Aidan: For PapPap - "Go Steelers!"

Aidan wanted to wear his Steelers jersey today and send pictures to Pap Pap. He says, "Go Steelers!"

He is also excited because just like the Steelers are about to tame the Bengals, Aidan has tamed his new cat! This is the rocking-horse (errr, cat) that we got the other day for $19.99. Such a good buy. He loves the thing. But we have yet to put him on top of it. A litle worried that dude will want on top of it 24/7 and we would have to stand next to him guarding him. No way he'd be able to keep himself on it himself just yet. He will be able to ride it soon though. :) He gets bigger every day.

As for the NFL playoffs. I was really surprised by the Giants laying an egg today against Carolina. It's a wierd thing to be so into fantasy football all year and then the playoffs come and the fantasy fun is over. But, boy do I still pull for 'my guys'. Seeing Tiki Barber struggle was rough. But, watching my guy Steve Smith. Wooo, that fun. I have Steven Smith in my keeper league. He got hurt last year in the very first game and missed the rest of the season. I kept him on my roster and refused to drop him. Just waited for next year. He made my wait pay off.



As I was typing this entry at the beginning of the Steeler-Bengal game Carson Palmer just got his knee rolled into and is on the field in pain. What a terrible break for the Bengals. I have Carson on my keeper team, too. And although (being from Pittsburgh orignally) I am pulling for the Steelers, I wanted Palmer to have a great day. Looks like he's done. Ouch.

Norma, Aidan and I hope the playoffs and especially the Steelers game today gives som e relief to my dad. He has had a really, really tough week. He's awaiting heart surgery on Wednesday. Hopefully the Steelers will bring a smile to his face today.

Xbox: Fight Night 3 - Wow.

Downloaded the free demo for Fight Night 3 on Xbox360. Wow. It is GREAT. I love that there is not a HUD display to tell you if you what your power/strength level is. Everything is read on the fighter's body and face. If the boxer is hurting, you'll see his chest heaving and he may slump over or seem sluggish. Really neat.

Looking forward to this full game coming out. I am not very good at it yet, I have only ever played the first Fight Night on Xbox. And I think Norma kicked my butt on that when we rented it. She is a button masher!
Technorati Tags: Xbox360, FightNight3, Boxing

Sports: Texans Take Carr... then Bush

It's official. The Texans will offer their $8 Million dollar extension to David Carr. They are taking Reggie Bush with the first pick in the draft.

I think it's a good idea. More later... baby is crying.

Okay - it's finally later. I think this is a good move. If you draft Vince Young you make the fans of Houston awfully happy now. But, I think they would be upset down the road. Here is what happens if you take Young:

You get a possibly fantastic QB that could change the game, but the odds are that a scrambling QB is going to take a lot of development. You also then don't get Reggie Bush. And you give up on your current QB that you spent 5 years developing. So. Draft Reggie, Keep Carr - and you keep 2 starters that will impact a turnaround next year. Only draft Young and he will sit and learn and you are minus 2 starters on offense next year.

The Texans were last in running the football and last in throwing it this year. They need to get better now. I am all for Reggie Bush coming to Houston. We already do have a fine back in Dominick Davis. They can split carries and on 3rd down Reggie Bush can line up as a slot or wide receiver and cause all kinds of problems there as well. It's a win-win.

But, don't think the fans of Houston aren't going to be pissed about this one. The honeymoon for our baby franchise is over folks. The radio talk shows will be lit up on Monday and not too happy!

For me, I think it is the best move they could make. Now they also have their work cut out for themselves in finding a new head coach and co-ordinators. And in the draft. But, it should be fun to see how everything shapes up. At this point it looks like Gary Kubiak is the lead candidate for the job. He had a great interview with Kubiak. But, they can't hire him until the Broncos lose in the playoffs. And if Denver goes to the Super Bowl it won't be until February. That means the Texans could be missing out on signing up some great offense and defensive co-ordinators.

As for the draft, I think the Texans need to focus on these positions: OL, LB, and TE. There could be a very good offensive lineup at the top of the 2nd and 3rd rounds. The better get a starter for the line out of one of those spots. Hopefully the good news regarding a new coach and Reggie Bush will help recruit a free agent or two to fill some line positions as well.

This has been an eventful season for a team that was 2-14. At least it has taken up some of my time while I wait for the return of my National League Champion Astros!
Technorati Tags: Texans, Carr, ReggieBush, Heisman, Kubiak, Houston

Politics: Kickback Mountain

This is funny!

After news this week that DeLay is now done as the majority leader, the Brokeback Mountain pic makes me laugh even harder.

Found the image here... thanks Brains & Eggs. Loved his entry title for this picture too: "The Lobbying That Dare Not Speak It's Name"

Technorati Tags: Abramoff, DeLay, Politics

My Life: Is the week over yet?

It has been a really long week. Felt like 2 weeks stuffed into one. First, it was the first week back to school after 2 full weeks of vacation. Teaching is not an easy profession. I love it to death, but it's not easy. 8th period today I was just running on fumes. But, my kids are so great and my lessons are pretty good, so I doubt they even noticed. I was beat though. I crammed a chapter in per day this week. It kept class rather busy and I was going at a quick pace. But we'll be testing on Monday now - so that's cool. I may be the first teacher in the school to get a test in so far!

Also, my Dad's surgery was pushed back until next Wednesday. So that was a little disappointing. I think everyone was looking forward to getting it done and starting the process of recovery from open heart surgery. The Steeler playoff game Sunday should help take his mind off things for a few hours at least. I hope for a big time "old school" Steeler 'butkicking' win!

The baby has been going to bed so early this week. It was tough for him to adjust back to daycare this week. He didn't sleep well for the sitter in the afternoon and his bedtime has been a good 40 minutes to an hour earlier. Heck, one night he skipped his bath altogether and was in bed by 6:20. Crazy. But, he'll get back in the swing of things real soon.

We bought him a discounted rocking horse... although it's a rocking-cat! Pretty cool looking. Plus, it was on 'super sale' - only $19.99. We wanted so badly to put him on top of it and take pictures. But, we don't want him jumping up on it. He's too small now. For now, he drags it around the house. And he's been hugging on it... which is pretty darn cute.

Looking forward to catching my breath this weekend. Also can't wait for the NFL playoffs. Wildcard weekend is a lot of fun. Some really great matchups, especially in the freaking awesomely stacked AFC. Wow, what a lineup of teams there. When the Steelers are the #6 seed you know there is quality built in this year.

Also, got my shoutbox back up and fixed my sidebar. It had all kinds of formatting problems. Really was bugging me. So I reworked it. I think it looks a lot nicer. Also added a 'blogroll' feature. It is from Bloglines, which is my news reader. Great for blogs. But, I noticed how screwed up all of my folders are and I'll have to go in and edit and clean them up. Been a long time since I have done that.

Hope everyone has a restful and safe weekend!

Technorati Tags: NFL, playoffs, Steelers, Football, Bloglines

Politics: Cartoon That Says It All

Air Abramoff Strikes The Capital!

Politics: The Vultures Circle Around Delay in Sugarland

Looks like Tom Delay is in the crosshairs. This time it's not from a prosecutor (well that's still happening too) but from his own party.

Chron.com | Former Rep. Stockman joins field eyeing DeLay: "Former U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, who served a single term in Congress after being elected in the Republican sweep of 1994, now wants a shot at Republican Rep. Tom DeLay.

But this time, Stockman hopes to get on the November ballot as an independent candidate against DeLay, of Sugar Land, in the 22nd Congressional District.

Besides DeLay, Stockman could take on the man who ended his brief previous congressional career, former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, the sole Democratic candidate in the race."

DeLay will have the fight of his life just to keep his seat in Congress, let alone regain his leadership position! This will be fun to watch.

Technorati Tags: Congress, Politics, Delay, Election

Sports: In-VINCE-able, Texas 41 - USC 38

12 points down with 5 minutes to go. Vince Young had them right where he wanted them. Amazing.

School will be wild tomorrow. I am sure that it'll be all the kids will be talking about. It will be neat to see all the people with their Texas burnt orange on tomorrow.

==
I don't think I could ever be a HUGE UT fan. I am from Pennsylvania after all. But, it is neat to see your adopted home state win. And I have a huge reason to root for the Longhorns. One of my best friends in my life went to UT. My first year of teaching was spent in a room next to him. He taught math. I was history. We didn't have much in common, except we were both athletes. He was a runner. Ran and biked in competition and was in such incredible shape. We became great friends. I was in his wedding in Austin. On his honeymoon he started to get sick. They later diagnosed him with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and a year later he passed away. He was 26.

Ian is smiling somewhere right now. He is flashing that "hook-em-horns" sign, I can guarrantee it.
==

Incredible game. Lots of early nerves and turnovers, but the game settled in and it was a heck of an ending. Texas Longhorns get it done. Vince Young. Is there a performer in football when the bright lights are on and everything is on the line? He is a freak of athletic nature blessed with incredible poise.

He really does need to come out into the NFL Draft. He is miles and miles ahead of where Michael Vick was in college... and he's even better than him now in the NFL. Of course, this will open up the Houston Sports talkshow lines - they will be on fire. I can hear the calls now, "Forget about Reggie Bush... we need to let David Carr go and pick Houston's own Vince Young #1."

For my money, I'd pick Bush for the Texans. I think he'll be what they need... a gamebreaker. But, boy is Vince Young incredible. You can't go wrong with either guy. These are some of the greatest players in college football history. Vince Young has catapulted himself into that category with this season and this win. Amazing.

But, I hope people can just sit back and realize how great a team this has been and enjoy it. Thinking about next year already is so silly, when you realize it's been 35 years since Texas has won a national championship. But, I am sure they will be partying in Austin for months! Sixth Street has got to be a mad house.

Tags: Football, NCAA, RoseBowl, VinceYoung, NationalChampionship

Letterman: I love Dave!

Last night I didn't watch letterman on cbs. It is something I usually Tivo - but I recorded the Orange Bowl instead. I am sorry I missed Dave. He took on O'Reilly head on. About "The War on Christmas" about "Cindy Sheehan" and "Fair and Balanced" and "I don't watch your show!"

You can download the video of the interview with O'Reilly
Here. Look for the link called "Dave and Bill O'Reilly (1/3/06)". You'll need realplayer to watch it.

Very nice!

In case you don't have time to view it, here is my favorite Letterman smack on O'Reilly:

Letterman: “I’m not smart enough to debate you point to point on this, but I have the feeling, I have the feeling about 60 percent of what you say is crap. [audience laughter] But I don’t know that for a fact. [more audience applause]

Paul Shafer: “60 percent.”

Letterman: “60 percent. I’m just spit-balling here.”

Just cracked me up. O'Reilly always looks lost on someone else's set where he can't say: "Turn off their microphone!" My favorite quote about O'Reilly comes from Olbermann though: "If people cared about the personal lives of people in newspaper or TV, you would be working the change booth at a video arcade by now"

Tags: Letterman, OReilly, Sheehan, LateShow

Sports: College Football Season Coming to an End Tonight

A look at some numbers for the National Championship Game set for tonight:

• Texas No. 1 in the nation in scoring; USC No. 2.
• USC No. 1 in total offense; Texas No. 3.
• Texas No. 2 in rushing; USC No. 6.
• USC No. 5 in passing; Texas 42nd.
• Texas No. 5 in scoring defense; USC 27th.
• Texas No. 5 in total defense; USC 35th.

Looks to me like (by the numbers anyway) Texas has a pretty good shot! Especially when you consider the defense. But, USC hasn't won 39 games in a row for nothing.

My prediction: TEXAS 28 - USC 24. I think it's going to be a classic. These two teams may show some nerves and the score may be lower than most think. But, it will still be a classic. Wanna know who is going to star in the NFL in the next 10 years - watch this game! Stars galore.

It will be really cool to watch Reggie Bush and really project him in a Houston Texans uniform for next season. Neat.

But, I will be rooting for Texas and Houston's own Vince Young. Go Horns! I am not a UT fan originally. But, a big time Penn State fan. The Lions got it done for me last night... now it's the eyes of Texas on Pasadena.

My Life: Keeping my fingers crossed

My dad told me over the weekend that he has to have open heart surgery. Since then I really haven't had a good night's sleep. It is not that I am worried during the day and can't think straight or anything... but at night I am wide awake. Even if I only get 4-5 hours of sleep the previous night, I am still tossing and turning again.

My dad has a problem with a valve in his heart. It is very repairable, but still - open heart surgery is nothing to sneeze at. I am positive everything will go well though. Tomorrow they are going to go in and check for any blockages. Wednesday is the open heart surgery.

Tomorrow is also the first day of school when kids come back and the start of the new semester. Today we were told in a meeting that when the new high school opens next fall and splits our campus in 2, they will assign teachers to the new school, or to stay at the current school. We were also told that there will be a staff reduction in some cases. And they can not guarrantee us jobs.

Again, not something I run around all day long worrying about. But, still not cool to have bouncing around in the back of your head. I am very confident in my teaching and my ability. I love my classes, kids and parents - and truthfully, they love me. So I feel my reputation has been very good and I will have a job. Either I will work at the new amazing campus they are buiding... or I will be working where I am now (although they are gutting the school and rebuilding it over the next 2 years as well). All will work out. Oh yeah, our principal also dropped this bombshell - he's not coming back next year. Just when things are going to get crazy - he wants out. (not that I blame him entirely - it is going to be a hassle of all hassles to administrate a building that is being gutted and rebuilt - WHILE school is still going on over 2 years!)

[btw - See the construction on the new high school here]

So a little uncertainty. But, these things bounce around in your head, ya know. And I guess it keeps me up. I just have to cross my fingers and let things happen and it shall be done.

Tags: heartsurgery, education, insomnia

Top Ten 2005: My Top Ten Favorite Blog Entries of 2005

This is something I do each year. It may be corny, but I like looking back at the past year and the blog entries I have made. Then I kind of come up with a list of my favorites, or the ones that meant the most. I did this last year in 2004 as well. You can see that list here: 2004 Top Ten Blog Entries
In looking those over, 2004 just can't compare to 2005 in terms of the highs and the lows.

2005 will be remembered as a good year overall. But, there was plenty of tragedy and sadness for many. Our family didn't escape those emotions. The passing of my grandmother and also the shocking passing of Norma's mom left holes in our hearts this year. We are still recovering from these events, as are others in the Gulf Coast region due to the worst hurricane season ever recorded. Although we dodged Rita's bullet here in Houston, the impact of staring down a Cat 5 hurricane will be with me for a long time.

2005 was also a great year in our lives because of the growth of our little guy - Aidan. He is the light of our lives and it was very special to me to look back at the past year of blogging I have done and see him change each month. The little guy has such personality now. He is becoming independent. Such differences from last year at this time, when he slept through 2004's Christmas morning on Norma's lap.

2006 promises to give us lots of new wonderful memories for our immediate family. Hopefully it will not deliver the types of tragic news that we had to endure this past year. But, if it does, we will all rely on each other to get through these events and then look back next year and do this again. I am a history teacher. Remembering and learning from the events of our past doesn't just fill up books and create movies for the History Channel. What it does is remind us of our successes and failures; victories and defeats; & the ups and downs so that we can better survive what will come in our futures.

I have put together my top 10 blog entries of the year. I hope you enjoy checking them out as much as I enjoyed reading through this blog and pulling them out. (Drum roll please)

10- "Why 40?": A post that tells the tale of why I chose to call this blog FORDEE. And explains why the number 40 is important to me.

9 - "Aidan's First Astros Game': Believe it or not, it was the ONLY Astros game we went to all year. We didn't stay 'till the end and it was the best time I had at a game ever. Seeing Aidan enjoy the atmosphere, even at such a young age, was soooo kewl. We'll go to a bunch more this year when he can run around and enjoy it more. Plus, he can throw like a champ now. So maybe an Astros scout will sign him up?

8 - "My 35th Birthday: It was a special day to be able to share my birthday with Norma and Aidan.

7 - "Thanksgiving Vacation": What a great week we had! Xbox360, Food, Football, and lots of Fun with Aidan.

6 - "Our 10-year Anniversary: Norma and I celebrated 10 years together in married bliss. Of course, we have dated since 1992. Seems like that date gets further and further away! I am getting old!

5 - "Aidan's First Steps": One of those WOW moments in your life. Norma and I just looked at each other like, "did you just see what I thought I saw?" :)

4 - "Hurricane Rita": I could have picked a half dozen of my entries on Rita. But this one was the first after the electricity came back on and we were okay. Man, I have not really been scared like that before in my life. It was a really tough week. We missed 4 days of school (that we didn't have to make up! whooo hoo), sat through 9 hours of traffic to evacuate (only to turn around and come home), and then road out what was a pretty fierce storm - but nothing like the monster we thought was coming.

3 - "Passing of my Grandmother Goldie: This summer was just wild. I flew up to PA three times in three months. The first for 'vacation' for 2 weeks. The second because of the passing of Norma's mom. And then for the passing of my grandmother. She was a special person. And I will never forget how she used to touch my cheek and give me a kiss. It's the kind of thing that leaves a mark on someone as they grow up. I knew that she loved me and cared for me and that meant more than anyone can know.

2 - "Aidan's First Birthday": For a kid born on a night of a lunar eclipse and the first Red Sox World Championship in 86 years - he sure is something special. His first birthday will always be remembered for the cake that he devoured and then devoured and devoured and devoured some more!

1 - "The Passing of Norma's Mom": This was tough. Why is something so tragic #1 on my blog list? Well, it is the most impactful thing that happened to me and happened to my family in the past year. She was a unique person. I tried to summarize how I felt about her in this entry and how I feel about Norma's family - which I cherish.

Meanwhile, I will end this post with my "New Year's Resolution" -- take better care of myself. That includes these things: eating smaller portions each meal, exercising at least 3 times a week, and taking better care of my finances. All that tied up in a nice little "take better care of myself." We'll see how I do.

If you are still searching for a resolution, try the Resolution Generator, created by the fine folks at Geek-Foo. Just click on the "Get Your Resolution Here" and it will take you to their website. Then click again on "Get Your Resolution Here" and a new one will pop up each time. Then just pick one you like!

In the year 2006 I resolve to: Get an invisible friend. Get your resolution here My personal favorite: "Stop Wearing Pants" & "Wear Deoderant"

Technorati Tags: 2006Resolutions