Saturday, May 31, 2008

Go Away already!

I'm watching the Stanley Cup finals and the Flyers are continuing to irritate me.

At the beginning of each period there is a banner that comes across the bottom of the screen, urging me to purchase Flyers season tickets for the '08-'09 season. What irritates me the most is that the game is taken out of HD in order to put up these adds. AND - the banner takes up a good portion of the screen so you miss some action. Answer me this - are Flyers fans even watching these games? I don't think so. The several that I socialize with are not watching because they are constantly reminded that they are losers when they turn on the game. The only reason they watched games 2 and 3 was to see if the Pens would actually score a goal this series. Which gives me this thought - could you imagine the Flyers playing against this Detroit team? That's kind of like me playing "king of the hill" with the quads today. Sure they tried to get up onto the couch - but my immense strength and sharp intellect denied any strategies they might have employed.

Anyway - the Pens are down 2-1 and they have to score 2 goals to win this game... it's gonna be tough...

Saturday, May 24, 2008

All Growed Up

Last night we got rid of the kids climber that they've played with since they were wee tots.

We replaced the climber with one of those new fangled computer thangs and some of 'dem readin' books.

Monday, May 19, 2008

Lesson Learned

Sammy was rooting for the Flyers during this year's Eastern Conference Finals. THE FLYERS!!

I know.

I'm ashamed.

I'm not quite sure how this happened. Perhaps it is karma for the several years that I claimed to be a Brown's fan in my rebellious preteen years, maybe it is because Sammy was actually born and raised in Philadelphia and not in Pittsburgh, I just don't know...

What I do know is that an important lesson was learned by Sammy yesterday. Don't EVER - and I mean EVER - root for a Philadelphia sports team and expect to win it all.

Say what you will about the ineptness of the current Pirates, or that Pittsburgh doesn't have an NBA team - but the success of the city's sports teams is really unbelievable. 5 Superbowls, 2 Stanley Cups, 5 World Series Championships. By contrast Philadelphia CAN NOT WIN WHEN IT COUNTS. I've seen it in the Eagles, Phillies, 76ers, and now the Flyers in my 10 years in the city. It's uncanny - really.

Sammy: When you are reading these words years from now, please know that I encouraged you to root for teams from 'da 'burgh. It was your own choice to explore the path of being a "Philadelphia Sports Fan." We all make decisions in our lives that we must be held accountable for (and we may later regret). Today, little man, you know how it feels to root for a Philadelphia sports franchise. I'm sorry for you. I didn't wish this on you. It was a choice that you made on your own. If you ever wish to rejoin the legions of Pittsburgh fans, you'll always have a home here.

GO PENS!!!

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Fathers, Sons, & Baseball...

Today Sammy had a little league game. He went 2 for 2 against the pitching machine today... talk about awesome! Just last year he had only one hit against the machine. Today, on the first day against the machine, he doubled the total. He also had 2 outstanding grabs in the field. All around, he had a great game.

I took some video before, after, and in between innings which I hope to post soon. I couldn't tape during the game because I had to work the pitching machine. (Perhaps the highlight of my season so far.)

I meant to ask this question last week but it slipped my mind. Was it wrong for me to wear my "Yankees Suck" t-shirt to Sammy's Little League game? Was it even more wrong that we were playing the Yankees the week that I wore it? I didn't think so...

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

March of Dimes

Just an update for all of you faithful readers who helped us to raise over $3800 for the March of Dimes:

We raised the 2nd highest amount of all of the Family Teams in Philadelphia. Thank you very much!

It's kinda small but if you look very closely you'll see Morrisquads listed 2nd in the bottom center section of the Family Teams Newsletter:

Saturday, May 10, 2008

A Comparison of Criminal Activity in Pittsburgh and in Philadelphia

Article in today's Philadelphia Inquirer

Article in today's Pittsburgh Post Gazette

We Work Hard for the Money

I took the kids to the mall today to buy mommy's Mother's Day present. I know... I put stuff off. Anyway - as we were standing by the fountain, throwing our change into the pool, some dude comes up to me with a clip board and says, "Yo - you wanna make $20 per kid, cash." Usually I'm very adept at ignoring people at the mall, but this peaked my curiosity.

Me: How?

Dude: I work for a child research company and we need children between ages 3 1/2 years and 4 years old. Do they fit the criteria?

Me: As a matter of fact, they do. What would they have to do?

Dude: Just play with a lighter for a few minutes to see if they can figure out the child safety lock.

Me: (doing the math and weighing that against my parenting morals) $80? Really? Just to play with a lighter for a few minutes?

Dude: Yeah - but the lighters don't have butane in them and can't light. We just need to see if they can make it click.

Me: Dude - sign us up. Where do we go?

We proceeded to follow the dude upstairs to this little Research Center in the mall. Did anyone else know that these places existed?? I could quit my job at this rate! We went in, the kids sat down at a little table and the dude doled out the lighters while I filled out some paperwork. By the time I was done filling in all of the forms, they were handing me $80 and none of the kids were able to make the lighter work.

Woo hoo! Off to the Toy Store!

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Collect 'em All

I'm not ashamed... the kids and I are collecting all of the American Idol Dolls from McDonald's. That's right... no shame!


Sunday, May 04, 2008

A Mall in Philadelphia

I took the boys to the mall today in an attempt to purchase some Penguin's gear. I'm not sure why I put myself through these things.

For you new readers - I live in Philadelphia, the home of the Philadelphia Flyers who will be playing the Pens in the upcoming Eastern Conference Championship. Philadelphia sports fans have been known to have a little... mmm... how should I put it... chip on their shoulder. I prefer to call them trashy, unintelligent, fanatics who have no real knowledge of the teams that the follow or the games that they watch... but that may be a slight generalization.

Anyway - while I'm standing in line with my gear some jagoff says to me, "I wouldn't dress your kids in those clothes if you want them to live." I responded with my normal nod and a smile. But after thinking about it I should have said,

"Yo jagoff... why don't you go dahn to the Orange Julius and pour some of that orange crap all over yourself in the "name of the Philadelphia Flyers." Be sure to yell and scream like someone in the world gives two shits what you think about hockey and then go bitch and moan somewhere about the Eagles inability to put a decent team on the field. When your done doing that - come back here and I'll tell you what it's like to win 5 Super Bowls and 2 Stanley Cups!"

These responses tend to come to me after the fact, though.




Thursday, May 01, 2008

Writers Block

After a while of not writing on the blog, it is tough to for me to come up with something concrete to write about.. so I'll just drivel a bit until I come up with something to say...

nothing...

still nothing...

nothing...

EUREKA!!! Why don't I give you an update on our toilet! That's always something that people like to hear about.

The kids have recently found a fascination with our powder room toilet. They seem to enjoy stuffing large quantities of toilet paper down there and then keep flushing and flushing and flushing until the water overflows. Talk about a good time. Put the occasional toy down there and you've got hours of enjoyment.

Now mind you - our bathroom is carpeted.... (wait for the disgusting feeling to pass... you are free to read on...) The carpeting came with the house and it wasn't a priority to remove until now. Something about going through a year of potty training with four little ones makes you want to remove the carpet from your bathroom. Go figure.

So we're going to get the bathroom tiled this spring. What a better way to use our "stimulus" check than by giving it to the working class of the US. Seriously - I would recommend for everyone to use their check to improve their home or to have something that requires a trade skill done around your home/office. It's better than buying a computer that is made in China... or clothes that are made in Taiwan. If you do that - you truly are helping the US economy. Time to get off of my soap box and back down on the bathroom floor where I'm continuously cleaning up urine and toilet water...