Monday Morning Quarterback 1.17

Although I spend about three-times as much time on the other articles, these quickie little Monday Morning Quarterback postings are getting all of the attention. The 17 collections of thoughts that I usually throw together during my Monday lunch hour have had more readers than the other 70 stories collectively, that sometimes take me many hours over several days to complete. This doesn't bother me because I enjoy either one as much as I do the other and I have learned, over the years, that a client (or your boss,or the public, or any end-user) doesn't care how much time you put into something. They are only concerned with the end product and if they like it or not. In fact, I will put as much effort into a project as is needed, but I usually start with a "less is more" philosophy because if the end product is the same no matter how much  you put into it you might as well save that extra energy.

Note to all you men out there however: you can throw this whole concept out the window if your wife is the person making the request. Here are my notes from the week:

• Being from St. Louis and a Rams season ticket holder, I have seen a lot of mixed emotions in this town about the Superbowl this year. Most people love Kurt Warner on one hand and, I think, most dislike the Cardinals and their ownership on the other. Either way, it is really a great story and, I hope, it will be a great game.

• A couple of times, while hearing reports on the plane crash landing in the Hudson River last week, I heard correspondents corrected when they said Canadian Geese. Apparently, the proper name of the bird is Canada Geese. I'm not sure if it was the Canadians or the geese, but one of the groups was upset (I guess they didn't want to be blamed for bringing down that plane) and was sure to make a point of it.

• In similar news, in order to be certain to not accuse any other countries of involvement in accidents with non-resident subjects, we will refer to so-called subjects in the non-possessive vernacular. For instance: France Toast, Germany Potato Salad, India Giver, Brazil Wax and Poland Sausage. 

• Just to remind me of how soon our little baby boy will be here, MLW's cousin went into labor two-weeks early on Saturday. Welcome Olivia Joy. On our way to visit baby and Mom, my wife mentioned that M3S and she could marry because they are forth-cousins but I quickly convinced her that these families are already screwed-up enough to start messing with the gene pool any more than we already have.

• Talk around the Sunday Dinner table last night (after we were finished eating) turned to babies and deliveries and C-sections and stuff. The only one at the table that had not been through a birth but was still able to understand what we were discussing was my 22-year-old niece, who commented, "I wish we could just throw them up!" As freaky of an experience natural birth was-- and I wasn't even the one having the baby-- her idea may be even more bizarre.

• My Mom thinks I should write a book called Sunday Dinner. I explained to her that I am basically doing that by writing in this blog. I think she would enjoy reading it but she refuses to own a computer... or fly in a plane.

• Barrack Obama's Inauguration price-tag is somewhere around $150 million for four-days of events with 1.5 to 3 million attendees. This is more than three-times the amount that was spent for the most recent Bush bash and more than five-times the amount for Clinton's first-term inauguration bill. I don't feel like messing with the math but I think that is a more expensive ticket than the Superbowl... and I would think the taxpayer is taking care of the bill. Where are our priorities?

• I understand that they are re-naming Delmar in our fair city-- Barrack Obama Boulevard. This for a man that has not served a day in the presidential office yet. You would think that the St. Louis planning commission would have learned their lesson from when they named a stretch of I-70-- Mark McGwire Highway, only to have the muscle-bound slugger lay an egg in the Congressional hearings on steroid abuse in baseball.

• Do not try this at home... or anywhere else for that matter... and don't read this one if you have a weak stomach. I recently heard of a disgusting (even by my standards) practice young people have been participating in order to get high. They actually poop in a bag, let it ferment for a while and then snort the fumes produced. What is the world coming to? We did some pretty stupid things as kids for some pretty stupid reasons, but none even close to this stupid! I have a real hard time believing this one because if someone asked me to come up with the most gross, disgusting, stupid thing in the world, I would have a hard time thinking this up. Why can't they use this energy and experimentation with methane gases to develop alternative fuel choices-- if your going to play with poop-- it should at least be for a good cause.

• Similarly, I can't believe that their is a certain frequency that only humans under the age of 18 can hear and that they are making ring tones in these frequencies for the kids' cel phones. I believe that this is a giant conspiracy that has gone mainstream with stories on the national network newscasts. Millions and millions of kids across the globe are laughing at all the big dumb adults behind our backs. It is like a giant 21st-Century snipe hunt.

• I was looking at my niece's friend's and my sister's pierced noses yesterday and noticed something peculiar (I mean something besides the fact that my sister is 41-years old and has her nose pierced)-- their piercings were on opposite sides. I thought this might be another one of those things that I didn't know about because I was old but, because my sister too was old, this may be my opportunity to get an honest answer and I asked what was the significance of the locations. She gave me some long drawn out explanation of how a young girl of Indian descent told her that her mother told her about the meanings in ancient India and it turns out that there is no difference in the meanings of piercings on the left or right side of the nose... they both mean that you're a hussy.

Oh well. Read this. Buy T-shirts. Peace.

Monday Morning Quarterback 1.16

When we weren't busy with other things this weekend we were preparing for the new baby's arrival. The due date is still almost six-weeks out but MLW's cousin, who is also expecting, was sent to the hospital almost three-weeks early. She didn't have the baby, however, she was put on modified bed rest and will probably go this week. 

It's not that we won't be able to get by if our new Son would like to show sometime in the next couple of weeks... I'm not going to be that ready if he shows in July. Mentally, I am about as prepared as I am going to get and I would just like a little more time to get the house ready.

I am almost sure that we now have more baby and toddler clothes than my wife's and my wardrobes combined. As my wife went through and sorted them into piles by size-- 0-3 months, 3 months, 3-6 months, 6 months and so on and so on-- I worked on, finally, converting our home office into M3S's permanent room. We were very lucky that we are having another boy, this time around, as it has made the preparation much easier and much less expensive than if we had to re-decorate, re-organize and re-buy everything for a little girl.

I think my wife and I were pretty satisfied with the progress that we made and that is a rare occasion when we are both happy with such a project. We still need to paint some rooms and build a bed for M3S, but that doesn't need to be done before the stork drops-off our special delivery. I will write in more detail about the anticipation of the new arrival to our family in the coming weeks but, for now, here's the notes from the weekend:

• As my Son and I dug through the tangled mess in his toy-box, we sorted into boxes labeled: GOOD, BABY, DONATE and TRASH. When we were finished we found a place for stuff in the GOOD pile and, neatly, put it away; we sealed up the BABY box and put it in storage until his little brother is old enough to play with it; we gave the DONATE stuff to the "poor kids" and we threw out the TRASH. I was proud of the little guy because he did let me talk him into getting rid of some of his stuff even though I could tell by the look on his face that it was breaking his heart to give most of it up. I had to remember that as we were sorting through my stuff in the office. It made him feel better, though, because my boxes were labeled: GOOD, BUDDY, DONATE, TRASH. It is amazing how some of my old junk can bring joy to a three-year-old's face.

• Baby-proofing a house is very similar to how we used to party-proof a house when we used to have a blow-out when a friend's parents were out of town... except it is much harder on the knees.

• There is never a shortage of good things said about a person at his or her funeral but I have never, in my life, heard so many good things about a man than at the funeral we attended Saturday. For the sake of privacy, I won't mention any names but I would like to say I hope that when I go, I will have half as many people say half as many nice things about me.

• The National Safety Council is trying to get a nation-wide cel-phone ban for automobile drivers because of the evidence that mobile phone use increases the chance of being in an accident four-times. Okay-- you have finally convinced me... Seriously... I agree... Ban them. Okay, now can you do something to ban idiots, morons and asses from driving?

• I have an idea-- onion-free onion-rings-- onion-frings! and I think I have developed a way to make them. This could be my million-dollar idea.

• Three of four of the visiting-dogs won their NFL Playoff games this week-- that's parity for you. The National Football League is the most well-run organization in professional sports, even with the problems that they are having with the officials blowing calls.

• I will be the first to admit that I was a Kurt Warner basher. When he came back to the Rams after his broken finger, I thought he was done and, although he had a few incredible years, I thought he would just fade away after holding the clipboard for some young stud QB, never to be mentioned on SportsCenter again. Not only did I write him off but, I would be willing to bet, a good majority of football fans were with me. How wrong were we? Next Sunday, a bunch of those fans will be sitting in front of TV rooting on Warner as he will try to take the Arizona Cardinals to their first (his third) Superbowl. His is just an amazing story of perseverance that you almost have to root for him! When he came on to the scene, Sports Illustrated, did a cover story on him titled, "Who IS This Guy?" There is going to be a lot of similar questions if he leads his team in a home win against the Eagles next week. I don't usually do this but I am jumping on Warner's bandwagon because I now admire his work... and the Rams suck, Green Bay isn't much better, Favre is done for the season (or for good... or for the season... or for good...) and there is no other team left that I really care for at all.

• After Let's Roll 1.10, I put together a new Squidoo page: How to Tight Roll Your Pants-- check it out! You can create your own Squidoo page on anything you want! It's fun, free and easy!

• I got new shoes of the weekend. I've got two-words for you VEL CRO... Sure I look like I'm 73 instead of 43, (MLW even noticed that in the advertisement for the shoes the guy in the picture isn't even wearing them!) but they are super-comfortable (I wear out before my feet do), convenient (both-- on and off in 7.2 seconds... I timed it) and, most importantly, in these tough economic times, cheap ($11-- no holler)! I'm out.

Read this. Buy T-shirts. Peace.

Monday Morning Quarterback 1.11

I really should change the name of this weekly post to Tuesday Morning Quarterback or something because I think it has been a month since I published on a Monday. I don't know if it is that I am too busy because of the time of year and all of the stuff that's been going on or if it is that I am getting a little bored and I haven't made it a priority to write when I do have the time.

Spare time is always hard to find around the holidays but this year I'm going to take advantage of the technology and use the internet to handle most of my shopping chores. From the looks of the reports on my Website, many other smart consumers are doing the same.

Top Five keywords that resulted in visits to SkeetzTeez or SkeetzTeez blog:

5. land of the lost

4. stroke-chiropractor

3. suck for a buck

2. trivia

1. schweddy balls

Top five designs sold at SkeetzTeez:

5. Smallville Athletic Department

4. Suck It Trebeck

3. Charlestown Chiefs/Slapshot

2. I'm Cute

1. Big Brother/Big Sister

I have neglected the shop lately, hardly adding any new designs yet I have quite a few concepts started that I need to knock out before Thanksgiving so I can be included in the Holiday gift-giving rush. It is encouraging to see some interest in designs other than the political and baby stuff though. Many of my ideas are a little obscure but I am banking on there being enough interested customers out there, if I can just get the exposure on the shop so they can see what I have to offer.

If you know any of these, so-called, interested customers, forward this blog or tell them about my WebShop or, even better, just buy the gift and give it to them for Christmas! Here's the notes from the weekend:

• When I first opened the shop, I thought that most of my business would be from customers that requested custom designs for one or a few T-shirts but it was awfully easy to just throw a design up on the site and see who would buy it. I did, however, complete my first special order last week for a friend of MLW who is participating in a Walk for Breast Cancer. If you need a special event design-- just drop me a line.

• I'm a poet and don't know it.

• Christmas shopping for M3S has been made very simple this year as he has so eloquently informed me that all he wants is... everything-- every toy he sees on TV, in catalogs, at the mall and in some other kid's dirty little mitts.

• Is it normal for three-year-olds to know the word humungous and use it correctly in a sentence?

• Trivia is still a top keyword that is driving visitors to my Websites. I'm not sure why because I rarely write about trivia, but we have taken home two-firsts and one-second in the last three Trivia Nights we have competed in.

• My 20-year-old nephew's 19-year-old girlfriend said she has cleared upwards of $850 a day waiting tables at Hooters. You have to come up with your own punch line for this because there are just too many ways I can get myself in trouble with this one.

• Just for kicks, I was helping my fourth-grade niece with her Geography homework on Sunday. The first question was, "What is the capital of Washington, D.C.?" Who is checking the teacher's work?

• Unless your going to plan on making a career out of the military or as a travel agent, Geography is pretty much useless-- made that way by easy access to MapQuest and portable GPS units.

• If the feds are going to bailout the big-three automakers now, what's next? You can come up with your own punch line here too. I didn't mean it to be a joke... but it is.

• I can't imagine how one gets poison ivy this late in the year after more than one hard frost when all of the plants should be dead but, somehow, I managed to get a doozy of a batch. Pray that it doesn't get in my nook and crannies.

• It is going to be a tight race and come right down to the wire to determine if the Rams or our Fantasy Football team sucks more this year.

• My 22-year-old niece was finally convinced that I may "have something" with my theory that the stroke was caused by chiropractic treatment after seeing a video of a woman in Canada that had a similar story. Now that I have most (but not yet all) of the family on the bandwagon, I'm coming after you! Read my story, It Only Seems Fair, and then visit my Squidoo page, Stroke-Chiropractors to see all of the evidence for yourself!

• If you have a cause or even just an interest that you would like to get the word out about, Squidoo is an excellent, easy, free vehicle to do so.

• I'm sure glad Mimi is alright. Yes-- for her sake, but also Nanu's. He's a tough guy but I don't think he would get along very well without her.

• Can't say it enough... tell the people you love, that you love them... now!

No... I really mean it! Stop reading this blog and and call your Mom, Dad, Grandparents, Brother, Sister or anybody else that you care about, and tell them how you feel; step away from the computer and give your Wife, Husband, Girl or Boyfriend a kiss; find your kids and give them a big hug and then spend a few moments playing or talking with them because a time will come when you won't be able to do these things-- and I don't want you to blame me that you didn't take the time when you had the chance...

Then come back here and Read this. Buy T-shirts. Peace.

Monday Morning Quarterback 1.10

It seems like it has been weeks since I have written anything. I have a friend at work that always takes a post-vacation vacation day. It seems silly to waste an extra day off when you just had all of that time to relax but, whether it's due to me getting old or M3S being a handful to travel with, I could use an extra day to recover from the trip. It was only a three-day weekend, but I have a bunch of notes to write about so I am going to skip the Top Fives for now and get on with it while it is all fresh in my head.

• Used to be that when a young person went away to college they were gone until Christmas break unless they ran out of money and hitched a ride home for the weekend to get more. We went to Indiana to visit my sister-in-law for her school's family weekend and there was more family on campus than students because everyone went home. We were lucky she knew we were coming or she would've probably taking the five-and-a-half-hour drive home for the fifth time this semester and we would miss her.

• If the government is looking for a model of how to get dug out of this financial crisis they should look to the Colleges and Universities as it seems the several that I am aware of are in a financial boom with expansion and improvements running rampant.

• If you call someone from Indiana a Hoosier, do they consider it a complement.

• Indiana is proud of John Cougar Mellencamp. I heard more of his music in the last three days than I heard in the three biggest years of his popularity. I like his stuff as much as anyone but see no need for, WJCM: All Cougar-- All the Time.

• I have never worked in a fine eating establishment such as T.G.I.Friday's but I just can't understand how it can be that hard to split up a check, no matter how many people are on it, as long as you have already added in 15% gratuity.

• It's official-- M3S is my best friend now. We became blood brothers on our trip and he gave me some weird kind of brain meld.

• I will write in more depth on this in the next few months but I have a real concern that I have grown so attached my three-year old Son that it will be hard to not favorite him when the baby comes.

• Visited a church in Kokomo, Indiana on Sunday that was very cool. In addition to having a super amazing building and the most elaborate production of children's church that I could ever imagine, they were in the middle of a series based on The Beatles, of all things. I wish I could have heard more because everything that I ever heard says The Fab Four and God didn't cross paths very much.

• Did I mention, after starting 1-5 and then winning three in a row that our fantasy football team may be able to end up with a respectable season this year? If I did... I was wrong.

• After averaging almost 50 mpg in the Prius since we bought it, we got barely over 40 mpg on the trip, partly because of our speed, the weather, and having three passengers and their luggage for three-days packed in the space but mainly because MLW was in charge of the climate control and we would constantly be switching from heat to air-conditioning.

• Be sure to check SkeetzTeez often in the coming weeks because I have a ton of new design ideas that I will be adding in an attempt to get as many holiday gift sales as possible.

• Did you know: you have 30,000 individual thoughts in your head every day?

• Wall-E is a good movie with several interesting messages and an artsy essence that reminds me a bit of the Disney masterpiece Fantasia. Not really a kids' film, though, in my opinion.

• I have a theory that Cracker Barrel Restaurants, no matter how busy they are, always have at least a 20-minute wait for a table so you are stuck roaming around that silly craft store until you break-down and buy the $4.89 worth of stuff, just to distract the children (or wife) long enough to stop whining about how hungry they are.

• I am very proud of the attention that my Squidoo lens about Awareness of the Risk of Strokes with Chiropractors is getting. I am getting more and more hits every week as the word is being spread about the dangers of chiropractic neck procedures. If you have a loved one or a friend that is being treated by a chiropractor, make sure they see this before they are seriously injured!

I thought that I had a lot more than this to right but I am running out of time and can't think of anything else appropriate to write (I am trying to clean up my act). I hope to have something every day this week though and will certainly include anything I forgot in an upcoming article. Until then... Read this. Buy T-shirts. Peace.

Monday Morning Quarterback 1.08

No, you don't have your days mixed up. I'm running the MonAMQB log on Tuesday again because I was off yesterday. We get a floating holiday at work this year that I really don't understand how it is different from any other Personal Time Off which we switched to from Vacation and Sick Days several years ago. There is not a list of days that you must choose from to take your floating holiday on like Columbus Day or your Birthday. I just happened to take those days (a coincidence that they were on the same day this year) because MLW was off and we had a doctor appointment scheduled.

I don't have many notes from the three-day weekend because my mind was trying to get wrapped around the ultrasound on Monday and I wrote about that yesterday. I did have a few things jotted down, though, and I will try to expound on them a little bit as I have the space and time:

• Thanks for all of the birthday greetings. It was nice the way that the baby stuff, sort of, overshadowed the annual reminder of my imminent demise, but also nice for the special wishes.

• Facebook is really slick. It's a nice way to keep up with people of different degrees of interest in a mutually acceptable way. Don't understand what I mean? Let me put it more bluntly: You can be friendly with people that you want to and people that you don't care to with a, seemingly, similar amount of effort. Now you get it? How 'bout this: You don't have to contact all of your friends individually-- you can just post a greeting and everyone is responsible to read it at their leisure.

• SkeetzTeez has had a terrible dry spell until this weekend, when things picked up a bunch. I did, however, make enough over the last month to order MLW some cool maternity shirts and had some money left in the account to get myself my favorite new, Man on First: Wiffleball t-shirt!

• My shirts are getting more attention when we wear them out in public so I made up cards with the websites listed to hand out when people ask about the designs. M3S is a great model and I even had several people comment on the See Spot Run design on Saturday.

• Thinking of a way I can get talent shots on the cafepress Site. Want to be on the Web? Send me a picture of yourself in something you bought on SkeetzTeez and I will give you something in return. What? I don't know what! But something... good.

• If the Rams can win a couple more, it may be hard for our fantasy team to have a better record at the end of the season. Right now, we're tied.

• It's chili season again! I am signed-up for a couple of cook-offs but I am torn between sticking with my award winning Screaming Mimi recipe which, technically, I should not be able to eat on my new diet or go the more healthy route, modify the good-but-not-good-for-you ingredients, risk that it sucks and be the laughing stock of the competition?

• Do bees die in the winter? M3S loves to go to the farm and watch the beehive that they have in a two-sided glass display case. We go maybe once a month or so but more often this time of year because they have the harvest festival with corn mazes, a petting zoo, pony rides, a pumpkin patch and other fun stuff for the kids but his favorite part is still watching the bees. He is such a smart boy and I just want to find out the answer so I can come up with an explanation before he asks.

• I have started a list of things that M3S says and asks that I will write on in the near future.

• In the simplest terms, I am thankful that I made it to my 43rd Birthday because there was a period of time in the last year when I wasn't sure if I was going to make it and, if I did what kind of shape I would be in.

• Iron Man: 3.75/5 stars. Don't Mess with the Zohan: less than 3.0 and it is not a family film.

• Visit my Squidoo Lenses if you have any interest in any of the subject matter and make your own if you don't. Each lens is updated at least weekly with fun new stuff. I currently have all of these available for your viewing pleasure:

• SkeetzTeez: Pop Culture T-shirts and Gifts

• Urban Cougar

• Urban Prankster Network

• Shermer High School

• Mix Tapes

• How to Make a Suck for a Buck T-shirt

• Jort Fashion

• Mullet Fashion

• That's What She Said

• Immaturity

• Giving it 110%

In closing, I have had a few people say to me recently (most of which I have known for 20 or more years), "I didn't know you could write!" My immediate reaction is to reply, "Well yes, they taught me that in Grade School and I have been doing it ever since," but I don't want to be rude.

Most people can tell a story or joke or about their summer vacation without much of a problem but have a brain freeze when it comes to putting it down on paper. I have found that it is so much easier to write then speak. Part of this may be because of the trouble I was having with my speech but, when you think about it, what is really the difference between speaking and writing? In my opinion it is much easier to write because you have time to think about what you are going to say and you can always erase and redo it you get in trouble.

Fact is, I am having a ball doing this. I sometimes get bored with new projects quickly but I still look forward to taking the 45-minutes to an hour to have my say. I hope anybody reading is enjoying it as half as much as I am. If you know anybody that may be interested in it too, please forward the link on to them and...

Buy T-shirts. Peace.

Monday Morning Quarterback 1.07

I was just too darn busy last week to get to the Let's Roll article where I usually post the numbers from the previous week. Sales at SkeetzTeez have been sluggish, to say the least, but from what I gather, with the economy the way it has been, I should be lucky to see any kind of traffic.

Top five keywords that resulted in visits to SkeetzTeez or SkeetzTeez Blog:

5. favre

4. jorts

3. urban cougars

2. cubs

1. suck for a buck

Top five designs sold at SkeetzTeez

5. Suck It Trebeck

4. Sweet Sixteen

3. McCain/Palin (McMaverick/Sarahcuda)

2. Slapshot- Charlestown Chiefs

1. Big Brother (Sister)

Here's my notes for the week:

• Too bad the Cubs Fans Wear Jorts T-shirts didn't catch on any quicker. They were bounced so quickly from the payoffs that no one had time to hate them. Oh well-- there's always next year.

• The Urban Cougar lens is getting so much traffic that it past my foundational lens SkeetzTeez in the Squidoo rankings. It is mostly perverts looking for porn but the site is rated G (but may lean towards PG).

• Hey-- the Rams didn't lose this week! I wish our fantasy league would have buys so we could say the same.

• October 2- First sighting of this year's Christmas stuff at the stores (Walgreen's).

• I actually cleared $1.35 from my Squidoo lenses in August-- after contributing to my charity, StrokeNet! I didn't realize I was doing anything to make a dime!

• Now that the economic bailout package has been passed, let's get things fixed with the market and such. It's hard to get anything done with the whole nation in a panic.

• Isn't it bazaar how all QTs are almost exactly alike? From the pattern of taquitos on the little rolly things to the general appearance of the uptight clerks trying not to look uptight is all spookily the same. I sometimes forget which location we are at when I come out from one of the 8-10 weekly trips and have to check the GPS before we get on our way.

• QT does have the best beverages available and the bathrooms are fairly, acceptably clean and easy to find (very important when M3S decides that he does have to go potty even though he was sure that he didn't have to the 17 times I asked him in the half-hour prior to leaving his Mimi's house.)

• Along with thinking about names, I never thought I would be so concerned about poop in my adult life either-- and nobody wants to hear about it so I will stop there. Except...

• Funny: Schwa said he had a poop like sand. (I don't know how that can be so hilarious to me and, at the same time, scar MLW for life.)

• I'm a little worried about my brother. He's turning 40 this week and I'm not sure, but it seems like it is affecting him more than it did the other guys. I sent him a Dr. Porkenheimer's Bonerjuice T-shirt from the shop. I hope it cheers him up! Happy Birthday C-Bear!

Hope everyone has a good week. I am still real busy but plan on having several blog entries after my weekend with my best buddy, including a story on Why I like Mondays, my thoughts on another birthday coming up and the ultrasound where we find out the gender of the baby next week. Buy T-shirts. Peace.

Monday Morning Quarterback 1.06

Let's start off with some football talk today. The Scott Linehan era (or you could describe it as error) ended today in St. Louis. I saw a on-line poll that asked if this was a good idea. 78% of the respondents answered "yes", 19% said "it doesn't matter" leaving only 3% that thought he should remain as coach of the team... I didn't think he had that much family in town. 

Personally, I don't really think it will make much of a difference this year. The team's problems go way deeper than the Head Coach's positions and, unless they are going to make some wholesale changes, I think it is going to be a long while before we see anything close to another Superbowl caliber team in here. It is a shame, though, as I went to the game yesterday and saw thirty-minutes of decent football being played... and then the Rams had to show up at the start of the second half.

Here's my notes from the weekend:

• Speaking of football, something needs to be done about the NFL's excessive celebration rule because it it too subjective for the referees to call. The Rams were penalized when Stephen Jackson pulled a "Lambeau Leap" into the stands after his first rushing touchdown of the season but the Bills Special Team's six-man, sausagefest, patty-cake, hug-party in the end zone after a kickoff touchback, of all things, was overlooked. Which celebration seems more excessive to you?

• On Saturday we took M3S to my nephew's birthday party at a place called SkyZone--a very cool place with basketball-sized courts covered from end-to-end with trampolines, some of which are not flat, but placed at 45-degree angles. The kids that worked there can do some pretty wicked stuff. I wish I could of given it a try but my (uh-emm) groin didn't allow that.

• Now that I have a three-year old and am lucky enough to attend all these birthday parties, I have some questions that need to be asked. Don't any kids have parties at home anymore? And if mine do, are none of their little friends going to want to come because there are no multi-million dollar facilities with enough dangerous equipment to seriously injure, not only every kid at the party, but several of the parents that are just standing around hoping that none of the other parents talk to them or semi-comatose 17-year-old hostesses licking her chubby, little fingers because they are smeared with icing off the cake that she was not supposed to touch, under any circumstances, even if you have gloves on?

• My folks had the Christmas catalogs at their house last week. Although I think it is a little early for this, as a cafepress shopkeeper, I can understand why the retail stores get them out early. I can't understand, however, how there are already pages folded over and toys circled in the books. Do the kids get ahold of them before we bring them into the house?

• Because I wrote about it last week, I'm not going to go into more depth about the economic bailout except to say, "Told you so."

• I heard that if the government took the money that is being spent on the bailout and divided it, equally, between adult Americans, it would come to almost $400,000 per person. I'm almost sure that this is an exaggeration but, even if it was $4,000, I think I would feel more comfortable with that money in my pocket, or on the wall of my living room, in the form of a high-definition, 68" flat-screen TV, than with the banks and borrowers that let us get in this situation.

• A big shoutout to my good friend Mona who I can't thank enough for introducing me to MLW and for reading the blog. We collaborated on a cute little design for her daughter, Maddie's (did I spell that right?) Sweet Sixteen. Happy Birthday, Kiddo!

• Word of the week that you haven't heard in twenty years and probably never used, yourself, because you would just, outright, curse instead: Jeepers!

• Funny cap: My Dixie Wrecked.

• Saw a news story, over the weekend, quoting a Chinese, 2000 Olympic medal-winner, Yang Yun, that the recent age controversy was caused be a slip of the tongue. Yes... she accidentally didn't lie about her age to a reporter... ooops!

• In another story about a recent survey of married couples, it was determined that it is the women in the relationship that make the "big decisions" in a ratio of 5:2 over the men. However the wives participating in the study thought their husbands were making those decisions 90% of the time. The husbands were confused, though, with only 9% of participants being able to correctly determine who was making the decisions in the household. Of the remaining 91%, 32% were wrong and, an amazing 59% were unsure-- apparently thinking their answer was a "big decision", in itself, and leaving it for their wife to answer.

I've got some more, including stuff on my attempt to save the environment and a buck with my hybrid car and a boa constrictor (this one can't be missed) but I'm thinking about doing full articles on them later in the week. With the economy being a big issue, as well as the local football saga and the Vice-Presidential debate going down in St. Louis on Thursday, it looks to be a busy week so, for now, I'm gonna say... Buy T-shirts. Peace... until tomorrow.

Monday Morning Quarterback 1.05

Today is the first day of Autumn. I think I mentioned before that this is probably my favorite time of the year. The weather is cool and crisp so we can turn off the air conditioner and, although it is getting dark earlier, we still have a few more weeks before daylight savings time is over. The only thing I can think of that I don't care for around this time of the year is my allergies that seem to get worse and now and the Spring. I'll get by with a little help from Claritin D even though I will spend a small fortune on it in the next month or two.

I am lucky to live in the Midwest, where we have all four seasons, but I would like it if the moderate climates of Fall and Spring where longer than the extremes of Summer and Winter. They often say, "If you don't like the weather in St. Louis today-- wait until tomorrow." Here's my notes for today:

• We went to do some karaoke for my niece's 22 birthday on Saturday. It wasn't the people in their 40s and 50s singing my song set--it was the darn 20 year olds. Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, Neil Diamond, Rick Springfield and Journey? Get your own music! Someone said it was because of video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band and TV and Movies like The Sopranos that use classic music but my theory is that these kids are smart and today's music sucks so they have come to relate with the old stuff.

• The younger generation may be into the music but they no nothing about playing air guitar.

• Jordo got several Compilation CDs as gifts from her friends. It reminded me of mix tapes and the movie High Fidelity and inspired the Squidoo lens, Mix-Tape.

• Week three in the NFL was pretty bizarre with Miami beating the Pats and Indy almost losing again to a weaker opponent but the Rams still may be the worse team in the league and our fantasy team may not be much better.

• Shermer, Illinois High School's mascot is the bulldog. This is just one of the many interesting facts I learned while researching my Shermer High School lens.

• M3S is growing up so fast. He went peepees standing up over the weekend several times. Maybe because that was such a bonding experience between a boy and his Dada or maybe it's because his Mother is going to be having to spend more attention with the new baby, but he is switching from a Mama's boy to his Father's Son in the matter of a couple of weeks.

• All the new TV shows are starting up and I am not, at all, interested in any of them. All I get to watch anyway is Sprout and Noggin.

• Facebook is pretty cool. I have four friends and there are some pretty cool applications associated with the Site. My sister doesn't approve of me joining but I don't approve her pierced nose.

Short but sweet this week. Buy T-shirts. Peace.

Let's Roll! 1.04

In case anyone cares (Cox and Steepo) I am writing Friday's post late Thursday night so I can attend to the very important task of having the bowling team shirts embroidered at lunch tomorrow. Its doesn't really matter because I have a hard time falling asleep on the nights that I bowl in the league. It must be all of the pent up stress to do well for my team. The way things are going, I'm surprised I'm still a member. That's why I haven't gotten the shirts done yet-- once I hand them over they will be able to cut me.

I'm getting pretty good at this blog thing. This week, alone, I have figured out how to add hyperlinks to the stories and how to schedule drafts to be posted at a later time. This allows me to write when I have time and publish on a regular basis. It did take me a little while to figure out, exactly how to do it though, so yesterday's post was missed by most. If you didn't get to read it, make sure you check it out now as it is, by far, my favorite article I have done up to this point.

Top five keywords that resulted in visits to SkeetzTeez or SkeetzTeez Blog:

5. fantasy football

4. schweddy balls

3. land of the lost

2. shopkeeper designs

1. suck for a buck

Top five designs sold at SkeetzTeez

5. Coming Soon Maternity T-shirt

4. Suck It Trebek

3. I'm Cute Kids' T-shirt

2. McCain/Palin (McMaverick/Sarahcuda)

1. Big Brother (Sister) '09

The Big Brother and Big Sister designs took back the top spot this week. I guess as we get closer to the election, people start to lose interest. That's the problem with kids today. Let's Roll:

shopkeeperdesigns.com

A month or so ago, I think I mentioned that I had joined a blog exchange or crossover blog. The concept is pretty simple in that each member does one story per month in their own blog about a design in another shopkeeper's cafepress collection. They finally got it up and running and there is, definitely, a bunch of talented people involved. In fact, I am considering buying a shirt for MLW from the shopkeeper that I was assigned this month and wrote about in the Designs We Like article this week.

As you can see from the Statcounter report, the exchange drove a lot of hits to my sites this week. I thought I would do the group a solid and mention it for a second time this week in this forum. If you can't find what you are looking for in SkeetzTeez, maybe you can find it in one of the other shops. 

But remember: any time you have an idea for a design or want a certain concept drawn up, let me know via the comment section or one of my other portals. I can complete T-shirts just for you or if I create the design and sell it I will give you a portion of the profits.

teeblr.com

Another place to find talented artists and some wicked-cool T-shirts is Teeblr.com. As far as T-shirt ranking Websites go this is, by no means, the biggest but the quality more than makes up for the lack of quantity. I think there is only a few designers submitting shirts, at this time, although, by most similar sites' standards they are "smarter than the average sportswear".

Several SkeetzTeez are ranked as the Top Teeblr shirts, in fact the idea submitted by Maverick has been number one for a few days now. I don't want to stuff the ballot box so I'm not going to mention what designs are mine but, if you have a minute and want to check out some decent tees, visit and vote for your favorites.

squidoo.com/urbanprankster

Urban Prankster is hot. I'm not sure what is driving it but this Squidoo Lens is flying up the ranked charts. UPN is a spin off of the highly popular, and overexposed, New York group, Improv Everywhere. You've probably seen some of the public "scenes" they have orchestrated, accomplished, filmed and submitted to YouTube. Grand Central Station Freeze, New York City Subway Human Mirror, Best Game Ever and Food Court Musical are some of the more successful missions. 

Urban Prankster is coordinating similar networks in cities around the globe and you can participate in your community's next prank. This lens features classified links showing how to join as well as covert tools you can acquire to start you on your new clandestine secret agent journey and underground, undisclosed YouTube videos to give you an idea of what to expect of the undercover, confidential operations in your future. Virtual, invisible ink prevents non-members from compromising concealed information, but the encoded solution can be revealed with a stealth hand and sharp mind.

I'd tell you more, but I'd have to... well... you know. 

rickroll

You've been Rick Rolled. This is too, too weird to explain. If you want to waste another 3:31 of your life read the official wikipedia or urban dictionary definition.

Have a good weekend. I'm going to bed. Buy T-shirts. Peace.

Memories of "The Lot"

Every young boy dreams of being famous-- usually a professional ball player of some kind or maybe an astronaut, or performer. They are going to conquer the world, discover new things, have millions of fans, break world records or be declared a hero. When I was a young boy, I did most of my dreaming where a lot of children do, on "the lot".

"The lot" can mean different things to different people. It can be an empty field, common ground, or even a parking lot. In our case, "the lot" incorporated all of these as it was the Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church Campus, occupying most of the inside of the suburban block that many of us lived on or near. 

It was a fairly small parish of, probably, 400 families. The campus was comprised the church building and a school with five classrooms and a multipurpose room. If you don't count the metal, shed-like concession stand, that was all of the structures so there was a ton of open space. There was a quad area between the two buildings that was kept up nicely but rarely used and a very large area that we just called "the hill" but it was really just a slightly sloped piece of land, running from the school down to the street that was supposed to be used for a gymnasium that was never built. The athletic field and the large parking lot took up most of the rest of the space. I always thought the parking lot was extremely large for a parish our size as I don't think I ever saw it more than 3/4 full-- even for Easter Vigil. All that space made for a huge amount of room to play. 

Kids today don't play like we used to. They need a coach and a referee and a permission slip to play. They need warm up exercises and family members in the stands and they need a cool, healthy but tasty treat after they formally line up and parade past each other slapping hands and chanting a monotone, "good game, good game, good game...".

I can think of maybe nine days that I wasn't up on the lot, after school when it was in session and, basically, all day in the summer, from the time I was able to leave the front yard and cross the street on my own until I was able to drive. We would all congregate, choose up teams and play until the fight broke out or it got dark, at which point we would drag all of our stuff home until the next day when we would do it all over again.

There was no schedule-- no set time to start. Everyone would just show up and as soon as we had enough to play it was go time. If you showed up late, you sat out until another came to make the teams even or were designated, "all-time-hiker" (or catcher, or goalie). 

Captains were usually the two oldest, biggest or the best athletes and the last person picked was probably the youngest, smallest and most uncoordinated. This practice may seem cruel, by today's standards, but I prefer it to giving every kid a trophy just for showing up. It was honest and let you know where your strengths and weaknesses were and made you determined to improve. 

Everyone was playing for themselves. There were no parents to make proud or girls to impress except the ones that were playing with us and we were an equal opportunity organization-- the girls were treated like boys. This, generally, made it all fair and fun.

Disagreements on the field were kept on the field. We called our own fouls and made our own penalties and if we had a problem working something out, as a last resort we had a "do-over". More often than not a escalating disagreement, bordering on a fight, would end the game for the day but because there was no clock we needed something to mark the end of the day. After all, we still had to make the trek home before the streetlights came on and, back then, we didn't have cel phones that we could use to call Mom and have someone pick us up.

There were no set seasons for particular sports on the lot either, although we were more likely to be playing Indian Ball than Roller Hockey in the dead of summer and we would usually stick to one pastime for a week or two before we got bored. We tended to mix it up pretty much but, living in Soccertown, USA, we naturally mix in a little more of that the the others.

"The field" was in pretty poor condition through most of the year. The infields had no grass and it was sparse and clumpy in the outfields. It was set up differently for baseball and soccer through parts of the year but we could do either at any time. We would usually play soccer on the quad though because it made it tough to run the whole field with less than eight or so guys per team. 

Hockey was played at the far end of the parking lot where it was not unusual to see just as many skated players as those in street shoes playing together. This is also where the basketball hoops were located. Although it was set up so you could play full court, we rarely played anything more than HORSE or "around the world".

"The hill" was where would normally play football. A quick poll of the available players would determine whether the game would be tackle or touch and with a real ball or the Nerf. We would also fly our kites and, when it snowed, sled on that hill, not that I would consider them sports, but it was cool because every kid in the neighborhood knew that was the place to be.

I wouldn't really consider Fenceball a sport either, but we played it more than any of the other stuff. I have no idea where Fenceball came from. For all I know, it was played only at OLM by only the kids on that lot. I'm not completely sure that my friends and I didn't invent the game. All I know for sure is that I kicked that ball up against that fence more times than I can begin to count. I kicked it with friends, strangers and by myself. I kicked off the bomb (a bad thing) and I kicked it off the post (a good thing). 

It is a very simple game with almost no rules-- you get one-touch to make the ball hit the front of the backstop fence (without using your hands). If you miss you are out and last one in... wins! There were variations over the years that, for the sake of time, I won't get into here and now... maybe on a future post. 

Still, to this day, some 25-30 years later, however, I can still visualize every inch of that dusty field-- especially the screen and the infield where we played Fenceball. I still dream, literally, of playing on "the lot" and conquering the world, discovering new things, having millions of fans, breaking world records and being declared a hero. 

I wonder if the others that played like that have as fond of memories as I do? In the case of our lot, they can be bittersweet memories because the lot doesn't belong to OLM anymore. Reorganization of the Catholic parishes in the area left it vacant and it was eventually sold to the public school district. I still drive by every once in a while and even stopped a time or two. They have left it, pretty much, unchanged-- yet it is very, very different.

Several years ago, I started writing my life list-- things I wanted to make a point of doing in my lifetime, but I put it aside, unfinished, a short time later. When I had the stroke, I guess because it was a reminder short a lifetime is, I dug it back out. The first entry on the page is "Go up to the lot and play Fenceball with my son."

I think he is old enough now to kick and still young enough to be impressed when I tell him that I hold the world record for kicking a soccer ball up against this fence...

...he may even declare me a hero.

Check out the latest addition to the Old Time Sport Series: When it was more than a game--Soccer: If it moves, kick it. If it doesn't move, kick it until it does.

Monday Morning Quarterback 1.04

I can't quite figure out how it seems we do nothing over the weekend and still I am so, so tired on Mondays. I mean dead tired! And all day long! I thought I was going to doze off driving to get something for lunch. 

If it was just because of the brain injury, you would think that it would be getting better instead of worse. I'm sure the meds have something to do with it and aging certainly doesn't help but I didn't expect it to be this bad yet.

I think we should bring back nap time. Remember kindergarten? We would get out our mats and lay down after snack time. I know I fell asleep. I wonder if everyone did and how long they let us lay there. 

M3S doesn't do very well with naps. I can get him to lie down with me but it is usually me that falls asleep first. Then he gets up and starts the party. He has this "night-hyper" thing going when he gets sleepy, he will get all excited and talk a mile a minute. M3S definitely has inherited this super power from MLW but I am more than familiar with the phenomenon because my brother suffered from it as a kid.

OK, my tired brain is starting to wander in too many different directions. Let's get on with my notes from the weekend:

• Two words regarding Tina Fey's job doing Governor Palin on SNL: Told ya.

• Stages of my life and Saturday Night Live viewership: 1) Too young to stay up to watch. 2) Old enough to stay up but not old enough to understand the jokes. 3) Old enough to understand but too busy to watch. 4) Time to watch but too old to understand the jokes. 5) Too old to stay up to watch. I'm somewhere between stages 3 and 4 with periods of 5.

• Unfortunately, I was a bit off on my comment, last week, that Brett Favre was a winner no matter what team he played for but I'm man enough to admit it and I'm still not giving up on him.

• It is also unfortunate that I was not off on my other football comments last week: the Rams suck and so does our Fantasy team.

• Hot: Urban Prankster Network Squidoo Lens. I have no idea why. http://www.squidoo.com/urbanprankster

• Not: How to Make a Suck for a Buck Squidoo Lens. I had to change the rating from R to G because it just wasn't getting any action. The pecker straws must have scared away a few people: http://www.squidoo.com/suckforabuck

• Happy Birthday to potential readers: Carrie Fitz, Our Cousin Vinnie and Jordo! Kareoke Saturday!

• Let me just say in my own defense and with all due respect, "Let's Roll" was not made up on Flight 93. It is not trademarked or copyrighted and, in fact, according to wikipedia, may have its origins as early as 1908 and has been mentioned in Farris Buelller's Day Off, Hill Street Blues and the Simpsons before 2001 when, on September 11, it became a symbol of heroism and self sacrifice. I had not intended disrespect in titling this Link Roll "Let's Roll" and sincerely apologize to anyone who may be offended.

• Phrase of the week that you haven't used in 20 years: Shoot the Chit. As in: talk.

• I joined Facebook to help promote the SkeetzTeez shop at: http://www.cafepress.com/skeetzteez. I put it off until now because I wasn't sure if it was appropriate for adults to be hanging out on a Social Networking Website, but a lot of successful shopkeepers to advertise. I will let everyone know how it works out but, in the mean time, it is yet another way that readers can give me feedback. I would love to hear from you!

Tryptophan!!! That's why I am so freaking tired. We had turkey for dinner last night!

Monday Morning Quarterback 1.03

This is the first time since I started blogging that the Monday Morning QB column will be published in the NFL regular season. I don't want this space to be taken up with football talk on Mondays, or any other day, for that matter but I will start, this week, with a few observations from the gridiron. I am more a fan of professional football than anything close to expert commentator, and I won't go very in-depth, but wanted to point out some things that were surprises after the first weeks games and a few things that were not:

Surprises:

• Brady's done for the year.

• The Bears rolled into Indy and spanked the Colts.

Not Surprises:

• Favre is a winner in whatever city he plays in.

• The Rams are in for another long year...

• ... but not as long as my fantasy team.

The only good thing to come out of this week's FFL scores is the lowest score for the week gets the first shot at the Waiver Wire. That's a big deal when a couple of high ranked picks get injuries that knock them out for the season. On with the other stuff:

• Went to Disney on Ice: An Incredibles Adventure in Disneyland with MLW and M3S on Friday. For the first time in my life, I truly appreciate all of the stupid stuff my Dad would take us to when we were young as the highlight of the night was waiting for Frozone to fall on his tookus every, single time he was on the ice. Thus, sadly reinforcing the stereotype that only white cartoon characters can ice skate (or play hockey) to millions of little kids.

• A new design by request in the shop: Urban Cougar Fitness. Check it out at:  http://www.cafepress.com/skeetzteez/5956090

• I also went against my better judgement and added a political design. I didn't think it was a good idea because depending on one's view you turn off 42%-48% of your potential customers and confuse the 9%-12% of undecided people.

• Which reminds me: When replying to a poll, if you don't have an opinion on the subject do you check the no opinion box or just not answer the question? 

• "The epitome of hyperbole." If you correctly pronounced that statement you are among only 

2.9% of english speaking Americans who could.

• Two additional things that prove that I am old: I had heard of less than 2.9% of the artists featured on the MTV Music Awards last night and I, not only, remember when MTV played music videos but I also remember when there was no MTV. Really!

• I did two new lens on Squidoo last week: Shermer High School and Urban Cougar. You can see all ten of my lenses at: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Skeeeeeetz.

• Did you know that there are over 40 names for cougar (the animal) in the English language? Some of them include Puma and Mountain Lion.

Until tomorrow... Peace.

Oh– one more thing. If anyone knows my sister-in-law, who used to be a regular reader, tell her we said Hi!

Time Out!

I started this blog, first and foremost, to promote my cafepress shop. I have found, recently though, that if I have a platform, I am going to find all kinds of stuff to write about. I hope any readers that I do have, find the variety interesting. I would think that me writing about T-shirts every day would get pretty boring so in some posts my designs are somewhat of an afterthought.

I am going to continue to mix it up from day-to-day and try not to focus too much on the shop, or my stroke, or the fantasy football league, or any one thing in particular. I have read on blogs about "how to be a blogger" that this is not, at all, recommended. I think the reasons are the same that our band, 1.sick.puppy, never really hit it big. We were pretty good, but we tried to do too many different types of music to appeal to everyone (including the four guys in the band). The result of this tactic gave us lots of people that liked some of the stuff we did, but not very many people that really loved everything we did (including the four guys in the band).

This was not that important to me with the band and is not that important to me with the blog because, in both cases, what is important to me is that we're having fun and doing something positive. (When it comes to stuff like this, I have given up on saving the world and just want to focus on those two things.) Besides, I would rather touch a lot a people a little than a little people a lot... I think.

So– this is how we're gonna roll. We will continue to write what we feel at the moment and see where this thing goes. Wherever we go, I hope you can enjoy the ride. I'll drive... you navigate.

I would still love to here from anyone who has comments on my blog. That's what the comments section is for. Don't be afraid!

A new feature on blogger.com: You can follow skeetzteez by clicking on the button to the right!

Oh yeah– one more thing! I've been adding lots of new designs to: http://www.cafepress.com/skeetzteez. Check 'em out!

Monday Morning Quarterback 1.02

I'm running Monday Morning QB on Tuesday this week because, honestly, I was just too beat yesterday to think about writing. My intentions were good but after the third annual family camping trip at Aunt Rita's on Sunday night, I spent most of my Labor Day getting caught up on the sleep I lost by taking several naps.

• Even though today is, probably, more Summery than yesterday there is something in the air (or maybe just in my head) that makes it feel more like Fall. I usually love this time of year. It reminds me of going back to school (which I guess I really liked), gearing up for soccer season, chili cook-offs and parish festivals. I can't wait for the first chilly night.

• Speaking of back to school, Ashley started her first semester at Indiana Wesleyan today. I hope she continues to be one of the few regular readers of this blog. Be good, Kid... but try to have a little fun, too! Are you excited yet?

• Speaking of soccer, I think my new design, "Future Soccer Mom", is one of my best. Check it out at: http://www.cafepress.com/skeetzteez/5924462

• Had a hot stone massage on Friday night. I don't know why men have a problem with going to a spa and getting rubbed. They have made hair salons geared for men, where they serve you beer and show sports games on your own personal flat screen TV. Why not have massage parlors for guys?

• I'll stay away from talking politics and I'm not going to comment on what she looks like or anything about her personal life. In fact, I only have three words to say about Sarah Palin: Tina Fey look-a-like.

• Two good video rentals we've seen recently: Dan In Real Life and Definitely... Maybe.

• Word of the week that you haven't heard in 20 years: Jipped (as in: I got jipped.)

• A big shoutout to the girls (and guy) at Sanford-Brown. I was a guest speaker in Kelly's OT class today. I enjoyed talking with them about my stroke and recovery. A real nice group of folks.

• Fantasy Football (and NFL regular season) starts this week. Here's hoping for a winner.

I thought that I had more to write about this week but I can't remember anything else. Must be that three day weekend. Peace.

Is it me or am I getting old?

Today it finally happened. There is a new guy at work that was born after I started here almost 19 years ago. I am definitely getting old but I am extremely lucky to have a really good core group of friends that has been together since our childhood to soften the blow by growing old with me.

I was very lucky to have a lot great friends come a visit when I had my brain attack. So many, in fact, that we had to limit the number of people and at what time people could come to see the freak. 

In the beginning, that is exactly how I felt and I was unsure about allowing anyone to see me in my pathetic condition. My concern over modesty, however, diminished quickly as I had to rely on others to help with the most simple of acts. There is something about being almost totally helpless that makes you re-evaluate your priorities and gain a new found faith in the human race so after a day or  two, when I fully understood what had happened to me, I was fine with visitors. Many of my visitors, though, were not fine with me. 

I can't really explain the looks on my friends faces when they saw me for the first time... pity, worry, fear, mortal, fragile? I don't know exactly but I know that I had felt the same thing in the past. I tried may best to make my friends feel comfortable with the situation– joking around with them and letting them know that everything was going to be alright. It worked, to some degree, with most of them... but not Stew.

I have known Paul (Stew) for 35 years. I had never seen him so white, so quiet or so disturbed to that day or ever since. We finally got a chance to discuss it, Saturday, at our annual fantasy football draft and he came clean about how uneasy he felt in that situation. Because I have made a truly remarkable recovery to almost 100%, we can now laugh about how I had to flop my right arm around with my left for the first month or so after the stroke, when it freaked the bejesus out of him before. Hopefully, he has grown from the experience and will not feel as awkward next time he is in a similar circumstance.

It is probably just because we are getting older but it seems as if we have to deal with more tragedy as we age. It is no longer your contemporaries' grandparents passing away, but their parents now. I just heard that a young lady that I worked at McDonald's with when I was in college died of cancer over the weekend and there were more than several of my High School classmates that didn't make the 20 year reunion because they were no longer with us.

I can believe that everyone is truly uncomfortable with death, illness and aging when they're young and as you age, yourself, and are exposed to more sick and dying people, your tolerance grows and you learn to accept that growing old and passing on are just a part of life, itself.

Stew and the rest of my friends are starting to warm up to me and treat me like they did before the event. They are somewhat amazed that I can do most of the stuff I did before and even some of it I can do almost as well so they feel I can take some teasing from them again. One of them said on Saturday, "I think you just had the stroke so you could get the attention!"

Not that this All you need is love design has anything directly to do with this story I really like it (and I had nothing better handy to use). If you like it... Buy it! At: http://www.cafepress.com/skeetzteez/5792803

Monday Morning Quarterback 1.01

To Every Season...

It just seems like there is a huge amount of transition going on right now that seemed to hit me over the weekend. I guess it's the time of year. Baseball is drawing to a close and football is going to start and the kids are going back to school. I don't think it helped make me feel any better that the Summer Olympics is just over and the Democratic National Convention begins today, reminding me of the Fall election... Turn, turn, turn.

• Speaking of the DNC... Does one of the major networks have rights to this thing or is it going to suck up all the prime time TV for the next week? Not that it matters a whole lot. I vote for more quiet time.

• Saw the previews for a show called, "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?" Nothing against fifth graders but, for anyone watching this show, the answer is no.

• I have been thinking of starting another blog documenting our family's experience through addition of our new member and today my wife came up with the same idea.

• Two things I had planned on writing more about this week that I may have changed my mind about because neither lived up to my expectations: The Olympics and the NoSoCo Fantasy Football Draft.

• Two movies featuring Chevy Chase that everyone should see before graduating High School: Caddyshack and Fletch

• Two St. Louis professional sports franchises that, unfortunately, I'm afraid, are not going to make the playoffs this year: The Rams (better but not good enough) and the Cardinals (much better than expected and unfortunate that only two better teams in NL are in the same division).

• Even though the Cards are not going take the pennant, the upcoming Cards vs. Cubs series should be fun. St. Louis Cardinal fans, check this design out: http://www.cafepress.com/skeetzteez/5891514

• Funny: When my doctors realized I was going to recover from my stroke and get back to the real world way sooner than expected, they were concerned for me and said I should, "avoid head injuries for the next 12-months."– like I go looking for ways to have head injuries all of the time.

• Went to Walgreens last night to pick up a prescription. (I have four different meds on four different schedules... insurance companies!) Get this... two full rows of Halloween stuff. It's still August! There are... one, two, three... too many days to waste might time counting... days left until Halloween!

If you would like to get an early start on Halloween visit: http://www.cafepress.com/skeetzteez

There is not yet any Halloween designs available but, then again, what are you going to really do with any, at this point, anyway?