Let's Go Mets !

One of my insane theories, is that my lovely wife Alison, secretly dresses Jacqueline, and probably the dog in Yankees clothes while I am at work. That, along with an endless stream of Yankees baby stuff from well meaning Aunt's (although Aunt Elizabeth has certainly delivered the goods when it comes to Met stuff), leaves very little opportunity to exert my fatherly influence.

As a fan of the New York Metropolitans, full of enthusiasm of the recent repeated trouncing of the Texas Rangers, and Detroit Tigers (and before anyone makes a snide remark, I am fully aware of the major structural defects of the way the team is put together, the way it's managed, and the criminal ineptitude of the ownership group), when Alison was done giving Jackie her bath last night, and said "Pick out an outfit" I made my move.

Jackie and I are now ready to go for a weekend full of New York City rivalry, between the Mets and Yankees.

Look at those chompers!

I am virtually certain that as soon as this post gets published, and Alison sees it, the baby will be changed into some kind of Yankees onesie/bib get up... with a Yankee pacifier and Sippy cup to boot.

It's OK Jackie, I will still love you.

Bad Ideas Part II

 So maybe you've noticed I've added advertising to the blog. I'm experimenting to see what happens on a website that has a limited audience. To see if I can turn theoretical internet money into real money. The goal is to buy Jackie an ice cream cone or something when she graduates from college.

I also added Amazon targeted advertisements, I'm thinking as part of that I can post various product reviews. I'll see how I can do that with maybe stuff that I already bought, and reviewed, like the horrendous "General Barker" ballistic nylon dog toys that I purchased at COSTCO that Rocky managed to start shredding within minutes.

I'm not allowed to tell you to click all ads wildly, since that would be cheating, and they will be able to tell, but if something popped up of genuine interest, please feel free to investigate further.

Personally, I have no idea how any of this internet ad revenue type stuff even works... who clicks this stuff? It's like it's all one big ponzi scheme waiting to unravel, sort of like Social Security.

Bad Ideas Part I

Perhaps this will be the first in a series of many, many, bad parenting ideas....

So Jackie has been a bit cranky with the food lately, finger foods yes, bottle yes, delicious baby food in a bottle... not so much. I happened to see a post by the good folks at Proctor and Gamble, on the Pampers facebook news feed about a similar problem with a baby of a similar age. Many of the suggestions seemed to indicate this might be a good time to let her experiment with feeding herself.

Hilarious and predictable results ensued...

I think this was my favorite one, because the dog snuck in there... he's like "where's mine?"

 Baby needed to go in the wash with the dirty clothes!

Good Morning Jacqueline !

You are sound asleep, so early in the morning. Daddy wanted to see you before he left for work. Right now you are 10 months old. You have grown so much. Soon we will be planning your first birthday!

Grandblog

Here is the exciting tale of Grandpa's visit to the Glenn Beck program....

Well, several years ago I wound up on a blog, I believe thanks to James on the future of energy in the United States. Since then I have been contacted several times with "write your congressman" E-mails. Apparently there was a very last minute switch in topic for the Beck show. Yesterday, the 19th, I was called by someone from the Energy blog telling me they had a guest slot open at the Beck show on the 20th. Could I go? Once I cleared it with Mom, whom I thought I was going to have to drive to Newark for jury duty, I was free to sign up. I called the Beck people directly, left a message and was then called yet again from the Energy people. I said yes to them and this morning recieved yet another call from the Beck people asking yea or nay. I called back, answered yea and the rest is history.


It is an interesting experience. There are a number of people who have been there multiple times. You are encouraged to "shout out" or build on the comments of others. During the commercial breaks almost half the people are shouting something to Glenn which he will then accept or reject. If he likes it, if it fits, then he will indicate that when on the air you will be called on. About half way through the show, I realized that just sitting there was getting me nowhere so I broke all the Catholic school rules and instead of raising my hand and waiting there patiently until called upon, I pretty much blurted out what I said during a break. Sure enough, after the break, the conversation drifted in the direction of my comment so he called on me.


I must say that after looking at it I did pretty good. Yesterday, I was reading my Theodore Roosevelt book and I actually think that with the facial and hand gestures I was channeling Teddy a bit. Not a bad role model! Mustache fit too. Bully!


Regarding Glenn Beck, the guy is pretty sincere or a damn fine actor. For 15 minutes before the show he does his own warm up of the audience. He takes questions from the crowd. He remarked that he was reading a book, based on a true life incident where a Jewish family in Holland was celebrating the 100th anniversary of their watchmaking business. One of the two brothers missed the party but came in at the end almost carrying an Orthodox German Jew who he had found at the German border. the man had been badly beaten up by German boys and then they tried to set him on fire. He told his story to the guests , WHO DID NOT BELIEVE IT! Beck's point was to be careful when you say things like that can't happen because they do. A few years later those very same party guests were either in a Concentration camp or in hiding. In telling the story, Glenn broke up visibly several times exactly where I would have broken up had I been telling the same story. Those who know me, know I do not read my little Memorial Day tributes I write for our Scout meetings because I can barely get through writing them let alone reading them in public. So if you were to ask me if he is real, I would say a very loud yes.

Grandpa on TV

Who let Grandpa on the television?

Update****

Using the miracle of modern technology I recorded this...


I think I heard a little applause from the rest of the audience in there...

Now the mystery of how this guest appearance on the Glenn Beck program came to be..? Grandma says I sent a link to some energy blog that apparently Grandpa had commented on. I have no idea what she is talking about, so perhaps Grandpa will consent to a guest post for the blog to explain this situation, and possibly recount his experiences.

Commencement

If you haven't seen it already this was a pretty great commencement address to the Dartmouth Class of 2011 by Conan O'Brien.