The Sky Safari is an aerial ride at the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo in Fort Wayne, Indiana.  It’s like a chair-lift at a ski resort, but lose the snow and add views of zoo animals; including zebra, ostrich, wildebeest and lions.  I rode on it earlier this summer with my daughters, mom and uncle, and we all loved it.  Speaking of travel, I’ve heard from a bunch of my Ohio friends about how beautiful the Hocking Hills area is in the southeastern part of the state.  We probably won’t have a chance to visit this year, even though I’ve heard that it’s just gorgeous in the fall.  It might have to go on the “to-do” list though after I found out they have this; a 2-hour zip line tour through the treetops!  Check it out – the first part of the video is the training and orientation, they really get going around the two-minute mark if you want to fast forward.  But it looks like something I think I would try!

Well, this season of The Office is off and running — literally.  Michael, Dwight, and Andy are participating in creating a Parkour video.  What is parkour you ask?  (see video)

Let’s just say that the trio from The Office didn’t create such amazing athletic footage.  It was a great way to start off this season — with some physical comedy!

We also quickly learn what we already kinda knew…  That Pam is carrying Jim’s baby.  And then we learn something we didn’t know…  That Stanley Hudson is having an affair.  Uh oh!

Thanks to some interns, Michael becomes aware that Stanley is seeing someone on the side.  He then proceeds to tell everyone in the office.  Which, of course, he is proud to do — after all, HE has some inside juicy gossip.

Thanks to Jim, Michael begins to realize that perhaps spreading word about Stanley’s affair is not a good idea.  But, as Michael points out “you can’t unsay what you’ve already said” (ok, that is not the exact quote)…  So, his plan?  No problem, he will just spread crazy rumors about everyone in the office.  If he does that, people in the office will realize the information going around is not true and, thus, realize that the rumor about Stanley’s affair is ‘not true’.

In the end, Michaels rumor mill does work…  At the expense of Pam & Jim.  He tells people that Pam is pregnant, unaware that she actully does have a bun in the oven.  The couple had wanted to keep their pregnancy private but confessed in order to protect Stanley.  (If you want that last sentance to make sense, watch the show!)

Anyway, I’m sick of blogging…  The point is — THE OFFICE IS BACK!!  YHOOOOOOOOOOPPPPIIIIIEEEE!

Well, it was another year at the WCCT Family Fun Day — a great tradition started and organized by my wonderful wife.  Family Fun Day is a day where people from the Williams County Community Theatre get together for as picnic and some softball.

This year there weren’t as many players as in years past as the WCCT has a show coming up soon and some of our regular players had to work on the set.  However, we still managed to fill two teams with the help of an all-time pitcher (thanks Beth!).

Enter this year’s game I was 0-2 and I was bound-and-determined to get my first win this year.  I even made sure I would have the benefit of Zach on my team (always a strong player).  Since John was unavailable 🙁 I thought I had a very good chance of winning — FINALLY.

Things started well, after the first inning my team had a 5-2 lead and I was actually starting to feel guilty thinking it might be a blowout.  But after the 2nd inning I felt a little better; we were still winning but it was a close game.  The score: 8 – 6 heading into the 3rd and final inning.  Hey, were theatre people and were old.  Any more than three innings and we do start to sing showtunes and drop dead.

The third inning was interesting, the opposing team (consisting of Lisa, Jamy, Eddie, and Jose) scored 5 runs making it 11-8…  But we (Zach, John R, Megan, and myself) still had yet to bat.  Since we were averaging 4 runs per inning I was not concerned.

WE SCORED ONE RUN!

Even Zach couldn’t get the ball out of the infield in the third inning!  The ending score was 11-9 and I now stand alone at the BOTTOM of the record list at 0-3.  Yep, that’s right.  NOBODY ELSE IS 0-3.  The next worse record is 0-1 or 1-2…  Meaning EVEN if I get a win next year, I will STILL have the worst softball record in the WCCT!  Eeech!

The problem is — several people have expressed that they do not want to be on my team next year.  🙁  I just don’t know how to break the curse — oh, and before you start thinking I just stink at softball let me say this…

I HAVE NEVER GOTTEN A SINGLE OUT WHEN BATTING!

Am I boasting there?  Come on!  I have the WORST record, you gotta give me something!

The good news is that my dear friend Jamy is now 3-0 and my beautiful wife, Lisa, now has a win.  Also, with 6 (count them SIX) RBIs my wife was undoubtely the MVP!!!  GO LISA!!!

For me, it’s once again “maybe next year”.  Hopefully John (John O!) will be playing then and will agree to be on my team.  Until then maybe my friends will take it easy on me and not razz me too much about my win-less record.  We will see!

I wrote yesterday about how the fall has a shadow over it for me. Today, I was feeling a bit down, and I wanted a specific type of food for dinner. Unfortunately for me, the restaurant I wanted to go to was closed for renovations. I didn’t get the dinner I wanted, so the psychological release I would have associated with it was gone.

Now I will admit that I could lose a few pounds. I’m not extremely overweight, but I know losing around 15 lbs. would be good for me in the long run. I also realize I have to watch what I eat due for other reasons. But I was good today, so I knew I could have my comfort food tonight. Then I realized almost all of my comfort foods are not what would be considered a healthy diet.

So anyway here are my top 25 comfort foods in no particular order:

1- McDonalds McDouble cheeseburger (I didn’t really notice the missing slice of cheese that makes this not the Double Cheeseburger). Or the Wendys Junior Bacon Cheeseburger… Neck and neck on these. Both hit the same spot.

2- Pancakes, Waffles or French Toast. At home is good, but for personal reasons I really like I-HOP.

3- Sausage Gravy and Biscuits with Scrambled eggs.

4- Oreo Cookies and milk. Usually the Double Stuff

5- Mashed Potatoes and Gravy

6- Meatloaf

7- Gingersnaps

8- Good Coffee and Cheesecake

9- Pumpkin Pie

10- Yellow Cake with Chocolate frosting

11- German Chocolate Cake — I like the frosting with nuts, but the coconut is good too

12- Good Chocolate (Usually this would be imported and expensive)

13- Lemon Meringue Pie

14- Key Lime Pie (not with a meringue)

15- Red and Black Raspberries (in anything or fresh)

16- Chili

17- ‘Lil Smokies

18- Sloppy Joes

19- Kielbasa

20- Bill Knapp’s Chocolate Cake (If you know where to find this let me know)

21- Chocolate Frosted Donuts (Fresh made are best)

22- My Mom’s BBQ sauce on just about anything

23- Dried Apricots, Fresh Apricots and even Canned Apricots

24- Fried Onions and Potatoes with Sausage

25- Fried Baloney, Onion and Ketchup sandwich (Thanks Dad..)

Now with all of these there is a time and place. I won’t usually want Chocolate Donuts at the same time I want Mom’s BBQ sauce. Believe it or not, each of these foods brings back certain memories for me. Mom’s BBQ are those weekends when family would all stop to visit. Same with the Sloppy Joes. Chocolate Frosted Donuts and Bill Knapps’ Chocolate cake will invoke memories of spending time with my aunt D. She never served the Bill Knapps’ cake, but the one she did serve was very similar, but I never knew where she got it. CheeseBurgers — Backseat of the family car for a ‘special’ night out.

I just noticed a lot of this food are childhood memories, some others are memories from my life as a father and husband. Some are just plain good.

I do have to be careful of these, because I do know that most of the extra weight I’m carrying came from the years after my wife died. I can’t tell you how many Oreos, gallons of milk, cheesecakes and coffee or Sausage Gravy and Biscuit meals I had, but it was way too many.

Ok, I shared. What are your favorite comfort foods. Do I need to add something to the list?

If you were in NW Ohio, NE Indiana or Southern Michigan today, you probably had beautiful fall weather. Warm without being too hot, nice breeze and wispy clouds. And I noticed that some of the leaves have started to change color. We are still a few weeks off from most trees turning red, gold and brown, but it is starting. Some of the early changers have started too lose their leaves. Just a beautiful time…

Except, I still remember the good days from 6 years ago. The days before the intense shoulder pain slowed my wife’s days to a crawl. The good days that soon turned ugly.

I remember that it was about now that I should be holding my new grandson. But the days turned ugly.

I remember the last few days of my Mom’s life from many years ago now. She didn’t know what was coming her way in the waining days of October 2000. And my father, one year later, going through things that I didn’t understand then, but I really do understand them now. While his health wasn’t very good when mom died, he could have lived many years with a bit of luck. My feeling is that his heart broke at the one year mark, and nothing would fix that. After my stress related illnesses of my first few years of being a widower, I can tell you that that takes a toll.

All this happened in those beautiful days of fall. For the past 5 years, I didn’t see much of the beauty. I realized it was there, but other thoughts would push the beauty of the season out of my thoughts. The older thoughts don’t weigh as heavily on my mind now, and for a moment I saw the beauty of the day. Then I noticed my arms were empty…. My daughter and son-in-law have empty arms too. And I wonder when will I see fall again, without its ever present shadow?

Apparently, my email address was chosen to “win” a prize: US citizenship!  This is no joke – a scam, surely, but the following is a copy of the actual text contained within this email.  It’s one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read, although I have to admit that the “disclaimer” text at the bottom (in italics) seems very authentic – despite the numerous spelling and grammatical errors in the email!  So  Happy Constitution Day – according to my 4th grader, anyway – celebrate by reading this B.S. email and laughing out loud (and praying for the poor people who are actually victimized by this garbage).

CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE A WINNER!!! U.S. PROGRAM OF GREEN CARD LOTTERY-YEAR 2009/2010

We are here to inform you that you are among people selected that  have won US Green Card lottery.  Your email was selected so you are now citizen of United State of American. USA president has offerd you free ticket to United state of American. Live, Work and study in United States.

Kindly contact your claim agent Dan Gold  usafis_organization_green_card@live.com on more details of how to get your traveling documents and free air ticket to USA.

Congratulations once again.

Sincerely yours,

Lisa David

USA Department Of State     From the U.S. Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs Visa Services:
The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa Program is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State and conducted under the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Section 131 of the Immigration Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-649) amended INA 203 to provide for a new class of immigrants known as “diversity immigrants” (DV immigrants). Alien petitioners for the Diversity Visa Program will no longer be permitted to submit a petition by mail. Instead, the Department will require that all petitions be submitted to it in an electronic format, using an Internet website dedicated specifically to the submission and receipt of Diversity.

Take a look at this trailer for the 1951 version of Raiders of the Lost Ark (click the video to go directly to youtube for a larger version)!

What, there was no such version you say?  So what was was this then since the actors are real 50s stars?  Give up?  Go to this youtube link that breaks it down for you. 🙂

Incidentally, this isn’t this guy’s first work on a trailer like this.  Click here to see a couple more goodies.

Not much time right now, but I just wanted to share something that made me laugh today.  BTW, I am almost done with the camp DVD I’ve been working on- over two months late 😮 .so hopefully things will get back to normal soon.

Apple keynote in under two minutes:

As a frequent visitor to Orlando Florida, the United States theme park capital, the following news stories caught my eye.  Disney World and Universal Studios have been competing in an epic battle for tourists for a few decades now, and as a result, us tourists are the real winners!  Check out the two new additions to each park!

Universal Studios is adding a Harry Potter-themed world!  I’m not even a fan of the series and the pictures and descriptions of this place excited me!  I might have to read a Harry Potter book or see some of the movies before I check it out!  This answers the question I posed in a previous blog post – What will happen to Marvel Superhero Island when Disney buys Marvel?  Answer:  who cares?  Universal will have the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

Not to be outdone, Disney has released that they are doubling the size of their current Fantasyland area, adding a Little Mermaid attraction, among other things.  If the rumors on this blog are true, it seems to me like Universal is going to win this time.  More meet-and-greet space at Disney?  Yawn!  Bring on the thrill rides!  But if I know the folks at Disney, they have more than doubling Dumbo and adding more Disney princess meet-and-greet up their sleeves and just haven’t leaked that part of the expansion to the public yet…  So stay tuned!

I seem to have a bit of it. Funny how not having anyone at home gives me time to do other things. 😉 But where oh where is Jamaihsh (one of Tangents most frequent bloggers has been missing for a week). I know where one blogger is (no internet for Froggy). One may be taking a break (I really hope not, but that is his call). What about the Cabbages? Or Mare Mare? Hmm, is my extra blogging taking their space? 😉

On to different things. I had to get a new phone today. I’ve been thinking about getting rid of my land line for a long time. Recently I decided to keep it because I like being able to give people that number if I don’t feel like giving them my cell number. But my last phone decided it didn’t want to dial out anymore. I couldn’t read the messages on the answering machine either. And to top it all off, the wireless extension didn’t work either.
So I got a new phone. The answering machine is up and running again, but with a bit of a difference. I really like my cell phone greeting, so I put it on the home phone too. So Sorry Admin, but I like that greeting.