has been pretty status qou, the potty training has up days and down days. Alot of people tell me that one day she will decide that is what she wants to do all the time. I just want to know when that day will come.

The wife applied for a job the other day. I didn't ask or push the issue she just came to me and told me to mail out a resume for her. Haven't heard anything yet, but who knows. She is gonna be picky over what she applies for. If she is going to go back I would like it to be for something she enjoys, that fits onto our schedule.

FOr all of you facebook addicts out there check out this video, I think you will enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd132ixBO_g

Friday, July 31, 2009

Continuing the fight

One of the best things about writing your own blog is that after you publish you can continue to rant about. When you have an argument with someone, if you don't get out one of your points then you usually don't get to say them. Here I can just keep on bitching about this stuff, luckily this is my last post on the matter.

In my post yesterday, "I hate the Pirates!", I mentioned that The Nutting Family owns the Pirates and most of the Newspapers in the Tristate area. It just bothers me that they run the two business' the same way. Salary should be kept as close to the minimum as possible. Do not bring in talented established people at a good wage. Hire inexperienced people at a low wage, if they have real talent for the job do not reward them, make them look elsewhere for more lucrative wages, and publicly chastise them for it. After all we are the only game in town, people will purchase our product because we have the market cornered. Sling the product out there no matter what shape it is in, as long we get our advertising dollar.

I also get tired of hearing that Pittsburgh is a small sports market. It is hard to pay people in this market. I realize we do not have a George Steinbrener, but if you have a winning team you will sell a lot more seats, shirts, and other merch. Take a look around the Tristate area, how many Penguin shirts and hats do you see, seems like they are everywhere. That is because the Pens, and the Steelers were able to win a championship even though we are in such a small market that it makes it hard to compete.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

I hate the Pirates!

It would be better to say I hate The Nutting Family that owns the Pirates. These people also own just about every newspaper in the Tristate area.

The reason I am so mad is that they keep GIVING away players. They have been making trades sending our best players packing, and receiving prospects in return. If they were building a team out of these prospects it would be different but this has been going on for several years now. A tidbit I found out just the other day that I find even more troubling is the business aspect of this, I am not 100% clear on how this works but if a team trades away a big name player, for unknown "prospects" the team receiving the big name player pays the team they acquired the player from his salary back for the year. Basically they are getting paid, and paid well to get rid of their better players.


Nate Mclouth

Batting Average .259
RBI's 52
Home Runs 15
Stolen Bases 15




Nate is now an Atlanta Brave


Adam LaRoche
AVG .251
Home Runs 13
RBI's 43
Stolen Bases 2





Adam is now playing for the Boston Red Sox.


Jason Bay

Batting Avg. .254
Home Runs 20
RBI's 74
Stolen Bases 11




Jason Bay is now Playing for the Boston Red Sox, and signed a very nice multi-year deal.






Jack Wilson
Avg .267
Home Runs 4
RBI's 30
Stolen Bases 2


Not the most impressive numbers, but he is a top notch Shortstop, also a big in the community.











Jack Wilson is now a Seattle Mariner






Nyjer Morgan
AVG .304
Home Runs 3
RBI's 34
Stolen Bases 31










Nyjer is now a Washington National.




In a deal that was done today, With Seattle. The Pirates shipped out Jack Wilson and an unproductive pitcher Ian Snell. In return we received;





Ronny Cedeno
AVG .167
Home Runs 5
RBI 17
Stolen Bases 3

And 3 more Minor League Prospect pitchers.





When Nate Mclouth was given away, we received,


Andrew McCutchen, a very strong outfielder with poor offensive numbers


AVG .281
Home Runs 3
RBI's 25
Stolen Bases 9


I missed the 11PM news, and while I was researching for this piece, I found out the Freddy Sanchez has been Traded as well. Lets see what we got for Freddy, who was the National League Batting Champ 2 years ago. Holy Crap, I am so surprised Tim Alderson does not have any Major League Stats, because he is another stinking prospect.





Now one last thing to bring to your attention. All the offensive stat leaders for Pittsburgh for the year have all been traded. Now that right there is how you provide the hometown with over a decade and a half of sub 500 baseball.





Who needs a winning season, We have Prospects!

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Marbles on the move









Recently the Marbles went to see Grandma,
(a piece of her artwork is in the window behind her)




















and Grandpa in New York.















Z was excited,




















especially because Grandma has such cool stuff.











A liked making new friends,





































There was a playground,








































There was even Tricycles that A could borrow,





















Z loved the playground,





















Z warmed up to the playground after a bit.































And then there was ice cream,





















Who said ice cream is not finger food,





















I scream, you scream, even Z screams for ice cream

















After Z put on a crawling display, we had to head home.
















A wonderful time was had by all The Wife and I escaped with Grandpa as D.D. went wine tasting and purchasing. The few days we had flew by so fast, and we are hoping to return soon, I am sure grandma, and Grandpa wouldn't mind.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Get out while you still can!

Today was a particularly scary day. The family had to attend the doctors office regarding A, and her lead level. Six short months ago we got word that her lead level was in the high end of normal. Living in a big old house(120+ years old) on the nicest street in town does have unseen disadvantages.

To start the day off Grandma M, wasn't feeling well and ended up taking a trip to the hospital, with a short stay to follow, best wishes and God Bless. Then off to the Doctor's. Our doctor is younger guy really good down to earth doctor the kinda person you go looking for when you need a doctor. He said A's lead level was 14, normal limits are 5-9.

So here are the new regulations for the kids in the marble house; no barefeet in the grass, no rolling in the grass, only shoes outside because the years of lead paint have contaminated the soil making it toxic, no more tap water, old pipes have lead solder joints, every surface has to be covered with fresh new paint. So there will be alot of painting and distilled water drinking(yuck).

The last little thing he threw out there was, if you can sell the house and move to one built post1971.

Large house in the park
3 bedrooms
2 full bathrooms
2 car garage
hot water heat
hard wood floors
10 large rooms
Cheap!!!!!!
Just don't breath or touch ANYTHING!

Doctor said if we follow these changes her lead level should come down to a acceptable limit, and she is not suffering any side effects at this point in time.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

A fisherman is born!

After dragging BB from the arms of MelanieWelanie, We headed off to Highlandtown Lake. Highlandtown Lake is where MW, and myself spent quite a bit of our time growing up. Grandparents would scoop us up take us fishing for the evening and top the night off, a trip to the Valley Drive In. The Drive In, has the best Ice Cream in the area. There was no such thing as alcohol based hand sanitizer, nor was there a place to wash your hands between the lake and the drive in. How did we ever survive, HAHA!

This day was a memory in reverse. Sportsman for years have been running an ad campaign for years "Take A Kid Fishing". It was a great time, I believe BB had a good time as well. There is nothing like a stringer of fish to make your day.

At the end of our fishing trip, I did skip the tradition of the Valley Drive In. I do have good reason though, the wife and kids weren't with me. Maybe we will all just meet up out there one night for ice cream.





























































FYI: No fish were harmed on this outing, catch and release fishing method was utilized.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Tribute to Tiffany

I had planned to honor both of the Moms this mothers day, but I think I will save that for another day. I wanted to write about another mother today, my friend Tiffany.

Tiffany is the mother of two boys and one girl, none older than ten years of age. I met Tiffany years ago in high school. She was one of those people you can't say anything bad about. Always pleasant, and always ready to talk. Whenever I would see her it would lead to at least a half an hour BS session. We would talk about her kids, my kids, our spouses, and any other issue that would arise. We always had a lot to talk about because we, lived less than a block away, and as her husband John said if it wasn't for me they would not be together. You see they met at my house all the way back in 1994. I had a little part in the matchmaking I like to believe. They had been together ever since. They had a nice family going. John's father recently started suffering from Alzheimer's, Tiffany was one of the main caregivers for him. She was just that kind of a person.

On Tuesday May 5th, Tiffany went to be with the Lord.

This was a horrible thing to witness the tragedy, of this unfold on the family. Her 2 boys knew something was wrong and were starting to figure it out on there own with the sitter, and there sister not being able to comprehend this because the mind of 2 year old is a beautiful thing, there is no death and everyday you and everyone around you is supposed to be happy. There father dealing with questions from the police chief as the coroner performs an investigation of the strange death of his wife. The lines of family that came to offer support and all the horrible eaves droppers that come from all over just to see if they can see anything.

On Saturday we all got to say goodbye one last time. As I stood by her side and said one last prayer, I remembered the Mother who lost a daughter, the sister who lost her sister, the sons who lost their mother, the husband that lost his wife, and the daughter who wont even remember her mother. I pray that the good lord affords them the comfort and guidance that there mother provided to them.

God Bless you Tiffany, You will be missed greatly.