too hot to post

...or do much of anything else. not supposed to be 95 degrees here in june, much less 95 degrees for 4 days in a row.

tried to escape the heat this weekend by going to the pool on saturday and the movies yesterday. took the kids for ice cream after the movie yesterday afternoon, which seemed like a good idea at the time. unfortunately, the heat must have warmed the store enough to make the ice cream a little soft; the situation declined rapidly once the goods were in the hands of the intended. molly and brendan fortunately chose to get their ice cream in dishes, convenient receptacles for the soup they inherited after about ten minutes. owen ordered a small cone of chocolate marshmallow ice cream that was actively melting when it got into his hands. poor kid didn't stand a chance. within minutes, he had more ice cream on his hand and on the ground around him than he had actually consumed.

next time i think we'll just get milk shakes.

new poll

a while back i put a poll or two at the bottom of the blog, but it was so far down no one ever saw it. trying to resurrect the idea a bit, and will occasionally put something immediately to the right of the newest entry to increase visibility.

first poll is more self-serving. looking to change the site up a bit over the summer, and am curious to know what i should work on first (maybe everything?). please make with the clicky and vote on the poll to the right. (should you be more of the essay type than the multiple choice type, feel free to comment away on this post with any recs for updating the site).

none of the hits however mentioned "lionel hutz"

read a random snippet on the onion the other day regarding the FDA disallowing the stop-smoking drug Chantix for pilots because of reports that it may increase the risk of auto accidents. (turns out it was the FAA, not FDA, which makes more sense, but that's beside the point.) as i had heard nothing about this, i was curious and googled "chantix auto accident".

the 34th result was a link to the usa today article mentioning the recent ban. the first 33 results were all links to attorneys' websites, looking for individuals interested in filing a claim against the drug company.

next google search was for "tort reform".

(googling "finkipedia", btw, gives you 8 hits- several to this site, two to official finkipedia-endorsed blogs, two more to a site that somehow found my tag of "FoF" noteworthy, and two dead-end links to some site that has something to do with cough syrup with codeine. huh?)

my 3 songs, sittin' on the dock of the bay edition

time for more tunes. to get you ready for summer, here's 3 songs that might come in handy on a lazy summer's day...

• guns n' roses, "patience"
• peter bjorn and john, "young folks"
• billy joel, "the stranger"

easy one, right?

how did this happen?

for those of you with both inquisitive minds and ipods (i presume that to be many of you reading this blog) i encourage you to download this recent podcast of the public radio show "this american life". it is a one hour program outlining in very basic terms just how the whole mortgage crisis thing came to be.

warning- you may come out of it feeling a little more pessimistic about the economy as a whole. but if its comparisons are valid, and our current situation really is just like the 1970's, then we've all only got to wait another 30 or so years until another boom comes along, right?

could this be the turning point?

exciting win last night for the flushing nine... was it a sign of the phoenix rising from the ashes, or just an aberrancy thrown in to frustrate the faithful? fun to watch either way.

hard to believe it's taken this long...

office got a call this AM from a panicked mom of a 3 1/2 year old, asking for me and reporting that her daughter had put a lego up her nose and it was stuck. i called the mom back as soon as i could, but as it turns out, she managed to get the lego out before i could call her.

molly has promised never to do this again.

a day to come out of your shell

not only are we on the doorstep of a 3 day weekend (and a "chamber of commerce weather" one here in the mid-atlantic), it's also a big day for shelled reptiles everywhere. it's world turtle day today. celebrate however you see fit- maybe kiss a turtle, eat a chocolate/caramel nut cluster, or just listen to "happy together" over and over again.

remember, whatever you do, do it for the turtles.

here, there, and everywhere

if it seems like finkipedia is taking an extra few seconds to load up now, it's probably because of a new widget i set up. over on the right side just under the blog listing is my new link to twitter. for the unaware, twitter is a new message board-style website that encourages users to post short bits about what they're doing at that very moment. can be used by sending e-mails or instant messages to twitter, but at its best when used via text messaging.

at twitter.com, you can select a member and "follow" them by receiving e-mail, instant message, or text message updates when that member posts something new. i thought it would be fun to link my new twitter account to this page, so i can occasionally send text messages and essentially update the blog from afar.

i just discovered this whole thing yesterday and have no idea where i'll go with it, but even if i do nothing more than the occasional text posting, i think it's pretty cool.

back in metropolis

was back on LI this past weekend for the annual '89 friars golf weekend. used to be 2 rounds of golf per weekend, now down to one round of golf and one wild card day. golf this year was an adventure- played in 50 degree weather and a steady driving rain, lasted only 12 holes before we realized that the 80 bucks we paid to play wasn't worth getting pneumonia over.

second day turned out much better- hoops, stickball, mets/yankees game, poker, and plenty of old stories. hard to believe these stories are 20 years old now. yikes.

as if the weekend alone wasn't enough for a post, got a little gift as i was headed off the island. big flashing construction sign on the belt parkway with a message about nypd's attitude towards fireworks: "ZERO TOLARANCE". apparently they won't allow sparklers in NY but have no problems with public displays of spelling ignorance.

once upon a time...

some of the many things that pass through my head on a daily basis are memories of some pretty random items, events and encounters that may or may not have any relation to my current situation. i don't want this to become a pretentious trip down memory lane, but i thought it would be fun to share some of these things and maybe generate a little discussion.

today's reminiscence came up when noticing that for the first time in dover, gas is $4.00/gallon. i of course wasn't driving during the gas crisis of the 70's, but i do distinctly remember the odd days/even days gas thing, and the long lines at the gas stations. i realize that setup was due to shortage and not pricing, but could you just imagine what a supply problem would do to the current situation? chaos.

my favorite memory of the gas crisis though was a line from "good times", courtesy of jj "dyn-o-mite" walker. either florida or james were threatening to kick jj's deadbeat butt out of the apartment, and when jj realized he'd have to use the gas station bathroom if he lived on the street, he announced in horror that would mean he'd only be able to pee on odd numbered days. now THAT's comedy!

first quarter report

hard to believe, but this weekend will be the1/4 way point of the baseball season. mets are 2 games back of the first place marlins and not showing any signs of being a team that can truly contend. here are some of the ups and downs of the young season so far...

first, the ups:

• ryan church and brian schneider - trading milledge for both of them is looking like a huge coup- they're each hitting over .320 and church is leading the team in HR. (as a side note, i think every met fan is breathing a huge sigh of relief that we didn't trade milledge a few years ago for barry zito.)
• john maine - is he the ace of the staff? pitching better almost every time he's out there.
• david wright - late april slump is hurting the average, but he's been solid as far as run production (3rd in NL in RBI) and clutch in the field (8 errors, but gets to more balls down the line than most).
• luis castillo - showing signs of his former hitting prowess and playing above expectations at 2B.
  

and the downs:

• pedro- getting hurt 3 innings into the new year was not a good sign. due back in a few weeks, but how long will he last?
  
• jose reyes - flashes of brilliance in a sea of mediocrity- can't have a leadoff guy with an on-base percentage of .335 and expect to contend.
  
• carlos beltran - sorry, but i don't think we're getting our 18M/year worth. only 3 HR so far- less than guys like paul bako and rickie weeks. ("who?" exactly.)
• the bullpen - some guys have been ok (schoenweis) or even pretty good (smith, wagner), but the disappointing showings from heilman and sanchez, who were supposed to be our solid setup tandem, and the horrendous blowouts by jorge sosa (mercifully cut today, praise zeus) have made every game an adventure after the 6th inning.
  

the rest of the team seems average at best. santana has been fine but not scintillating, delgado seems to be giving us what we should expect (.250 and on pace for about 25 HR), and the bench has been fair but not fear-instilling to opponents.

maybe starting off like they have is their way of avoiding another late-season collapse; if they're mired in 3rd place, there's nothing to collapse from. next update at the all-star break, hopefully with a brighter outlook.

he may get stupid, i mean outrageous

hope you're checking in at least occasionally on the official finkipedia-endorsed blogs. we know you have many choices in blogs, and appreciate your business.

here's one more for you, just kicked off yesterday. i've got an idea that i want to share is a project of official finkipedia cardshark and rap impresario 2white. if the inaugural post is any indicator, his rants will not exactly be the quick 2-minute read that this blog tends to be, but should be interesting and engaging enough to draw you in. if you're a sports fan or just love a good debate, i think you'll find 2white's blog VERY enjoyable.

in the future, TV's will watch us instead

more FoF's in print- this time, official finkipedia futurist and brother-in-law (national division) googs is featured in a TV week interview about the future of television.

no mention anywhere in the interview about whether the success of the recent "knight rider" movie will finally get that rumored "momma's family" miniseries off the storyboards and into our living rooms.

best mother's day gift ever

never having been a mother, i don't have the credentials to determine what the best gift would be. but i'd think some kind of confirmation that you're doing a great job has got to rank way up there.

erin's gift today came from brendan, who was playing outside with owen this afternoon while we were getting some yard work done. he approached her, unsolicited, and proclaimed matter-of-factly, "mom, i'm having a great lifetime so far."

if that's not confirmation of good mothering, i don't know what is.

support our troops

in case anyone's up tomorrow AM, check out the CBS early morning show about 7:15AM- a good friend of mine from the air force currently overseas will be featured on the show. can't tell you much more because there's some kind of surprise involved with family, but it will be neat to say that there's only one degree of separation between you and someone on national TV!

finkipedia turns 100

well, believe it or not, this is the 100th post on finkipedia! (if you're adding up the monthly numbers right now and scratching your head, those tally the days only and don't take into account the occasional two-a-day postings.)

it's been a ton of fun so far. i think i'm achieving my goal that i set out in the first post- to have a place to update friends and family on our family happenings, and also to have a place to let others listen to the voices in my head.

hopefully you are enjoying reading along. for those lurkers who are reading but never drop by the comments page, feel free to chime in here and there and join the fun. for my regular commenters- thanks for keeping this interactive. it certainly makes it more enjoyable for me.

the next 100 posts will likely come more rapidly as i'm settling into a writing groove lately. i've also developed a few recurring features that i'll probably bring out more often- top 5 lists, my 3 songs, and of course, grammar lessons. also look for a new recurring feature, a trip in the way back machine to reminisce about things and events that you may not think of daily but will certainly remember. all this scattered amongst updates and quotes from the finkipedia clan.

thanks for reading, and happy 100 to me!

a day in the life

i would never say that my job is hard. people who lay brick for a living have a hard job. marine infantry have a hard job. i would describe my job as challenging, on some days very demanding, and often puts me into situations that are emotionally taxing. today seemed be all of the above.

one of my first patients arrived at the office in full septic shock- no blood pressure, faint pulse, very weak. got her stabilized and sent off to the hospital by ambulance. interrupted two patients later by a phone call from the pathologist at the hospital with the report on the autopsy from the patient who died last week a few hours after i admitted him. two more patients later, i'm in with a guy telling him he needs a biopsy and likely has cancer.

the afternoon wasn't much better- a patient with trouble breathing (spared a trip to the hospital for now), 4 stitches into the eyebrow of an 8 year old, and a call from the daughter of another patient reporting that her mom's blood pressure was very low (advised her to head to the ER).

down to the hospital after work to check on the lady from the morning (doing better) and admit the lady sent to the ER from the afternoon (doing fine also). then, got a call on my way home that another patient of mine from the nursing home arrived DOA at the emergency room.

hard day? you be the judge.

most publicity since the "washington slept here" stone was placed

picked up this link yesterday off of drudgereport.com. nice to see the ol' hometown finally getting some attention in the national media for things we do well. it's just too bad they failed to mention anything in the article about the mensa convention that was in town that week.

(apparently this fine gentleman is still taking applications for counsel- any takers?)

first communion

big day in finkdom yesterday- owen celebrated his first communion. he was excited, and admitted to being a little nervous just beforehand, but did great. he and about 15 other kids received their first communion as part of the regular sunday mass. near the end of the service, the priest acknowledged all the kids, congratulated them and led the congregation in a round of applause. owen, obviously moved by the spirit within him, felt inspired to do this great little dance of celebration. so funny.

had a small gathering of family back to the finkstead afterwards for mimosas, bloodies, and too much food. weather turned out perfect, which kept the kids outside for most of the afternoon. only the allure of the new mariokart game owen got for wii (thanks gramma and big buddy!) was enough to keep them inside for any stretch of time.

favorite quotes of the weekend-

• owen, at communion practice thursday night: "will i be able to go up for seconds?"
• ciaran, responding to rachel's "disappointment" that she didn't know mimosas were available when opting for a bloody mary: "you never take the first food item offered you at the finks until you've seen the whole menu."
• trooper kev, upon listening to my mom's description of the new time share my folks just bought into: "wait- lemme get this straight- you mean the indoor pool is indoors? that place must be amazing!"
  

FoF's in the news

here's a short piece from the washington post featuring official finkipedia economist and sister-in-law (national division) RK-K.

supports both the arguments of teachers that they work hard outside the classroom, and the arguments of others that teachers overall work less than other professions.

i'd like to see a financial analysis based on the hours worked of the true hourly rate of a teacher's salary vs. other professions. that would be interesting, and most likely very disappointing.

true heroes walking among us

tried to fit this in a comment on the last post, but the link was too long. for my fellow grammarians, i think you'll find this article enjoyable (and reassuring that there are some out there carrying out our mission). courtesy of big buddy, official finkipedia editor emeritus:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/dannywestneat/2004367117_danny23.html

look! another grammar rant!

i've hit you with most of my grammar pet peeves, but there are plenty more things that i come across that are worthy of a rant. here's one from today, the greeting of a letter from another physician: "to all perspective members,"

maybe there are some members of his organization that have a good outlook on things and get the big picture, but i believe he is addressing those of us who are not yet members. of course "prospective" is the term he was looking for (pun intended).

it's not easy being green

after pledging on tuesday to be greener, i cut my lawn on thursday and bagged some of the clippings into 3 large trash bags. my green conscience kicked in that night (fueled no doubt by the renewable energy source that is catholic guilt), and i spent an hour searching online about how best to deal with grass clippings.

the consensus across multiple websites was, of course, to leave them on the lawn. most sites agreed that long clippings (like the ones that were in my bags) didn't sit too well on lawns, but this could be avoided by just cutting more frequently. no one seemed to have very good advice for those of us who had already let the lawn get too tall. so i looked for other alternatives to leaving them on the lawn.

apparently grass clippings make great mulch, if you want green mulch that turns a yellow brown when dry and smells like a sewer when wet. they can also be composted by digging a "shallow hole" and covering them with dirt. i have an acre of grass to cut- a shallow hole to fit my clippings would have to be about 40 feet in diameter. one site did recommend using the clippings as a blanket to kill weeds along fence lines, which seemed like the most reasonable resting place for my clippings at this point.

so, after another cutting today and a collection of clippings from most of the lawn, i now have a 60 ft long, 18 inch high "blanket" of grass clippings all along the back of our property. after the rain coming our way tonight, it should take care of the weeds quickly while providing the lovely aroma of spring in the country.

yay! new e-friends!

the online finkiverse is expanding again. you'll notice a new official finkipedia-endorsed blog, lovemomworklife. authored by one half of one of my favorite duos in the world, n. is a great friend and the wife of my college roommate, bucket. (maybe she'll let him guest-post as to the origin of that nickname).

definitely plenty of blog material for her- a beautiful family, a career in advertising, and an ongoing renovation of her 100+ year old hudson river valley home. and she uses capital letters, so if you're into that kind of stuff, check it out.

earth day

i think i've always been a little "greener" than the average person- years as a boy scout provided me with a healthy respect for the outdoors. but there are two particular experiences i've had that have pushed me more down the tree-hugging path.

the first of which was an ecology class i took in college, a requirement for all bio majors. the prof i had was an amazing guy- absolutely loved his job and was so passionate about ecology and the environment. we went on field trips weekly, from the woods of connecticut where we counted trees, to his own backyard where we saw his compost pile. i've always thought that his passion for the earth tied in so well the jesuit beliefs of faith, peace and justice.

the second experience was a mission trip to jamaica, also in college, during which i lived for a week and a half in the slums of kingston. our section of the city had indoor plumbing, but the water was only a slow trickle and didn't run at all after late morning. the abject poverty helped give me a greater appreciation for the resources we all have and take for granted.

i'm still far from being as green as i'd like to be - i own a gas guzzling monster SUV, have dual-zone AC, and have incandescent bulbs in every fixture of my home. but i'm trying- i recycle about everything i can, i use as little water and energy at home as possible, and am certainly considering composting my trash and purchasing a hybrid vehicle.

whatever your views on global warming, i don't think you can argue that renewable energy sources and more common sense resource management are good ideas. maybe someday in the not-too-distant future, the opinions of those in power will be the same, and we'll have some progress towards environmental justice.

seg-way cool

one of the things i got to check out while at WDW was a segway exhibit at epcot. they show you a 10+ minute video on the history of the segway, then let you take one for a test roll. just a short down-and-back on a carpeted path, only about 60 feet round trip, but enough of a test to get an idea of how cool these things are.

i must admit, i've been skeptical about them from the get-go, and find it hilarious to see mall security and city police zipping around on these things. but they're incredibly cool, easy to use, and after riding one i can see how they would be helpful for many situations.

disney offers two segway tours- one of the countries around epcot (done before park opening) and one cross-country segway tour at their campground. something i'll definitely look into next trip.

back to the grind

back after a very enjoyable, albeit initially soggy trip to the sunshine state.

spent the week with my folks and my sister and her family doing the disney thing. tough getting 11 people on the same schedule, but we managed pretty well i think. had some good meals, a few great meals, and saw some cool things (make sure you catch "soarin'" at epcot if you're headed to disney anytime).

drove straight thru from orlando to middletown on the way back- about 16 1/2 hours, most of it overnight. comment of the week came from owen, who woke up when stopping for breakfast at 7AM (after sleeping in the car for 9 hours straight) and asked , "did we stop at a hotel last night?"

runners-up for the comments of the week:
owen, upon seeing all our bags packed and sitting on the bed of the hotel room friday morning, "are we leaving today?"
brendan, waking up next to me after the first night of the trip, "dad, i think your toothpaste wore off during the night"

por favor, mantengas alejado de las puertas

you're on your own for the next week and a half- headed out tomorrow to the house of mouse for grandpa eddie's retirement celebration. we're driving down, which means 15 hours of radio disney and south of the border billboards. stop tomorrow night in GA, then the rest of the way friday AM.

the boys got new nintendo DS's for easter, which should keep them occupied nicely. brendan surrendered his old leapster to molly, which she's taken to and will hopefully find interesting enough to engage her for at least a few hundred miles.

plenty of blog fodder to come from this trip, to be sure!

long drive contest

headed up to LI yesterday for a round of golf- 6 1/2 hr round trip for a 5 hour round. the outing was planned a month ago, when we figured the conditions would be more spring-like. turned out to be cold (high- 42 degrees) and windy (gusts to 25+ mph), but thankfully clear and dry.

despite the less-than-optimal playing conditions, was well worth the long trip. great catching up with old friends, one of whom i've been playing with for about 20 years. and no matter what the weather is or how i play (was another round of flashes of brilliance scattered amongst a baseline of inconsistency), when playing with 3 other great friends, golf is the greatest sport in the world.

word up!

(no, not that cameo from the 80's)

thanks for the overwhelming response to the my 3 songs question. the answer, which eluded all of you, was that each of those songs featured a cameo from a prominent artist. all 3 of those songs make my list of "top 5 cameos from the 80's"...

5. glass tiger, "don't forget me when i'm gone", featuring bryan adams- canadian superstar adams helped to make his fellow countrymen a flash in the 80's pan with this hit.
4. howard jones, "no one is to blame", featuring phil collins- collins produced the album too, and i believe played drums on this track as well.
3. rockwell, "somebody's watching me", featuring michael jackson- i can't think of another song in which michael does backing vocals for someone else (besides those awful duets with paul mccartney). according to wikipedia, jermaine appears on this song too.
2. michael jackson, "beat it", featuring eddie van halen- the legend goes that when eddie did his guitar solo for this song, the only compensation he asked for was dance lessons from MJ.
1. dire straits, "money for nothing", featuring sting- the quintessential 80's cameo, sting's only line in the song is probably the motto for 80's music in general.

any other nominations?

yeah! more songs!

hopefully more guesses for this one- it's a lead-in to a top 5 post for friday...

• rockwell, "somebody's watchin' me"
• dire straits, "money for nothing"
• glass tiger, "don't forget me when i'm gone"

and no, the answer is not "80's songs"...while that might be true, there's another more unique common thread to these three.

5 days of eating over the sink and leaving the toilet seat up

kids are off from school this week and vacationing at camp ironwood (aka my parents' house) while erin works a few days in a row. that leaves me here to feed the fish, water the plants, and empty the fridge of leftovers. lots of time to update the ol' blog, so i'll try to get some fresh entries this week.

no takers on the "my 3 songs" post from last week- goes back in the vault to be pulled out again someday.

as if i needed further confirmation that i married the right woman...

very disappointed (but not terribly surprised) when i hit mcdonald's yesterday prior to my hoops-a-thon and found that they were no longer serving shamrock shakes.

very excited when i returned home to find a post-it note on my tournament edition sports illustrated that read "we bought you a shamrock shake on monday in case you couldn't get one today- it's thawing in the fridge. enjoy the games! love, us".

i love us.

my 3 songs- holy week edition!

might have been better later in april, but it works now too- here's your newest installment...

hooters, "all you zombies"
talking heads, "nothing but flowers"
burning sensations, "belly of the whale" (not on iTunes, but a great lost classic of the 80's- found it on one of the "living in oblivion" discs- you can listen to a bit of it here)

good luck!

what rocks?!

while my heart is always with the stags come march, it's nice to have another alma mater with a little more of a basketball pedigree.

fairfield made some noise in the closing weeks of their regular season, but lost in the first round of their conference tournament. georgetown, however, seems to be getting stronger as the big east tourney moves on. a nice win against villanova today, coupled with the loss by their nemesis uconn, gives them a clear path to another big east tournament championship and possibly a #2 seed in the NCAA tournament.

maybe last year wasn't a fluke, and the hoyas will go far in the NCAA tourney again. that'll make the shamrock shakes taste even better.

extreme makeover- plumbing edition

looking for some advice on home repairs? you've come to the right place! here the first in what may be yet another recurring series: a little how-to based on some real-life experience. this one's fresh- just from last night!

how to repair your leaky outdoor faucet (also called a sillcock- *snicker*):

1. when playing outside with your kids, if you notice the sillcock is leaking, check to see if the knob just needs tightening. when the knob begins to turn freely in all directions and the water begins to run faster, you've confirmed a leaky sillcock.
2. shut off the water to the house. be aware that once this is done, all children in the home will immediately crave water as if they had been travelling in the sahara for 3 weeks.
3. remove the knob from the sillcock, exposing the pipe and the long rod within it that connects to the thingy inside that turns the water on and off. remove this rod.
   
4. take rod to lowe's and ask for replacement. when advised that among the 5 bazillion things they sell there, sillcock parts are not any of them and only entire sillcock mechanisms are available, head to home depot.
   
5. show rod to attendant at home depot and learn that rod you removed is not supposed to come out of the pipe, and that entire pipe/rod/spigot mechanism will need to be replaced. unfortunately, said part is not available at home depot.
   
6. head back to lowe's and purchase part. return home.
   
7. find spot inside basement where sillcock pipe comes in and fastens to copper piping. attempt to loosen nut on sillcock pipe, then inspect closely and realize that copper pipe is soldered into sillcock pipe and nut is really just there for show.
   
8. cut copper pipe with broken hacksaw blade, freeing old sillcock pipe. remove old sillcock from outside home, breaking as little of surrounding stucco as possible. (save large chunks of stucco which can be crazy glued back on later.)
   
9. go back to lowe's to purchase fitting for end of exposed copper pipe that will allow sillcock pipe to be screwed in.
10. head to home depot after finding out that lowe's does not sell said fitting. purchase fitting, and return home.
    
11. slide new sillcock in from outside, then screw copper fitting onto end that is now inside the house. be sure to tighten as much as possible, despite the fact that the space you're working in could barely fit a moon pie much less two pipe wrenches and your hands.
12. affix other end of fitting to exposed copper pipe.
13. turn on main water line to house. watch as water drips from screwed in portion of fitting.
14. disregard bloodied knuckles and further tighten fitting with pipe wrenches.
15. dry fitting with towel and watch closely for length of time that it takes to finish one beer (at this point, 4 minutes).
16. no water? congratulations- you're done! (in case of continued dripping, repeat steps 14-15, including beer.)

let the madness begin!

one of my favorite times of year- march madness. conference tournaments start this week, meaning i'll be watching semifinal matchups of conferences i've never heard of between schools i've never heard of, all to see who ultimately will draw the coveted #16 seeds in the ncaa bracket.

while the conference tourneys are fun, if nothing else for the sheer excitement of the players and the sparse crowds they play in front of, my absolute favorite day of the year is the first thursday of the ncaa tournament- this year on 3/20. as thursdays are my early day around here, my usual routine for the past few years has been to leave here at noon, hit the mcdonalds drive-thru for a burger and a shamrock shake, and park myself in front of the TV hopefully just in time for the usual 12:20 tipoffs for the first games. at sometime around midnight, i get up and go to bed.

maybe this year, i'll bring the laptop home and post updates as the day goes on. i'm sure you'd love that.

my three songs

a new feature here on finkipedia, based on a contest run on many radio stations and named after the one that was a regular feature on the WHFS afternoon show years ago.

very simple- i give you 3 songs, you give me the common link between them. a little difficult to do because of the lack of sound, but i think i can come up with some that are common enough that you'd know them and can figure out the link.

sometimes the link may be related to the lyrics, or sometimes it may be related to more of a generality about the songs themselves.

here then is your first installment- a relatively easy one, i think:

1. bangles, "manic monday"
2. prince, "little red corvette"
3. sheena easton, "sugar walls"

good luck.

even leonardo was 6 years old once

brendan's taking to sketching things lately- he got a sketch book for christmas, and likes to sit in bed before going to sleep sometimes drawing things he sees in his room. the other day, he must have been thinking about something he saw in a puzzle book or a worksheet at school, because he came up with this:


hard to see unless you've got a 21" monitor, but my favorite part is the answer key, written upside down on the lower left.

also of note: the pepsi can, because i don't believe we've ever had a can of pepsi in this coke-loyal house. he must be sneaking it on the side.

a stitch in time

walked into work this AM a few minutes before 9, and our receptionist said to me "rough one already". not too unusual a comment for a thursday, because it's my half day and therefore usually busy. the story unfolded further when our office manager took me aside in the hall, coat still on and coffee still in hand, and said "a patient of yours walked in a few minutes ago- he's on coumadin and fell yesterday morning, and his arm hasn't stopped bleeding since. and that's not the bad news."

uh oh.

put down the coffee, hung up the coat, rolled up the sleeves and fixed mr. jones up quick with a single well-placed stitch and a pressure dressing. the other stuff, more business than medical, will take quite a bit more to resolve.

i always knew fixing people would wind up being the easiest part of this job.

great work, if you can get it

kids went back to school today after a 4 day weekend (off friday and monday). erin was talking to them yesterday about how nice it is to have 4 day weeks- goes by so fast, weekend here before you know it, etc.

despite the holiday, my office was open yesterday. this led to another discussion about how great it is to be a kid, because when you grow up, long weekends are few and far between, and every week seems like a full 5 day week.

brendan's comment: "that's ok. i only plan on working 2 days a week."

not sure if that means he's got his career path set on 1) corporate tycoon or 2) priest.

doubt the latter.

lose the extra "o"

rant time again...

straight from a communication to parents from the principal's office at our school (slightly paraphrased): "...it seems that they loose their mittens and hats very easily".

while not as prevalent as some of the other grammatical missteps i've soapboxed on before, this one has annoyed me for years: the misspelling of "lose" as "loose".

this isn't one i've seen (thank god) in any print media, but i've seen it quite often in personal communication. i didn't realize the word "lose" was that confusing, but unless i really am sending my kids to school with gloves that are too tight, it must be.

open season

flu season here in DE- swamped in the office, and feeling the effects at home too. brendan started it the other day, erin started with some symptoms last night, and molly woke today with a temp of 104. owen and i have dodged it so far- we'll see how the week goes.

patients always ask me how i'm able to stay relatively healthy. i use the same line on all of them: "you never see a farmer with a sunburn, do you? constant exposure builds my tolerance". whether it's true or not, so far, i've been lucky.

our lenten journey

i usually eschew the traditional catholic behavior of giving up something for lent- for several years now, i've spent the time focusing more on prayer than on not doing something i probably shouldn't be anyway.

this year, the kids have for the first time chosen to give something up. owen, on his own, decided to give up the wii. he's been enthralled with it the past few weeks, so this is a big deal. so far he's doing very well.

owen's explanation for giving up the wii was that he knew he should be giving up "something i really like to do". on those grounds, when brendan was asked what he would be giving up, he offered "i'm giving up waking up grumpy."

and you thought jesus had it hard for 40 days in the desert. 3 days down so far, and i must say, they've all been great. if this kid gets to easter waking up happy every morning, i'm lobbying the vatican to make lent a year-round season.

CCCLXII days until finkbowl XIII

the guests are gone, the house is mostly clean, and there's still one gladware container of gumbo left over. another successful finkbowl has come and gone. thanks to all who made the trip, from near and far. we always have a great time, but this year's game made the day that much better. couldn't have scripted it better.

things i learned this weekend:

1. i am most definitely allergic to mangoes
2. don't continue to bet a seemingly unbeatable hand when your opponent asks "what's the ranking of hands again?"
3. cheering for "eli" and "plaxico" and "osi" is way more fun than cheering for "tom" and "randy" and "teddy"
4. super bowl commercials just ain't what they used to be. bring back the budweiser lizards!

kitchen confidential

cooking marathon starts in about 1/2 hour. over 4 gallons worth of soup to pump out today- gumbo and chowder. because i only make the gumbo once a year, i learned years ago to make enough to enjoy afterwards too. (only took one year without leftovers to convince me to make plenty extra.)

got news earlier in the week that superdad lead guitarist mikey will be unavailable for this weekend, which means that "middletown's favorite three-car garage band" may need to change their name to "plan B". we'll see if the show goes on...

joy in mudville

hold the football! baseball news from the hot stove too hot to let go...

after last year's historic collapse, the faithful were screaming for something to be done this offseason. and while endy's extension was nice, and dumping paulie bag o'donuts cleared some space for the HGH cap, this is the news we've been waiting for.

hopefully, sir johan will inspire pedro to get off his rocker and actually train for this year. then we may finally have a rotation that will get us through until october.

now, if only someone could teach delgado (aka cerrano) to hit a curveball, we may have a shot.

one week to go!

preparations are well underway for sunday's big event- finkbowl XII in just 6 days!

did some menu planning last night, will be making the circuit of the local groceries sometime this week. keeping with the tradition of the last few years of making a regional dish representing each of the teams, current plans are for some NE chowder and reuben sandwiches. of course, the gumbo will make its annual appearance as well, along with a few other things.

the celebrity death pool that we tried out last year was good but not great, but i still wanted to have some kind of contest that would last the year between finkbowls. i put together a year-long sports championship pool with wagers on different sporting events throughout the year. we'll see how that goes over. usual finkbowl wagering rules specificially prohibit off-site involvement in any competition. however, to increase interest in this year's special event, i'm opening it to anyone interested. the only caveat is that while you need not be present to participate, you must be present to collect. if you win but don't show at finkbowl XIII, your earnings roll over to next year. interested? let me know.

life goes on

for the second time in a month, i'm having to get started here after posting about deaths and funerals. and even though this time it involved family, seems a little easier to move on. gram's passing has been something we've all taken well, and are moving on from with comfort and peace.

makes it easier to address the matters at hand- finkbowl XII, only 10 days away!

movin' on up

just got word that gram has passed on. sounds like it was peaceful, not just for her but for my mom as well, who was at gram's side when she died.

this was all very sudden in a way, because although her alzheimer's was worsening over the past few years, her general health was fairly good. the cruelty of a disease like alzheimer's is that it often extends a person's decline because it doesn't affect anything more than the mind. in this circumstance, the sudden onset of an overwhelming, terminal disease like leukemia can be seen as nothing more than a blessing.

working in long-term care for the past 4 years as i have, i harbor very strong views about end-of-life care and an individual's right to die. (maybe fodder for another post someday, but just to clarify now- euthanasia is murder and is not part of my right-to-die philosophy). gram was allowed to die in comfort, with dignity, and with her daughter and a priest at her bedside.

a beautiful end to a beautiful life.

comfort care

sorry about the paucity of updates lately. a mini-vacation to start the year, followed by a ridiculously busy week last week in the office, and now a weekend of illness (others, not mine) make for not much time to check in here.

erin's battling some kind of flu bug, brendan's just getting over a weekend of MOOFE (multiple-orifice odorous fluid expulsion), and my gram was diagnosed with acute leukemia yesterday.

87 years old and in the throes of alzheimer's disease, she's not been herself for years. but she's maintained fair overall health until the past day or two, when she drifted out of sorts a bit. the nurses at her assisted living facility sent her over to the hospital yesterday at 10, and by 4 we found out it was likely leukemia.

already stricken with a terminal illness (her alzheimer's), the decision on what to do now was fairly simple: comfort care. she will likely enter under hospice care tomorrow, and soon move on to a better place.

no better comfort care than up there.

2007, we hardly knew ye...

working christmas week and relaxing the week after kept me off the computer for a bit, so the year-in-review post i was planning is coming out now. hey, if the NCAA can have its title game on jan 7, then you can get my best-of column on the 8th.

here, in no particular order, are my best-of's for 2007. not that every one of them were new in 2007, but they were new to me, which as you are now well aware is all that matters in this space...

• best album- "the virgins '07", the virgins: as recently as early december i'd have put the art in manila disc in this space, but i found this EP on itunes after catching one track on XM radio, and fell in love instantly. hoping that maybe they'll play a live show locally in '08.
• best book- "better", atul gawande: the author is a surgeon and frequent contributor to the new yorker. his book is a collection of essays on how the medical profession strives to better itself and humanity in the process. great even for non-medicos.
• best blog- the comics curmudgeon: and you thought i'd say this one, right? the curmudgeon is way better than this sorry old rag. it's hilarious, well written, and updated daily for your reading pleasure. if you're a fan of newspaper comics, you'll love this site.
• best new toy- the recent acquisition of the wii makes this a little tough, but i've got to go with the acoustic guitar i picked up in august. just as interactive, and works outside too.
• most prescient use of background music: fox's BCS selection show. i stand corrected.
• best movie- i went to one movie in 2007. i watched maybe 2 more on TV. so i have no authority to even have this as a category. but since everyone needs a best movie, i pick "superbad", since if i had seen it, it would probably be my favorite.
• best joke: a grasshopper walks into a bar. bartender says, "hey, you know we got a drink named after you?" grasshopper says, "oh yeah? you got a drink named fred?" not really fair, because that's my favorite joke every year.

happy new year!

4 days into january, and brendan may have the line of the year already - actually, the quote was from wednesday, only about 40 hours into the new year: 8 days after christmas, surrounded by games, books and two video game systems, one floor above a ping pong/pool/foosball table and bins full of power ranger toys, one floor below an entire room full of legos, wearing a long, pouty look on his face: "i have nothing to do".

god bless america.


here, from some happier times this christmas break:

a day trip to longwood gardens...


and the christmas picture you all almost had...

no better feeling...

than the one you have when you're minutes away from the end of your last work day before a vacation. i can smell the barley and hops from here. not a long break this time, but a much needed 5 days at home starting tonight.

(no worse feeling than the minutes before returning to work after a vacation, but fortunately i come back next thursday for a short 2-day week.)

wii are the champions

been a strange week for me- worked the weekend before christmas and christmas day, so despite the holiday i feel like i haven't really had my vacation yet. i'm off a few days next week, so after tomorrow at 5pm it's happy hour until after the new year.

santa was good to the fink clan as usual. molly got the pink fishing pole and toothbrush she asked for, brendan was thrilled with his webkinz, and owen had all 6 bionicles that santa brought him built by dinnertime.

the big hit for everyone has been the wii. brendan likes it, owen loves it, and grandma and grandpa are infatuated with it. it's been on almost non-stop since christmas afternoon. the interactivity makes it so much more enjoyable than other games, and the fact that it involves some physicality makes playing it a little more justifiable. it wears on you, though- i'm nursing a sore shoulder thanks to the baseball game, and i'm a little worried owen may develop little leaguer's elbow without playing a single game of little league.

after a few flying controller incidents, the boys are getting better about wearing the wrist straps. still funny watching them jump all around the living room, though. thank god there's not a soccer game as part of the package- i'm not sure my living room could handle it.

merry christmas!

no post tomorrow, so here's my chance to wish you all a merry christmas.

don't forget to track santa tonight- always fun to see where he is before your sugarplums start dancing.

sounds of the season

i've often got a few things rattling around in my head that i think would make good posts. this one's been brewing for a few weeks, but got tabled because of the events of this past week. time to pull it out, if for no other reason than to transition to a sense of normalcy and restore some brightness back to this blog.

i'm a big fan of christmas music, and have assembled what i think to be a pretty decent collection. i thought it would be easy to do a "top 5 christmas songs" post, but then as i started to compile my list, i realized how hard a task it was (bing's "white christmas" is by christmas law supposed to be #1 on every list, but i couldn't put it even in my top 5). i tried breaking it up into traditional and modern lists, but even that had too many crossovers (elvis' "blue christmas"- traditional? not exactly an old english carol there. sting's "gabriel's message"- modern? the song's got its roots in medieval times).

so, i decided to make the list of "top 5 christmas carols", whereby "top" is defined as "most likely to give me the warm-all-over christmas fuzzies". here we go:

5) "must be santa", mitch miller & the gang: if you grew up with a mitch miller album like i did, you know this is on your list too. back when we'd stack 5 LP's on the turntable, and they'd drop down one after the other, then we'd flip them over to hear side B on all of them, this was the song that the arm got lifted back and the needle replaced so we could hear it over and over.
4) "christmas must be tonight", robbie robertson: i love this song. i remember hearing it in the christmas rotation on WBAB, long island's finest rock station, and found it on a compilation disc a few years back. great lyrics, pleasant melody, way better than that paul mccartney song.
3) "i believe in father christmas", emerson, lake and palmer: at the risk of coming off like some classic rock geek, this was also one i picked up an appreciation for thanks to WBAB. got this one off yet another random christmas compilation.
2) "(there's no place like) home for the holidays", perry como: this is always the first christmas song i listen to every year. i won't allow myself to listen to christmas music before thanksgiving, and usually at some time on black friday, i'll pull out this song and put it on. i think my love for this one goes back to a 4th grade chorus concert.
1) "rockin' around the christmas tree", brenda lee: we didn't have this song on LP as kids, but it certainly got its fair share of radio airplay. i always liked it a little, but after "home alone", it became my favorite song of the season. (that movie for me is a classic, and i absolutely love the scene with him dancing by the tree to this song, with his bb gun over his shoulder and the cardboard cutouts moving by on the toy train.) never feel more christmasy than when i'm swingin' to this song.

honorable mentions: "do they know it's christmas", band aid, "twelve days of christmas", john denver and the muppets (by far the absolute best version of this song- "BA-DUM-BUM-BUM"), "i saw three ships", sting

intentionally left off: "white christmas", bing crosby (see above), "little drummer boy/peace on earth", david bowie and bing crosby (got nuthin' but love for bing, but this song just doesn't do it for me), "father christmas", the kinks (fun, but not fun enough)

if you managed to get through all that, and still care enough to leave a comment with your top few, be my guest. remember, though- my blog. i always win.

back to the grind

emotional service yesterday, as was expected. as with most memorials, it was a litany of accolades, all deserved, for a great person. hopefully all in attendance will have heard something which inspires them to make their lives a little better.

kids start their christmas break today, which could spell disaster for their already emotionally and physically fatigued mother. thank god for tivo.

what do i call this feeling?

hard to put up a post between the last one and the likely one that will follow tomorrow's memorial service, but i thought this was appropriate and fit some of the recurring themes on this blog...

erin and i were discussing the differences between sympathy and empathy, and both realized we didn't have a great idea of the differences between the two. i had always thought that one of them dealt with a sharing in emotions because of one's prior similar experiences. kinda right.

both words describe the sharing of feelings with another person. sympathy can be used very generally, for any feeling or emotion. empathy involves shared feelings, but usually describes the sharer with a deeper sense of feeling the actual emotion. no need for prior experience, but that's probably what had been explained to me before as empathy.

right now, either works, but not as good as a much simpler word: sad.

tragedy

as a medical professional, one of the worst but usually unfounded fears is that the anonymous patient in the next room, bed, or ambulance is someone you know.

erin worked yesterday and happened to be chatting with another nurse who was reviewing her patient's labs. erin recognized the name as that of a friend of ours, and then confirmed that the patient, in fact, was a classmate and friend from georgetown. he had gone to another hospital with a severe headache the night before, and was rushed to georgetown. tragically, he had a massive bleed into his head from an undiagnosed tumor, and died yesterday.

ray was 41, leaving behind a wife and twin 6yo girls. he was the last person you'd think something like this could happen to- an outdoorsman, rock climber, AF academy grad, helicopter pilot before going back to med school, family physician, all around great guy.

at a time of year when you're already more likely to appreciate those around you, do it a little more today. that is the only way any good can come from this.

apostro-phed up

as promised, the long-awaited apostrophe rant...

more than any other grammatical mistake, the misplaced and misused apostrophe gets me all fired up. maybe because it's the most common, or maybe because when misused in public, it's the most ridiculous appearing. the two main uses for an apostrophe ( contraction and designation of possession) are equally abused, but because abused contractions (like "your welcome") are usually just homophone mistakes, i'll limit my rant to the possessive apostrophe.

the rules really are quite simple: if you want to show one thing belongs to another, put two nouns next to each other, then give the first noun an apostrophe and an "s", and the second noun now belongs to it. (any two nouns will do- it might not always make sense, but it will be grammatically correct). if there's no belonging involved, there's no apostrophe involved. that's it.

acceptable: "the computer's keyboard", "the water's edge", "a winter's night"
unacceptable (actual phrases from signage in THIS VERY COMMUNITY!): "hour's of operation", "hot dog's and hamburger's", "shirt's- $1.29"

special apostrophe occasions:

• plural possessives- if you want your first noun to be plural, the apostrophe goes after the "s" ("the cars' headlights", "their parents' joy").
• "its"- "it's" is a contraction for "it is" or "it has", and is not a possessive form. "its" is the possessive form of "it", used similar to "his" or "her". there is no such word as " its' ".

whew. now that's off my chest. next up, more top 5's.

that time of year again

one of my favorite things about this time of year is pulling stuff out of the mailbox that actually is worth reading- your christmas cards. always fun to see how many we can get in one day. been a slow trickle so far, nothing yet to challenge last year's record of 12 in one day.

got my nog here in front of me, which means i'm about to start the annual missive myself. so keep an eye on your mailbox, estimated time of arrival is early next week.

sing along with freud

apparently, the networks and major ad agencies have openings in their media departments for pop music aficionados. only that can explain the lack of insight that goes into the choices of music paired with some recent TV spots. while the songs may be catchy (and some would argue, isn't that the whole point?), the titles, artists, or lyrics of the song don't always match up well with the subject matter.

two very recent examples while watching football this weekend:

• happened to be watching the BCS selection show this weekend (only because it immediately followed football on FOX), and when they announced that ohio state would be going to the championship game, they showed a montage of clips set to the new foo fighters single, a rockin' song that (unfortunately for OSU) is titled "the pretender"
• those UPS commercials that come up almost every other commercial break, the ones with the artsy looking guy writing on his dry-erase board with his brown marker, are set to a very pleasant electronic melody (recognized by some as "the song from grey's anatomy") called "such great heights", recorded by a band called 'postal service'- one of UPS's main competitors

oh, tannenbaum

got the tree and dressed it up real purty yesterday. our initial intent was to ride the wagon at the tree farm out to the field and select the most perfect tree God hath created, fell it ourselves, then have a few teenagers in overalls drag it back to our car for us. with the miserable weather here yesterday, it turned into this: getting out of the car, walking 40 feet to the pre-cut lot at the tree farm, looking at one tree, finding it acceptable until the helpful TOAs (teenagers-in-overalls) pointed out a second one which was even more acceptable, purchasing said tree, strapping it to the roof of the carbon-footprint-leaving conestoga, and hauling it home.

the time between our arrival at the tree farm and our departure- which also included getting 3 kids out of the car, into their muddy tree-finding shoes, an additional 7 minutes to purchase 75 feet of pine roping and a wreath for the front door, then getting the kids back out of the shoes and into the car- was no more than 18 minutes.

you say rush job, i say more time for egg nog!

you an' me, takin' flix

donger's comment on "magorium" got me thinking. if i was too hasty to position "magorium" at the top of the list, then what should go up there? i used IMDB to give me a list of g-rated films, so i wouldn't miss any obvious ones, and then compiled my top 5 g-rated movies. (interestingly, "2001- a space odyssey" is a g-rated film- had no idea.) here you go:

5. "finding nemo"- never much of an ellen degeneres fan, but you've got to agree she's perfect in this flik. the scene at the beginning with the diver is amazing. and the seagulls rock.
4. "the sound of music"- sorry donger, no asians here, but a way better rodgers and hammerstein nomination for the g-rated top 5 than "king and i". and how 'bout that liesl?
3. "mr. magorium's wonder emporium"- after a few nights to sleep on it, i've got to admit that as great as it was, there are still better, such as donger's nomination and my #2 pick...
2. "willy wonka and the chocolate factory"- not that johnny depp abomination, but gene wilder at his sans-richard pryor best. "scratch that- reverse it."
1. "toy story"- the second one was awesome and probably would fall into the top 10 if i extended the list, but the first of a series always merits special consideration. concept alone is fantastic, and the one-liners abound. "i have been chosen!!!"

honorable mention: "chicken run", "the music man"
intentionally left off the list: "babe", "the wizard of oz", "the secret of NIMH"

more top 5's in the not-too distant future. apostrophe apocalypse coming soon, i promise.

thanksgiving denoument

didn't see this until today, but still worth checking out. one last vestige of thanksgiving before the christmas machine engulfs us all. enjoy.

leftovers

wrapping up a great thanksgiving weekend here in the 302. had a great day thursday, from watching the macy's parade to feasting here at home seemingly all day long. erin and i started friday by joining the madness at 4:30am shopping for god knows what. took the kids to see "mr. magorium's wonder emporium" in the afternoon- terrific fim, possibly the best G-rated film i've ever seen, live action or animation. trekked up to longwood gardens today- an arboretum/garden not too far away with some great holiday decorations. nice way to kick off the season.

my folks were here for all the above, which was great. too often lately it seems we only see them when they're watching the kids for us. can't remember the last time we had 3 days to spend with them as a family. but that's what "the holidays" are about, right?

what i'm thankful for

besides the obvious (family, friends, health, rapidly approaching end of current administration, etc), in no particular order:

• high speed access
• comfortable shoes
• heated driver's seats
• bath and body works' orange ginger shampoo (intensely invigorating, and i'm not ashamed to admit it)
• lego star wars for playstation 2
  
• DILF (with an all-new repertoire for finkbowl XII!)
• podcasts of espn's 'PTI'
  
• directv's major league baseball extra innings package
• friendly's of middletown

have a great holiday.

give a man a fish...

a rare double-post day, but i just read this op-ed piece from today's washington post and felt that with thanksgiving just a few days away, you might want to give it a look. this nation's feast of plenty is incomplete without a side dish of social justice.

can you hear me now?

here's a tip: when a medical professional has their stethoscope in their ears, and is listening to your body, it's wise to be silent until they're done. i like to think of myself as a respectful kind of guy, and make it a practice not to start examining a patient until the conversation has ended or at least paused. it amazes me how many people will again begin talking while i'm examining them with my stethoscope, completely ignoring the facts that 1) i'm obviously intent on obtaining some practical information from listening to their body, so my undivided attention towards that point would be helpful, and 2) i have plastic tubing in my ears, making whatever they're saying sound like instructions from charlie brown's teacher.

please help stop the spread of this epidemic by reaching out to everyone you know, and while you're at it, ask them to turn off their cell phones too.

grumpy old man, signing off.

a clone army...one of the finest we've ever created

i often struggle with bioethics. as a catholic, i hold strong beliefs regarding the sanctity of life. but as a scientist, i'm seeing the definition of "life" become more and more subjective.

a report of researchers cloning monkey embryos made the front page of today's washington post. as the article states, this advancement into the cloning of primates represents a huge step towards the usefulness of cloning technology for human medicine. the proof alone that viable stem cell lines can be achieved from the use of skin cells rather than "unused embryos" should be enough to justify federal funding into this field.

it's the last line of the article, from a catholic priest in charge of some think tank, that has me wondering most today though. the priest admits that this research can benefit greatly our insight into human disease, but he warns that if it is used to advance the purpose of cloning humans, that "such a pursuit, if successful, would be one of humanity's darkest endeavors."

why? not that i want to see an army of jango fetts in the middle east instead of our marines, but why would a human clone be our "darkest endeavor"? ethical morass, to be sure, but a cataclysm? i'm not so sure anymore.

more endorsements

finally getting around to adding links to two blogs that got me into this more than any other. couldn't be more polar opposites than each other, but there's bound to be someone reading this who's got an interest in one or the other. i enjoy them both:

• donger's an old friend from high school, living the life of a single guy working an IT consulting job. hence, he has lots of disposable income to spend on things like electronics, night clubs and porn.
• amy, her husband jim (an FU stag like us) and their beautiful brood live in upstate NY. her blog, "it's a funny farm life", is about their daily lives, which means pretty much everything that donger's life is not.
  

take a peek and enjoy some funny stories from each of them.

yes, more yee-hahs!

despite the fact that i started the countdown to finkbowl XII a week ago, i just realized today that the date of the event is 2.3.08. if you once owned a 3-legged cat, luged down a staircase on a cookie sheet, or burned incense in your room thru a hollow statue of Death, those numbers might mean something to you.

so let's hear from all friends of the captain, all buddies of bong (the handyman, not the illicit paraphernalia). "2308-the blog" may have seen its last days (yes, it actually existed for a while), but "2308- the reunion" is on! finkbowl XII- now the official 2308 reunion.

with 100% of precincts reporting...

delegate steve shannon has been re-elected to serve the 35th district in the virginia house of delegates! some of you know steve from our fairfield days, others may remember his stirring version of galatians 3:4-11 from the live production of "the union of erin and john". possibly you had the chance to meet steve at finkbowl VI, aka the first 'finkless' finkbowl. whatever the case, i hope you've had the chance to meet him, because he's a great guy who's going far, and you can say "i knew him when..."

steve's a politician who's in it for the right reasons: he has a mandate from a higher power to do all he can to make our world a better place. so far, the people of northern virginia seem to understand that, and continue to decide that he's the guy to represent them in richmond. good for them.

congrats, steve. if you ever need a campaign song, i can loan you that johnny gill cd you used to borrow: "steve shannon- he'll 'rub you the right way'!!" or maybe not.

before the myriad of comments come rolling in...

thanks to donger, who insists on using things like dictionaries as his authority on the english language rather than me, i've been enlightened that indeed "myriad" can be used both as a noun and an adjective.

from dictionary.com: "Throughout most of its history in English myriad was used as a noun, as in a myriad of men. In the 19th century it began to be used in poetry as an adjective, as in myriad men. Both usages in English are acceptable, as in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Myriad myriads of lives." This poetic, adjectival use became so well entrenched generally that many people came to consider it as the only correct use."

this proves several things:
1) i have smart friends
2) people other than googs read this blog
3) i don't fact check anything i write
4) i'm just a poetic kind of guy

a myriad of misuses

i know i promised you apostrophes next, but that will take a longer post. after two misuses this weekend (one on "NPR" this morning), "myriad" jumped to the top of my peeve list.

sure, "myriad" is a cool word, but it is possibly one of the more frequently misused words with regards not to definition, but to part of speech. most know that myriad means "many", but it seems not enough know that "myriad" is an adjective, not a noun. it's commonly misused as a synonym for "plethora", which is of course a noun.

example of misuse: "there are a myriad of things wrong with this government."
correct usage: "there are myriad things wrong with this government."

there's today's lesson. apostrophes soon, i swear.

are you ready for some football?

i've always been more of a baseball guy than football, but i do enjoy sundays on the couch with a cold brew and some good games. more excited about this sunday's colts/patriots game than i've been about any non-giants game in years (super bowls included). for an interesting read on the matchup, check out last week's TMQ... a column, by the way, that you should be reading each week if you're even remotely a football fan.

getting some company to watch the game- trooper kev's got a conference here in the small wonder, and will be shacking up with us on sunday night. looking forward to it.

doctor, doctor

had a terrific weekend in DC for the g'town M'97 reunion. "spectacular", as dave would say.

spent almost every waking hour doing something reminiscent of our time at georgetown- meals at old glory and cactus cantina, beers at garrett's and clyde's, late night cheesesteaks on M street, and about an hour and a half just sitting in the balcony of LA-6, the old lecture hall, rehashing old stories. we even snuck in a visit to the gross anatomy labs, just for old times' sake.

finkbowl XII is right around the corner, so for those of you who we pulled from the woodwork to come to this reunion (that's you, tasha), this is the kind of fun we have every year! come on out to middletown in february, and we'll do it all over again- just without the dead bodies.

shiny! me like shiny

got a new phone yesterday, brought on by the facts that a) my old phone was 3 years old and couldn't hold a charge past 4 hours, 2) some little plastic piece inside the display was hanging down over the battery icon, so whatever charge i did have was nearly unidentifiable, and d) i needed to get my phone on my work account in my continuing efforts to maximize the benefit of being a small business owner.

same old number on a shiny new phone. despite all the whistles and bells, the new phone has about 1/4 of the selection of the standard ringtones the old one did, and the ones that it does have are lousy. so, i did as verizon clearly expected me to do, which was to spend more money and download a few ringtones at 1.29 each. maybe you'd like to sponsor my ringtone library, so you can each have your own unique sound i can identify your calls with.

the bidding for your number to be assigned the "super mario brothers" theme starts at 25 cents.

time for another pic

just a quick post tonight- been a while since i threw up a picture. this one's from last month, at build-a-bear for molly's b'day...

pride of the yankees

despite my general disdain for the yankees, i've always respected joe torre. maybe because of his days in the orange and blue, or maybe just because he's always seemed to be a class act in the dugout. i have no way of verifying this, but i'm willing to wager that torre's departure was a carefully negotiated dance by him and the team. by him turning down the contract offer, the team gets to save face by not firing him and actually offering him a high-dollar contract with great incentives, and by turning down that offer, he gets to save face by not resigning.

no one in the media seems to be offering this at all as a possible explanation. you heard it here first. (remember though, i'm also the budding online sports journalist that told you the yankees would trade a-rod for jason kendall)

i literally hate this word

what good's a blog if you can't rant from time to time? herein starts a new occasional feature- fink's language pet peeves. it's my attempt to better the world through the proper use of the english language.

i'm literally appalled by the literal overuse of the adjective "literally". from radio and TV interviews, to podcasts, to daily conversation, not a day goes by anymore that i don't hear someone incorrectly use the word "literally".

examples:

• "i was literally blown away by that movie". no, you weren't, because you're obviously standing in front of me still using incorrect language.
  
• "they literally moved 2,000 miles just to be near a white castle." maybe a true statement, but a superfluous use of the word.

the word should be used to describe a situation where an action that has a figurative meaning is carried out in the truer yet possibly less likely way.

example:

• "while collecting seashells, i was literally swept off my feet by the waves."

this ends todays complaining. tune in next time for a lesson on apostrophes.

old friends

one of the great things about moving back east a few years ago was re-connecting with some old friends from high school. not that i had lost contact, but the transition from college to med school to residency, and the increasing distance from L.I. that each of those brought, separated me from all but a few.

now, thanks to a few weddings, an annual summer golf weekend, and the wonders of the internet, i've been able to reconnect with most of the crew. amazing to think that friendships that started before any of us could drive are still going strong and continue to grow. recent e-mail threads have ranged from debates on the iraq war and the upcoming election, to star wars vs. star trek and who should have dated who way back when.

the best compliment i think i can give them all is that i can only hope one day my kids will someday have friends like them.

classic fall

finally getting some weather around here to make it feel like fall. after a few weeks of mid-80's, looking like a 65-degree weekend here. perfect for soccer, pumpkins, and maybe even the first fire of the season.

erin's half-way thru her trip to italy, which means grandma and big buddy are half-way thru their trip here with us. good times being had by all.

the sounds of progress

our office is in a building owned by the local hospital. they've just started site work on a new project right next door for a building 4x the size of this one. interesting watching all the work from up close, but it's not without its drawbacks, of course. for 2 weeks straight they've rolled the dirt every day with a vibrating steamroller, and because the new building will be within 4 feet of our current office, every pipe, window, and fluorescent light in this place has been rattling like crazy. on several occasions i had to practically shout in conversations with patients.

but the upshot is, this time next year we should be in that new building, probably shouting while they do the interior work on the floors above us.

i'll have the chicken

made dining reservations today for our trip to disney world. in april. next year.

for those unfamiliar with this phenomenon, because of the popularity of certain restaurants at disney world, it's become necessary now to decide what and where you want to eat six months prior to your vacation. the extreme here is reserving breakfast at cinderella's castle (which we're not doing). the reservations are so hard to get, some guide books give step-by step instructions (see page 337) on how to optimize your chances, right down to synchronizing your watch to be sure you call exactly on time. insane.

all this so i can pay 9 bucks each for my kids to order chicken nuggets they probably won't eat anyway.

greatest nickname ever

erin's off to italy next week- yes, that "once in a lifetime" trip a few years ago has spawned two return trips now. steve and dolores are headed to middletown tomorrow to visit for a few weeks and help out while erin's gone.

the kids are totally pumped about grandma dolores and grandpa steve coming out. last time they were out, through a hierarchy established after brendan was called "little buddy", grandpa steve became "big buddy" and the name has stuck. even molly goes around saying "big buddy is coming!" i hope he likes the nickname as much as they do, and doesn't feel like he's just a guy we found at the boys and girls club.

america's newest rockies fan!

thanks for checking in despite the paucity of updates lately. now that i don't have playoffs to worry about, i hope to get back to my 3-4 updates per week schedule.

went to a show in DC last week with googs and rachel- rilo kiley at 9:30 club. great, great show. never seen a band feed off the crowd's positive energy the way they did. they (especially lead singer jenny lewis) seemed to truly enjoy what they were doing, and seemed genuine when giving the obligatory "you guys are a great audience" salute. made it even more enjoyable.

nice opening set by a band out of omaha called "art in manila". i knew right away i liked them, especially their extremely talented lead singer/guitarist, but didn't know until checking their myspace page tonight exactly why (and it's not because her first name is "orenda").

a new perspective

"perspective" was fine when we had a 2.5 game lead. now i'm back to being as fired up as a fat guy when the stuckey's buffet runs out of home fries.

my only solace is that the braves are eliminated.

perspective

i was watching the mets game the other night (i know, a risk factor for coronary disease right there), content that they were up 3 runs against the marlins in the 5th inning, and so i went to read molly a book before bed. she chose some richard scarry book with scenes "all around town" or something like that. one particular page was of a fire company (staffed by pigs, as is the norm in richard scarry world) rescuing people (actually foxes) jumping from a burning building. the firepigs were using one of those old rescue trampolines to catch the jumping fox. molly was clearly confused (about the rescue effort, not the pigs-as-firefighters thing), and it took a fair bit of explaining on my part to get her to understand why someone would jump from a building.

this immediately conjured flashbulb memories of those horrific pics of people jumping from the WTC towers before collapse. i couldn't get the image from my head, and quickly turned the page to a nice beach scene with a hippo lifeguard and some bears making sandcastles.

in the time it took me to read that book and get molly to sleep, the mets had blown not one, but two different 3 run leads, and proceeded to lose the game in extra innings. i went to bed seething about the outcome. then my thoughts moved to how frustrated the players must have been, and how they would likely be lying in bed having an even harder time falling asleep than i was.

then my thoughts moved back to that richard scarry book, and the jumping foxes, and the jumping people, and i thought that no matter how frustrated i was about the game, or the players were about the game, that we'd all wake up in the morning, and hug our kids, and go off to another day of work.

perspective.

happy molly day

molly's b'day today- she came downstairs with me this AM, the boys were eating their breakfast before school, and said to her "happy birthday molly!". her response: "thank you. where's my cake?"

back to school

boy, i thought i'd be better at this blog thing- gotta post more and keep this interesting.

back to school last week. here's a shot of the boys in their unis:




owen started 2nd grade, brendan 1st. so far, so good. brendan's statement last week: "first grade gets funner and funner every day!" that is, until the grammar lessons start.

next step, her own iphone

put molly in a "big girl bed" this weekend. it's been in the basement for months, but she's had no desire to leave the crib so we hadn't pursued the transition at all. still had no desire to give up the crib, but we finished a room makeover for her this weekend, complete with purple ceiling, pink walls, new chair rail, new mini-chandelier, and felt it was the right time to bring out the bed.

so far, she seems to like it- we'll see how things go next week when the boys are back in school and we're all in more of a routine.

save jeffy!

unsettling report in the delaware news journal today...it seems they've pulled the family circus from their daily comics page! a call to arms has been raised by none other than tom keane, wilmington resident and brother to bill.

so do your part to support family humor in delaware. call the number listed in the above link (last letter on the page), or e-mail betsy price, features editor of the news journal at beprice@delawareonline.com. tell them the finks need the family circus, for their sanity and for blog material.

--

here's my family circus moment from this past weekend- walking out of church yesterday, the kids give the priest hi-fives. molly says, "you know what? i smacked god's hand!" always knew she was strong-willed, but rebuking the hand of god is a whole new level.

the music man

went out today and bought a guitar, bringing the total number of instruments i own but can't really play to 7 (2 harmonicas, 1 acoustic guitar, 1 acoustic/electric guitar [the new one], 1 bass guitar, 1 keyboard and 1 saxophone).

the whole bass guitar thing (and subsequent dads-as-rock-stars band thing) started when my friend wyatt tried to teach me to play guitar. too many strings, so i downgraded from 6 to 4 and picked up the bass. been playing around with the old guitar lately, and felt it was time to try again at 6 strings.

so beware- someday you may see a dilf acoustic show with 3 guitars. "patience", anyone?

first ever finkipedia contest!!!

hey kids- here's something fun to show your creative sides. inspired by uncle googs' comment on the post about maine, and his and my love-hate relationship with "the family circus" (see christmas letter, 2006), i propose to you a challenge:

come up with a great family circus-esque tag line for any entry or part of an entry over the next few weeks. while the world of fink is your material to work with, "the family circus" is your canvas, so their characters should be used. (use googs' post from the 8/19 entry as your example)

post your submissions in the comments section of the applicable post; i'll cull through them all and post as many as i can in a poll at the bottom of the blog in a few weeks.

who posted this entry? NOT ME!

on tap next week- granny's colonoscopy!

kids are off to jersey for a few days with my folks while erin's in DC. during the school year, my mom will come down here to stay with them while erin works, but in the summer, they often go to NJ. fun for them all, because they do a lot of day trips to parks, lakes, the crayola factory- tons of fun stuff.

my mom called yesterday to confirm the pickup time for today. she was on the cell in the car (which, even when not driving, she feels awkward doing), and left a message with owen. she told him that they (she and my dad) were going to a wake at a funeral parlor (my parents are long islanders through and through, and still refer to funeral homes as "parlors"...well, maybe "pauluhs"), and wanted to be sure they were still picking the kids up at the decided-upon time. she then hung up because, of course, it's unsafe to be on a cell phone in a car.

owen passed on the message as "nana and grandpa eddie are picking us up tomorrow and taking us to a funeral". took several hours for us to get through to them again to figure out the real story.

back on track again

just back from a week on the maine coast- great time. weather was terrific, kids had a blast, and we took advantage of several opportunities to throw back to days of fink past. stopped in fairfield on the way up and back, driving around campus and grabbing lunch at the firehouse deli on the way to maine, then dinner at penny's II on the way home. saw an old friend of the kent family in stratford, CT, had dinner in brunswick, ME with cindy, raj and their kids, and spent most of the week at the beach with stacey, irish and their kids. pics on the way later in the week.

quick tale of taking things for granted. never occurred to me that molly had never really seen the ocean. sunday night we took the kids out to the beach as soon as we reached the condo. had to hold molly because she wasn't too keen on the sand at first. she pointed forward and said, "what's that?". "that's the ocean!", i replied. she pointed and asked again "what's that?", as the waves crashed onto the beach. "those are waves", i said. she paused, stared at the waves for a second or two, then waved back.

back on track

not much going on last week, hence the lack of updates.

the kids and i hauled out to LI saturday for a BBQ with some old high school friends. great time, dampened a bit by the sudden passing a few days before of our friend jen's dad. nice to catch up with those who were there though. the ridiculous traffic getting there and back always serves to remind me why i don't live there anymore (as if i needed much reminding anyway).