Hooray For Saturday!

Crazy Around Here

Between swimming lessons and gymnastics with the children and me getting ready to put on a disc golf tournament this weekend, it's been crazy around here.

Doodlebug started a class called "Rollers" at the YMCA yesterday.  It's a riot to watch.  She was so nervous as the class was beginning, she was shaking with her hands in her mouth.  A few moments later, as she was going through a multitude of gymnastic moves, she came running over to the bleachers where we were sitting and watching.

I looked at her and asked, "What are you doing over here, the class is that way."  She said, "I know, I know...I just have to tell you something."  She then leaned over and whispered in my ear, "Dad, this is really fun!", then she ran back to her place in line to go through what looked like a kid size version of an "American Gladiators" obstacle course.

Our kids are getting huge, excuse my absence as I watch them grow a bit.  I'll be around a little more after this holiday weekend and I don't have to work on my stuff.

Be A Hero To A Gyro

There is a locally owned restaurant here in Florence, KY called Florence Y'all Gyros & Wings.  If you click the link for Florence, KY you will get a clue as to how the establishment came up with it's name.

I like the place for numerous reasons, the biggest being because it's locally owned and the guy that owns it is really nice.  He is a true entrepreneur that is always striving to make his establishment better.  He is always there and works his backside off to serve up good food ata good price in a land where his cut throat competition is every chain restaurant you can think of, be it Crapplebee's, Tooters, & Olive Yards.  This place is covered with chain, cookie cutter restaurants, so any place we find that is locally owned we do our best to support them.

The owner of Florence Y'all Gyros & Wings is also a sponsor of the three annual disc golf tournaments a couple of us direct, out at Idlewild Disc Golf Course, and he is always willing to lend a hand anyway he can.

Recently, our friend and his restaurant were nominated by the local ABC television affiliate as one of the best Gyros in the Cincinnati region.  So, if you have the time and you would like to take my word for it that his gyros are very delicious, please go to this article, click on the link to submit your vote, and drop an email voting for Florence Y'all Gyros & Wings as the best gyro in the region before June 26th. 

Trust me, you will be helping a good guy get a bit of well deserved, free advertising to help better his business.

Me And My Wine

I will be attending a fund-raiser event on Friday night that happens to be a wine tasting and competition.

Here's the catch, I'm not a wine drinker.  Sure, I used to throw back a swig of Ripple back in the younger years, trying to look cool, but I never acquired a taste for any sort of wine in my adult years.  I'm a bourbon guy, if and when I ever have an alcoholic beverage. 

The event is happening like this:

• Form a team of one to three people and choose three bottles of the same wine to bring to the event.
• Each team will submit two of their bottles to be bagged, numbered, then put out for tasting.  The third bottle will be held aside.
• All attendees can taste and rate the wine on some sort of scale.
• The team that brought the winning wine, will take home all the third bottles set aside.  The loser gets to have their third bottle back to go drown their sorrows in.

So my question to you, Internet.  What is a good wine, that I can go get three bottles of, that won't break the bank?  I know about Two Buck Chuck, so maybe something different.

You may be thinking to yourself, Why are you asking this?  You just said you are not a wine drinker.  What do you need a shot at winning wine for?  Gifts!  I can use those bottles to take to my father-out-law when we travel up to see him.  If we ever get invited to dinner where a bottle of wine might be appropriate to bring, presto!  Free wine.

I thank you for any recommendations submited by y'all.  Who knows, you might turn another wine lover on to your favorite.

R.I.P. Tim Russert

Love or hate him.  Love or hate the politicians he covered as NBC's Washington Bureau Chief and moderator of "Meet The Press".  There was always something fun about tuning in and watching Tim Russert grill the person across the table from him, like a burger over an open fire.

He brought so much research data and so many quotes to the table, that I don't see how anyone could stand to sit across from him if they had something to spin or hide.

I will totally miss spending some quiet time on Sunday mornings with Mr. Tim Russert and I can't even imagine going through this historic presidential election without his coverage, insight and dry erase board.

Let The Sun Shine In

Ugh!  I hate this time of year, sunscreen season.

Unfortunately our children are like me, very fair skinned and burn with just the thought of UV rays hitting their lily white epidermis.

I always forget that it takes time to rub down these two kids with sunscreen, so now we are always late for stuff.  Too bad they don't make sunscreen in a big barrel that you could just dip the kids into, kind of like dipping a dog for fleas.

Civic Saturday

So the wife and I have the entire weekend to ourselves, no children.  Sounds romantic, right?

The wife tried to have a nice relaxing evening Friday, while I took our children to her parent's house in Indianapolis.  She got off work and went straight to a buy a car she's been wanting for a while now.  It just so happens that almost everyone else in America is looking for the same car, so it didn't work out for her.  To soothe the pain of another day without a new vehicle, she grabbed a nice meal and shopped a little, to stimulate the economy.

Saturday we drove to Lexington, Kentucky where we took part in the 2008 Kentucky Democratic Party State Convention.  My wife could have stayed home to watch a box of hammers and had about the same amount of fun.  I, on the other hand, had a interesting time people watching and I was almost elected to the state committee, completely out of the blue.  I wasn't that disappointed for not getting elected, I was honored that a member of the county committee, I was elected to a couple of months ago, nominated me.  I've only been in Kentucky two years and it's very old school, it almost seems like there is an unwritten code of who is getting in, when.  I'm not so sure how having a new to Kentucky stay at home dad, that was called "passionate and civic minded", elected to a position that is usually for local lawyers and elected townies would have gone over anyway.  Again, I was honored to be recognized.  I've got some strong opinions about Kentucky, and even the nation as a whole, right now that I'm not so sure how to convey, but it helped in talking about them with a few like minded people today.

So, for the most part I enjoyed the convention.  I found it interesting and I did feel a good sense of civic pride for taking part.  Oh, and speaking of civic, the wife worked the phones during intermissions at the convention and she will be picking up her new Honda Civic tomorrow.  Nice!

We also took part in a great meal Saturday night in Lexington.  We were laughing because it's the slowest we have eaten in four years.  It was relaxing, we busted up the bill and I ate the biggest piece of cow I've had in years.  Delicious.

Our Pal Bert

Makes you kind of want to do The Pigeon, no?

Loser

Hillary Clinton is like school in the summertime, no class.

Mac Attack

I'm sitting here watching Senator John McCain speak to the people of Kenner, Louisiana.

I applaud his ripping into the current administration's response to hurricane Katrina, pointing out every mistake they made.

However, listening and watching this address is like watching one of those half hour paid programs that is advertising something.  The crowd seems to be sitting there waiting for cues to cheer as McCain is not doing that great a job reading the teleprompter.  After every point he tries to make against Obama, he says, "That's not change we can believe in." with a grandfather grin, as if he just told you a dirty joke.  After about the sixth time, the crowd isn't even responding.

I hope Senator McCain gets better at reading the prompter.

MSNBC, just broke in to his speech and declared Barack Obama the presumptive democratic nominee for president of the United States.  I'm thrilled!  It's crazy to think that just months ago I never thought I would see, in my lifetime, a non-white or female presidential nominee, that has changed and again, I'm thrilled.

Good Grief

Anybody that knows me or reads this is aware that my daytime soundtrack, while in the kitchen, is my local National Public Radio station.

Today as I was cleaning up after lunch, Doodlebug screams out to me "Dad! Did you hear that?  Hannah Montana is voting today!"

Yep, I heard it.  We have never even seen that show, what's up?  She learned of it from preschool.  Isn't that show aimed at gals that are about 15 years old?