I could have used another more colorful metaphor to describe the announcing prowess of one of my oh, soooooo favorite commentators,  Joe Buck for FOX Sports is so one-sided, anti-Yankees that it is downright disgusting.  No where was this more true than in the bottom of the 10th inning of the still going on Game 2 of the ALCS.  What was a seemingly easy double play turned into an advanced runner to second and an out at first.  Funny that as the Angels had back-to-back picture perfect double plays.  And we go to inning 12 at 12:17AM after A-Rod ties the game at 3 all..

Ok… back to the failed double play.  The defensive player at second NEVER HAD HIS FOOT ON THE BASE.  What was worse is that he straddled to so blatantly… nowhere close. but yet he was shocked and Mike Scioscia, himself came out to argue the call.  So Mr. Buck argued that it was a gimme, neighborhood ball.  After the inning was complete and the game progressed, ol’ Joe made what for me was the closest he has ever come to a retraction.  Apparently, in the two other perfect double plays, the player indeed had his foot on the bag.

I have at times pushed the mute to silence the golden tones of the fine and talented broadcaster.  Really need to look into other means to listen to the games.

Now, we have the fifth pitcher for the Yanks coming up.  Apart from the announcing, it has been a dandy of a game.  The rain is starting to pick up so they better wrap it up soon.

4-3 in 13 innings.  The Yankees win!!!!!  ThAAAAAAAAAAAAA Yankees WIN!!!!  Off to the West!  Good night!

I will be in the company of two very lovely ladies this evening while I am entertained by the wonderful actors of the Williams County Community theater.

It was a wonderful evening that started with dinner at the local Mexican restaurant.  There was a time I could not say that in Williams County since there was more than one Mexican restaurant.  Now we just have one restaurant and a Taco Bell (which is not a Mexican Restaurant). Good food, good company, what more could you ask for.

Well, we went on to the theater and saw a wonderful show, that is what we could have asked for.  The Ohio part of my family was completed when my oldest daughter made it to the theater.

The show was “The Little Shop of Horrors”.  It should be known, that I loved the 1960 black and white movie.  I was not a fan of the 1986 musical version.  The play is what the 1986 movie is based on.  I was only looking to be impressed by the many people working on the show.  I did not think the show would impress me.  Happily, I was mistaken.  The show itself brought back many memories of the original 1960 show.  Of course, I still wonder why they had to add music, but that is me. 😉

The story was the one I remembered.  Mysterious, blood thirsty plant makes a small rundown flower shop a place to stop.  For me the sign of a good musical is that the music does not interfere with the story.   The three street urchins were a treat to watch and listen to.  If the rest of the show had been pedestrian, these three would have made the show.  They were that fun.  The actor playing Mister Mushnik was also very good in his role.   He had the worried shop keeper down to a ‘T’.   The actors playing Audrey and Seymour had very good chemistry and their acting and singing voices meshed well.  They were interesting and fun to watch.

Now on to Audrey II.  The voice and acting of the monstrous plant were two separate actors.  From what I saw, they must have put a lot of work into their performances.  Matching ‘mouth’ and plant movements to the words coming from offstage must have been a difficult timing situation.  I saw this performance two times this weekend, and I was impressed both times.  Again a plus to the show.

Now those who know the show and have seen it on stage before may have noticed I missed a character or two (5+???) .  One final actor played the remaining roles.   I was very impressed.  Many different characters from one actor.  He made each and every character different from the others.  Even though everyone in the audience could tell that this was the same actor, he impressed me with the talent he displayed on each character.  That and being able to sing while pretending to be under the influence of laughing gas… Wow!!

I wish I would have been able to see this show the first weekend.  I would have loved to give my opinion to others who were still wondering if they should see it.  From what I could tell, it almost sold out the last weekend.  A good turnout for a wonderful show.

tonight after watching the Bombers take game one in the ALCS thanks in no small part to C.C. Sabathia’s excellent pitching plus some errors in the field by the Angels, I watched my latest DVD rental.  I have never seen a Sam Raimi  directed effort apart from the blockbuster Spider-Man films.  Apparently, he was well regarded as a low-budget horror maker and made his return to the genre last year in the aptly titled, Drag Me to Hell. This decidedly B-movie was equal parts fright, gore, and humor (mainly from some of the ridiculous situations, but I think this was the intent… not taking itself too seriously).

The film follows a bank loan employee who is a possible candidate for a promotion to assistant manager.  Christine is approached by an elderly gypsy woman (complete with a creepy glass eye) who is in need of an extension on her delinquent mortgage payment.  When the request is denied, the old beggar woman takes it quite personally and places an evil spirit upon our heroine and (you guessed it) strange, horrific things begin to happen that only Christine is witness to.

Christine’s boyfriend, Clay, is skeptical to say the least.  However, he does accompany her to a psychic who knows how to rid the woman of her problem before she is literally… well… you know dragged to hell.  Goofy, yes but is there a b-grade horror film that isn’t?  Plus, you get to see the wide acting ability of Justin Long who you may remember  from the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks…. so maybe not so much since he was the voice of Alvin.

I have a friend… At least for now. As a way to keep up with some of my daughters, I finally opened a facebook account. I opened this because someone else invited me. My oldest does not have a facebook account, so this won’t help with her, but I’m only going to open one social networking account. And since a number of people I know from work are on Facebook, it just makes more sense, if it makes any sense at all.

Really, I don’t know that I will put much up on Facebook. It links to my blog, and that is where my words flow.

Do I need to add more Friends?

On the way home from Ft Wayne this evening, I stopped at a place for a hot dog. I ordered a Chicago Style dog, not knowing exactly what I would get, but I was in the mood for something different. It was an OK hot dog, I think. It was covered with so much stuff, I was pushed to even taste the hot dog.

Ok, you Chicagoans (is that correct?), what is it with the BRIGHT GREEN sweet relish? Is this normal? I was curious as to what exactly was in that, but it tasted like a sweet pickle relish, so I just ignored the color. Anyway, I’m not sure how close this was to an authentic Chicago Dog, so here is what was on it. Diced onion, bright green relish, a kosher dill wedge, tomato wedges, mustard, hot dog, poppy seed roll and some celery salt (I think?? that is what it tasted like). Anyway I think the dog was a beef hot dog, but like I said, it was smothered.

The root beer at Dogs and Suds is really good. The medium size is served in an ice cold mug (just the way I like it). It was a less sweet, more bite root beer. Sort of like Barq’s and it may have been draft.

Good place to eat, just north of I-69 in Fort Wayne exit 111.

Well, Halloween is just around the corner, and I have yet to pick out a costume.  Err, costumes… um, for the kids, of course…  Ok, I’m caught – I dress up for Halloween.  However, I don’t go all out.  I take pride in wearing cool costumes that I can obtain on a shoestring budget.  For example, I’ve wanted to  reprise my Kindergarten Halloween costume for years (“Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz”), but I have yet to find the dress for free in my size (I’m not about to spend money on my own Halloween costume when I have 4 kids I’d rather see dressed however crazily they wish).  I’m not too worried about my costume though; I always have a back-up Halloween costume plan.  I have a witch’s hat, complete with orange hair.  And I can wear almost anything clothes-wise, which will ensure that I’m warm and comfortable, no matter what the Halloween weather up here in Bufu Ohio.  Being a witch also means that my kids can do my makeup, however madly they would like to do it – all the more fun to add to one of my favorite holidays.  So, my Halloween bases are covered…  now I just have 4 little kids to deck out…

My oldest (going on 10) wants to be a ‘bloody prom girl’ (her words).  I say, go for it.  It may not be the most innocent of costumes, but it could certainly be worse (have you seen  Mean Girls?  Remember the quote that begins, “Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress…”  This is not the type of blog where I would want to continue the quote, but let’s just say that I both celebrate and am thankful for my daughter’s kid-inspired creativity.

Our second-born, who is 5, wants to be a princess.  Being a family with 3 little girls who love to play dress-up, that should be a cinch.  We have a couple of tiaras to choose from, as well as princess dresses.  The key will be to find one that she will agree to wear over her other clothes so she doesn’t freeze!

And our youngest daughter, who will be newly 3 by the time Trick-or-Treat rolls around, wants to be “Dora, and Boots, and Diego, and the Marshmallow Monkey.”  I don’t think she remembers what it’s like to dress-up for Halloween – I don’t have the heart to tell her that she can only be one character.  For now, we have a  Dora costume ready and waiting, and we also have a back-up princess dress in case she decides she wants to be like her sisters.

The little dude will wear whichever costume I can find in the basement that is in his size – I’m thinking it’s a lion.  I  know I also have a size 18-months Minnie Mouse costume, but I am not going to dress my little man as a female character – poor guy has 3 older sisters and is already concernedly obsessed with headbands and necklaces.  But that’s another blog altogether…

Happy Halloween!

Since early this summer, the powers that be have been building an extension on the street where I work. The paving appeared to have been finished late last week. I thought that the road would be open early this week at this week. I’m looking forward to it, since it will cut off 2 miles from my daily trip to work. On top of that it will be one less light. I’m still waiting.

It could be that they are waiting to paint the lines on the road. This would be easier to do on a closed road. I can understand that. This week has not been the best for paint. Cool/cold and rainy most of the week. Maybe next week. I know it won’t be tomorrow, the road crews don’t seem to work on Fridays.

unless you have seen WCCT’s extremely fun-filled production of Little Shop… Little Shop of Horrors.  Megan and I checked it out tonight since I figured a Thursday night showing would need more help filling the seats than a Friday night.  I must say that it was very well done.  The set took you to Skid Row, U.S.A. full of bumbs and trash laden streets.  Someone mentioned that the first weekend shows were a bit loud in the musicians area, but I did not notice it.  The man with the fingers and the gal with the sticks must have toned down a bit?

The entire cast was great, but I will pick on a few remarkable standout performances.  I have to say that Travis is Seymour.  He had the bumbling, nerdy, inept orphan turned flower shop attendant down to an art.  So many great scenes that it would take an entire post to detail it all.  SUPERB PERFORMANCE, my friend!  I can’t wait to work with you again.  If it were in my power, you would be the Willie Award winner!

I must say that I was extremely taken aback by Shelley’s performance of Audrey.  She usually has this great, big, powerful voice that truly commands the stage.  This time, she backed off the power to give a touching, sincere persona to the meek, “semi-sadist” dating character.

Finally, the trio of Mary, Amber, and PEGGY! They very nearly stole the show and for good reason… they were incredible.  I’m running a bit long here, so I will comment on the young lady whom I have known since the 5th grade on her stage debut.  I couldn’t be prouder!  Where were you !& years ago in high school?!  For her first time on stage, Peggy had to deal with some truly powerhouse stage veterans but she held her own brilliantly.  I was asked to tell her if I could hear her.  Going against my trained experience, I tried to hone in on her voice during the trio numbers and yes, I could hear you.  More importantly, the mixing of the three voices was great!  The attitude was dead on.  During the scene changes, the three divas kept things lively by ad libbing which brought some chuckles from the audience.

So.. if you are in the area this weekend, take a few hours down on Skid Row.  You will be in for a treat!

Autumn brings about a whole new breed of fun family things to do: pumpkin farms, hay rides, apple picking, playing in the leaves, corn mazes, haunted houses…  the list goes on and on.  A few weeks ago, during a visit to a local farm which boasts such fun fall activities as a corn maze, petting zoo, hay ride, and haunted corn maze amongst other things, my kids had a blast with the zip line.  It’s all fun and games, as they say, until someone gets hurt…

And while no one was seriously injured during the filming of the following video, my 2-year-old daughter has decided that the zip line is no longer for her.  When you watch the following video, you’ll see why.  Her 5-year-old sister goes first and has a blast, but poor little Disney didn’t fare so well.  Don’t worry if your instinct is to chuckle – she wasn’t hurt, just a little frightened.  After all, people must find these types of things funny.  Isn’t that the reason why America’s Funniest Home Videos became a show filled with video clips of people getting injured?

Our little guy had his 15-month check-up with the pediatric nurse the other day.  Yes, this is the same nurse who can be a harsh critic when it comes to things like sippie cups, bottles, and anything else she perceives as leading to bad oral habits in adults; namely smoking and drinking alcohol.

She gave our little Beeber a few age-appropriate skill tests, such as stacking blocks (he stacked them ALL, which is very impressive, even to the experienced nurse – might I consider sharing my Lego collection with a certain little builder in a few years?), following a flashlight with his eyes, and throwing and catching a tennis ball.  He did really well with all of them, but I felt badly for the little guy because he did everything that was asked of him, but after he performed the test with each toy, he seemed to assume that he would then have his turn to play with them.  But nurse Judy swiped them all away before he knew what was happening.  It all became too much for him when she started poking him with that nasty wood-tasting gag stick – who can blame him for crying; I could never stand that thing either!  And, in a true kid’s toast to irony, he began to cry the moment the nurse asked, “Is he always this mild-mannered?”  Then, “WAHHHH!”.  Hilarious!

Our 15-month old (and first boy of the family) is 31 inches long and 22 lbs. 11 oz.  He is in the 40th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight.  This means that if you take a sample of 100 15-month-olds, my son is shorter than 60 of them and lighter than 75.  He is the first one of my kids to be under the 50% mark.  Two of the girls were around the 90-100% mark, so Beeber is a little guy!  That’s cool; you can be good at baseball if you’re on the smaller side 😉

Overall, he checked out very well and impressed the nurse with his development.  Although he gets into so much trouble at home with his constant climbing and desire to spill liquids and throw things, it’s still a blast to witness this stage of toddler-dom.  Case in point: