Everyone needs to check this out. I’m all on board with it, for reasons below. But this also triggered some interesting thoughts for me. Here’s some bullets about this fantastic idea.
1) I am a professional athlete as well, albeit not on the level of David Wright, and one who usually sports facial hair. While I’ve never rocked a ‘stache solo during a tournament, I did rock the “Dishevelled 70′s Dad” (below) for my last local disc golf tournament, the only one I’ve won so far. Hmmmm, there might be something to that.
2) What about my other favorite player, Grady Sizemore? A young talent on a decent team that has come close to glory lately but not winning the big one. A few of his teammates tried (including Casey Blake, who sported what was called the greatest beard in the game), but maybe if he grew some lip whiskers…
3) How could David Wright grow a beard now and NOT have it be a gimmick a la Jason Giambi? If the ‘stache were to find him (as the site so rigorously explains), wouldn’t it have done so by now? Wright has shaved his head before to win, so why not add hair?
4) A trip down memory lane as to some of my facial hair styles in the last five years.
More are posted on Ash’s YouTube page, which you can link to from ashsparks’ account. First up is a video displaying a cute shirt. Oh, and an unsafely cute baby.
Second, could it be…….. HIS FIRST WORD? AT ONLY 11 WEEKS? You be the judge.
Also a new pic.
I plan on blogging every day this week. Stay tuned.
Things are good here at the ole’ homestead. The weather has been bordering on Spring, the apartment is actually looking halfway decent (though Ash may dispute that), and the flowers are still standing. And it’s good to see my… wait for it… family. The east coast is always fun, and I usually do something stupid (six glasses of wine with the boss on an empty stomach would qualify), but I missed my boy. He’s grown so much (emotionally, as well as physically), it’s pretty impressive. Here’s a couple of shots I snapped today.
In case you didn’t know who his homeboy was, it’s Freud
I should warn you, the pictures will only get cuter as this post continues
I warned you
He is much more playful, and we’re realizing that Peek-a-boo actually promotes a smile. At the same time, his hungry cry has degenerated from a rather pitiful whimpering cry that made you almost laugh in its sadness, to a howling wail that sounds like he’s being tortured by an irate porcupine. I don’t know which is worse, really, but it does mean that Ash gets plenty of feedin’ time. More importantly for her, though, with me home, she can actually sleep. I enjoyed a couple of nights of great sleep back east, and am adapting to poor sleep rather well again.
Here’s a link to a youtube video of a game I discovered today.
We just picked up the workout series that Mitch is using, and hopefully we’ll get started on that this weekend. If there’s one thing we need right now, it’s proper eating, working out, and energy, which is, admittedly, two more things than one thing. We are usually tuckered out by 10 o’clock. I know I would probably kill a butler right now for a power nap and a massage (probably not in that order.) Moving from that, here’s more increasingly cute baby photos.
A boy and his monkey
This boy will someday know my pain – not having any hats fit him
We’re hoping to start a trend where we give him to Ash’s family one night a week so we can have one night of us time. It’s just too chaotic and stressful to never have any sort of break, and as it is when we take him to their house, they practically are fighting to have him. So I think one night a week would make everyone happy. It would be nice to watch a movie together or go out or simply not watch the other person taking care of Landen, because you KNOW you could do it better, and they’re doing this wrong, and they shouldn’t do that, and blah blah blah. We’re really good parents and a really strong couple, but even Energizer batteries need changing once in a while.
Finally, I am about to post a picture of unparalleled cuteness. I must warn you, if you are of the strong of heart and don’t want to appear feeble and blubbery, look away now. Your manliness is about to be questioned. Actually, on second thought, this picture might be too cute for your own good. I mean, surely that last pic was the pinnacle of cuteness? There is no cuter picture. For the safety of all involved, I cannot in good faith post this picture.
Oh, I know what you’re thinking, but I don’t want to be held liable for what may happen if I post the picture and people are busy oohing and aahing and squeeeeing. I just can’t bear that responsibility. Fine, fine fine. I don’t want to hear you complaining any more. But for the safety of you and those around you, I’m going to have to present the picture to you in a safe manner:
That is all I can allow with a clear conscience. Trust me, you’ll thank me later. Well, since I’ve only posted 3 posts this entire month, I can already hear the pressure and demands to post more regularly. I will do my best. I’ve had a bad wine review column in my head for about two weeks now, as well as an extremely long and potentially boring post about poker and statistics. As it is, I still haven’t even gotten together with Jaymar to do this month’s Dirty Dozen List (looks like we missed St. Patty’s day, my friend.) So here’s to posting…. OKAY, FINE, YOU WIN. But you asked for it! Not me!
So I was fortunate enough to catch the local tourney here with the North Jersey Poker Tour. 18 player field with some really good players. I started off rough, losing some chips early on, and found myself with about 1/2 stack after the first two rounds (1 rebuy allowed before the end of the third). I get AJ, and another shortstack pushes all in. I call, and he has A7. Mine holds, and I have some chips. A few hands later, two bigstacks are betting on a hand. I am in with KQ of clubs and the flop coms A 9 4 with two clubs. Raise, call before me. I push all in on just a draw, but hope it’s enough to scare them away. It is. I am now in good standing.
We get to the final table, and there are 7 left. I am probably in 3rd in chips or so. Top 4 get paid (some nice money up top too!) I get dealt pocket tens. Scott (aggressive player pre-flop) puts down 1000 bet (blinds 150/300) I only have 3800 chips. Calling is weak, because anything above a 10 on the flop scares me. I could push all in (he has about the same amount of chips I have) but I’m worried he might have Js or Qs. I could fold, but with tens? Tough to do. I push. After a long deliberation, he calls with big slick.
Blanks on the flop. Blank on the turn. King on the river. I’m out.
I felt bad about it for a while, but I stayed and watched probably the next 8 all-ins, and only ONCE did the statistically better hand win. Either way, good times.
edit: I just finished playing an online game. I lost to a guy who had a 1.41% chance to win the hand after the flop (when I went all in). I can’t stand this game sometimes.
I’ve become very lazy with my posting. Or overtired. It really could be either.
Landen just has his two month appointment (he’s 9+ weeks old). I’m not really one of those people who sits there and marvels at his amazing speed of growth. In fact, today’s comics pretty much nailed my take on his development.
His checkup went well – his weight fluctuates, but never too high or never to small. Apparently, he did get much much longer – he’s got freakishly large torso of his father. Whoever he may be.
One weird thing I’ve noticed about myself is that I will wake up in a panic that he’s in our bed and since I sleep with the covers pulled up so high, he’s swimming in them. I’ve done this a number of times. Ashley tries to calm me, but in that half-awake state, I can’t really comprehend what’s going on. I’ve also apparently talked in my sleep and I sometimes make it out of the room to change him in my sleep. I’m turning into Cyrus.
He’s a leftover cute picture from when my sister was here:
My mom is in town now. She has been for a few days, finally getting to hold a grandson she’s waited a considerable time for. She is very delighted to see the cuteness up close. She also found that blowing in his face makes him smile. Good thing, because this boy is going to spend a lot of his time with wind in his face in good ole’ Reno here. He’ll be grinning like an Irishman just before closing time. ZING!
Of course, we have not taken a single picture of her with Landen (actually, Ash’s mom might have… I’m not sure), so we were going to do that tonight. Mom calls me to tell me that she’s coming down with a sore throat and may have to cancel, and I leave tomorrow for the east coast for work. So there may be no evidence of her trip. I hope Ashley pays her a visit tomorrow when I’m gone simply to take some photos.
We have over a dozen videos on the Flip to upload. Things are chaos here. He’s not sleeping well at night (he’s a champ on his stomach during the day) so we’re tired. Eventually…
Hope to see some of you when I’m eastbound! I’m gonna miss that kid and that awesome girl.
edit: First off, BOO to WodPress for now allowing video embedding. But yay, for Cromwell who walked me through the daunting process of explaining computer literacy. I’m now going to be a video-fiend! I also found out I have a plug-in for uploading MP3s. Maybe I’ll have to write some music.
I’m now going to be a video-fiend! I also found out I have a plug-in for uploading MP3s. Maybe I’ll have to write some music.