back again

And we're back. Again. One-month break from posting due to Thanksgiving, and laziness. But here I am again.

I am itching to get back into running. Its been several months, really since June, that I've put together more than 2 runs in one month. I purposefully did not focus on running (or any sort of physical exercise) over the summer due to the move, and the fall due to the baby. But now that Ben is sleeping 7 hrs at night, and Lily is back on track and over her colds, life is as normal as it ever will be. It's high time to get back to life, then.

Having two kids means that picking hobbies/workouts/etc is really important because there's only time for one or two things to really invest in outside of family. I'm not complaining; it's reality.

I think I need to run not only for the physical health benefits, but for the mental health benefits too. I need some refreshment, and running is surprisingly one of the ways that I am refreshed.

Here's to a run sometime this weekend...

Links

Please email/comment if you'd like me to link your blog or website to this page (in exchange for linking my blog). Thanks!

The Terps lost to #1 UCLA last night on the hardwood. Bummer. This year's team is young and may be painful to watch at times. By "watch," I mean, listen on internet radio. Anyone want to buy me cable for Christmas?

Running & Christmas

When is it time to dust off the ole' running shoes and hit the trails again? I'd like to start up now, with a nice 3x a week training plan. Logging a few months of 15-mile weeks would be an excellent base; I could then phase into an intense training plan in the spring. Sounds like an excellent "program," (quotes for Justin E.) eh?

Unfortuantely, I'm unable to start training until life settles down a bit and I can afford the time & energy with which to run. Realistically, I'll be able to start around January/February because I'll be able to utilize the locker room at my main office (I'm working offsite now). Training in the winter will allow me to entertain thoughts of running the Flying Pig in May (no Indy Mini for me this year).

My other thought today is on Christmas; my Mom asked me for my list already. I enjoy making Christmas lists because it lets me think of who I want to be and what movies/music/books I want to get into (I'm avoiding the somewhat trite discussion of the commercialization of Christmas here, so blah blah blah). This year, I am putting down a wood router (to continue my transformation into a wood hobbyist), the Godfather part I & II on VHS (because it seems so much better when the picture is a little fuzzy), and the Count of Monte Christo because I hear its a great book.

TGIF, baby.

Have you ever tried to eat a fruity candy and try to guess the flavor without seeing the color? Skittles work the best for this little experiment. I found that yellow is the easiest color to taste, and there is little difference between red and purple.

In a related thought, I have about 2 months to go before finishing our Halloween candy.

OSU-Michigan this weekend. There is no greater rivalry. It was fun moving to Maryland a few years ago and telling people what it was like growing up in the college football fandom battleground of NW Ohio. I've followed the sport since I was a little tyke; lately, however, I have been finding it harder and harder to put my rooting interest into 19- and 20-year-olds. I think it is because I am out of school now, and can probably relate to professionals (when thinking of sports as a career) than amateurs. That, and following college sports is emotionally maddening when the players are still realizing their potential.

Last item for the day: Joe Nuxhall passed away. I did not know who he was before I moved to Cincy, but his story is so interesting:

Nuxhall grew up in nearby Hamilton, Ohio, and was still too young to shave when the Reds were looking for wartime replacement players. They came to see his father, Orville, who pitched in a Sunday league in Hamilton.

"My dad could throw hard," Nuxhall said. "They were really scouting him. Almost by accident, they found me."

Nuxhall was big for his age -- 6-foot-3, around 190 pounds -- and could throw 85 mph. The Reds offered a contract, and Nuxhall's parents let him join the team when junior high classes let out in 1944.

"Probably two weeks prior to that, I was pitching against seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders, kids 13 and 14 years old," he said. "All of a sudden, I look up and there's Stan Musial and the likes. It was a very scary situation."

A 15-year-old taking on Stan Musial? Awesome.

BG

We had an early Thanksgiving this weekend, with the whole family together. Nice. Everything went off without a hitch, which was kind of surprising given the number of babies in the house. We slept as a family of four in one room, and it was actually kind of fun. It was one of those humbling experiences when you realize that you can get by with less than you have.

There was a sour moment on Sunday, when we took some cousins out to Conneaut Hill for some tackle football. A few plays into the first game, my brother Tim caught a pass (on a nice out-route) and met my cousin near the end zone. My cousin made a nice open-field tackle on Tim, but unfortunately Tim landed with his full body weight on his shoulder. Pop goes the collarbone. Tim heard it, my tackling cousin heard it, my cousin on the sideline heard it. Yeouch. A trip to the Wood Co. ER ensued, and Tim is all wrapped up in a sling and brace with a "nice" break.

We successfully fulfilled the stereotype of grown men playing football and someone getting hurt. We weren't playing very rough, and the field was actually pretty soft, but there you go.

Maybe we should stop the family football? Two years ago I sprained my brother-in-law's foot when I landed on it after jumping for a pass. Last year, a different brother-in-law tore his ACL when we were running and throwing the football on our way down to the Horseshoe after OSU's big win over Michigan. Yikes. But its so fun, I don't know if we could not play!

Off to BG

We're headed to BG tomorrow afternoon. It'll be our first time in NW Ohio since August. And I can't wait.

The agenda includes a family football game, an early Thanksgiving dinner, and a trip to Polleyes for some breadsticks.

Did you know that you can order breadsticks unbaked, and take them to go? We did this over the summer. They turned out really good - with the smallest of dropoffs in taste due to the freezing and thawing. But really, they were fantastic.

Personally, I'm a chicken and cheese with ranch type of guy. I've also tried the pepperoni & cheese (does a number on my internal plumbing), pineapple and cheese (my brother's favorite), pineapple and tomato (just gross), and roast beef and cheese (I think this was Steve Jenkins' idea).

But I've never found the perfect beer to go with the chck/cheese combo. Any recommendations? I usually try to go with a somewhat light-in-color beer, like a Pilsner (Bud/Labbatt) or a pale ale (Sierra Nevada/Rolling Rock). Outside of Polleyes, I generally enjoy darker beers, but I don't think they would go well with such heavy food. Your thoughts?

Belated "Happy Halloween"

Piglet and Pooh Bear:



And yes, we went trick-or-treating as a family knowing full well that those teeth are not suitable for eating candy. But guess what? Mine are!

Sports Media

I've found it increasingly difficult to tune out the sports talk noise to find the actual sports themselves. I listen to Mike & Mike on ESPN radio on my drive in to work, where the tandem banter back and forth about made-up controversies and issues. I read ESPN online but am looking more and more to online "journalists" (Deadspin, The Big Lead), who take their sports coverage with a grain of salt. And I watch major sports events on TV but wish I had a mute button for Tim McCarver.

A fresh example of the noise created by sports media can be found in the Pats-Colts game this weekend. The game ("Super Bowl 41 1/2") was hyped to the nines, where every radio voice and TV personality had their take on this regular season game. Note that the game was no more important than any other regular season game. It was simply a game between two good teams. But I would rather hear about the game itself, or a fake argument as to who is the better QB based on who is in more commercials or is dating a hotter woman.

I would rather have answeres to these questions: Why is Brady so good? How good are the defenses he has played against? How much better do his receivers make him (comparing this year's crop to last year's)? Has his style changed now that he has excellent deep threats and a top flight slot receiver? Etc.

I found a refreshing gem of an online sports outlet, in Play Magazine from NY Times. I couldn't agree more with this article, which seems to show that I'm not the only person becoming more and more disillusioned with mainstream sports media.

Other good (but lengthy) reads are the pieces on kickers and the legendary marathoner, Alberto Salazar. Also, a interesting article on the quality of SI can be found on Slate here.

Musings

Looking forward to a return trip to BG this coming weekend. I know, I know, its Monday, but its hard no to look forward to Friday when I'll be meeting my nephew for the first time. The whole family will be together for an early Thanksgiving, and get this: we will be populating my parents' 3-bdr house with ten people this weekend. Three of which are under the age of 15 months. By Sunday we will all be grouchy and cranky from lack of sleep, which is when the true meaning of family comes out. Right? Tim is even skipping the home OSU football game to come. What a guy!

I wish I had more interesting posts (a la Edwards or Manahan or Wags or anyone else) but the bottom line is that my life outside of work (which is also boring) is 99% taking care of babies. The other 1% (from this weekend) was devoted to sweeping my chimney, buying a shop-vac, and attempting to make a window screen.

Come to think of it, I've acquired a good number of skills out of general home maintenance. Let's see... I've been a painter, a plumber (removing a sink, snaking a drain), chimney sweeper, a carpenter (built a bookshelf), a demolition man (removing a workbench and cabinets), a general contractor (adding moulding to two rooms, patching holes in wall from demolition), a landscaper (mowing, trimming, and edging), a gardener (planting, weeding, and watering), an auto mechanic (replacing my car's distributor), and probably some others that I'm forgetting. I am not boasting about these things, but rather am listing them to show you a window into what I do with the 1% of free time available to me on weekends. Justin pitches his scripts. Mr. Edwards lectures on C.S. Lewis. I make a screen. And the world keeps turning.

Meeting the Neighbors

We've lived in our house for over 4 months now, and have met only one neighbor - a WWII vet with a blue star in his living room window. Its surprising that we've only met one neighbor, because our neighborhood is active and we see people walking dogs by our house several times a day. We wave "hi," but we never know who is our next door neighboor and who isn't; consequently, we don't ever really strike up conversation. But last night, we dressed Lily as Piglet and Ben as Pooh Bear, and used them as a conversation starter to meet our neighbors.

Guess what we found out? Everyone knew about us. Everyone knew we had a little girl and were expecting a little boy shortly after we moved in. It is a little disconcerting to have lots of people know about our life situation, and knowing nothing of theirs. I was hoping that someone would make us an apple pie and welcome us to the neighborhood, but no one took the initiative. I guess our neighbors are shy.

6 days to the first Maryland basketball exhibition game. I can hardly wait. The NBA will have to hold me over until then.

Bachelor Days, Pt. II

I'm without the family for a second day. Its funny how quickly I resort to old habits: making a whole pot of Jambalaya, and eating for two days; not cleaning at all; not making the bed; getting ready for work in about 15 minutes from the time I wake up; and driving faster with more lane changing. Its been only two days, yet I feel very different. I can't wait to have my family back and have life return to normal.

But that will all change tonight, when I pick up Jenna and the babies ("the kids" makes me sound rather old) after trick-or-treating in Dayton. Lily will be a flamingo. Ben will be Dracula. A 4-week-old Dracula.

I've been listening to some old jazz CDs lately. I realize I may be able to get back into the genre again now that my job doesn't require 8 hours of constant concentration. I like some Big Band, but mostly "cool" jazz, particularly Miles' Birth of the Cool days. His later stuff is a little too abstract for me to get lost in.

Guess who I re-discovered? Ashley Bradford, who is out in Long Beach, CA these days.

NBA Basketball (is that redundant?) starts tonight, and I couldn't care less. Wake me up when college basketball season starts! (for my Maryland Terrapins, that would be Nov. 11) For all you English majors, should I put any punctuation after that last close-parenthesis? Or is it bad form to write a fragment in parentheses after the previous sentence has been properly punctuated? These are the things I need to know!

Football; Family-less

There's nothing quite like throwing the football around on a blustery fall day. Mike, Dave, and I worked on accuracy by trying to thread the needle, so to speak, by launching footballs through small spaces on a swingset. 10 points for throwing it between the ropes. 20 points for getting the football to stay in the swing ("make the ball the baby!"). And 10 points for throwing it over a tree and onto the captain's deck. Meanwhile, little Ben watched (read: slept) through his first OSU game. It was a special moment.

Jenna is at her mom's for a couple of days, which means I'm suddenly wife-less and child-less for the first time in months. I don't know how well I can convey how different this feels. "Now I can do whatever I want, all the time." Except its not whatever I want, its home improvement, minus Tim Allen. I feel like I am in bizarro-world, mentally. When at home, I'm so used to knowing exactly what the babies are doing, what they've been doing, and what they will need in the next two hours. Now that I don't have to (for two days), all this "thinking space" is freed up so I can think about important issues, like Dumbledore's sexuality, and wish I had never known.

I did, however, sleep through the night for the first time in four weeks. I woke up completely refreshed...yet somehow I am more tired during the day. Go figure.

I will write nothing about the Red Sox except a response to your comment, Justin. I actually don't mind Ortiz. Its Manny that gets me...he's such a good hitter, but his defense and baserunning are so bad...he's the opposite of me in pretty much every way, down to the pajama uniform. But I like Beckett as well.

shake-ups

I temporarily changed the name of the blog, but now its back to the original. My bad.

Oh, Baseball

I watched a few innings of Game 2 of the World Series last night while Grey's Anatomy was on commericial (not that I watch it, I can't stand the sight of blood, but its one of Jenna's favorite shows). Its amazing how quickly I went from tolerating - heck, even rooting for - the Red Sox to loathing them and treating them with my highest disdain. Well, maybe not highest, but 2nd highest (thank you New York).

What turned me against the Red Sox? Suddenly their cuddly, lovable loser-ness faded into a Yankees look-alike that can afford to have three #1 pitchers on their staff. It isn't fair, blah blah blah. I don't want to rant on this blog ("thank you").

But I would really, really like to see some sort of salary cap in baseball to force teams to be smarter about how they spend their money. For example: the Reds paid #3 starter Eric Milton over $10 mill to stink it up and sit the bench. Consequently, they had to start several AAA prospects in his place. But what do the Red Sox do when they make a similar mistake (Matt Clement for $9.5 mill)? They buy the next best pitcher available (Dice-K, who gives them 15 wins).

Do I think MLB will ever adopt a cap? Sadly, no.

I just hope my cynicism doesn't continue to increase...because there are only so many sports I can care about.

Welcome Back, Eric. Thanks.

Back to the blogging world...

You see, I had a blog back in the day (2003-2005). I now have some time in front of a computer, so here we go.

It seems like the first two years of marriage where a whirlwind, with little time to reflect on what life has been like and where life is headed. That happens when you have two kids and have only been married for 2 1/2 years. Now that my work is slower (same job...just less work), I have more time to think and dream and, evidentally, blog.

First, I'll catch you up on life: The fam has been growing at an alamring rate. For 23 years, it was just me. Then Jenna and I were married in the summer of 2005. Lily came along in the late summer of 2006, and Ben arrived in the fall of 2007. Like, three weeks ago. I've had the same job since I finished grad school - an Aerospace Engineer for a company in Cincy - where I do some sort of work on aircraft engine design and analysis. This last part is surprising because my Master's thesis was on a completely different subject, that of micro-scale helicopters. But whatever.

Now that you are caught up on life, let me tell you where I am now. I'm a Dad when I'm not at work, which is both very rewarding and very tiring. I won't bore you with the details now (to which you say, "thanks") but I'm sure fatherhood will make its way into this blog from time to time. I am happy to be a husband and a dad, and life is very full. By "full" I am slyly referencing the type of diapers I change.

"Well," you think, "now that Eric has written about his past and present, it makes sense that the next paragraph would be about his future." And you are right. (See how I'm still trying to apply lessons from Dr. Emery's english class on transition sentences?) The future is the tricky part. It is a subtle kind of tricky though. You see, life is ridiculously settled right now. Married, two kids, a house, a career...I'm all set, right? Well, kind of. These things are great, and I'm happy to have them...but you know as well as I do that life keeps changing, and when that happens, where do dreams go? Do they change, too? Or do they stay the same?

To a cynical person, the questions might be rephrased as, "is my life over as I know it?"

I certainly don't think so. What you will see in this blog is an attempt to continue living life and to continue dreaming, while keeping responsibilities at home, work, and with the Lord.

I will probably be able to update this blog most weekdays, so do check back and leave comments as you can.