What are you doing for NYE?

Wake up at 5:45am with 4 year old poking your cheek.
Breakfast.
At 8:30, go to beach - take a walk, build a sandcastle, etc.
Lunch at 11am.
Go to pool at 12:30.
At 1:30, try for some quite time. Unsuccessful.
At 3:30, go back to pool.
At 4:30, come back to room and try to figure out dinner plans. Not in the mood for going out with the devil.
5:15 order baby back ribs carry out from Michelbobs.
Dinner at 6pm.
Bake cookies at 7pm.
Kids in bed at 8pm.

Will we make it to midnight? doubtful

Miss State Cowbells

Watching Miss State and Wake Forest Bowl game and can't take the cowbells. They are non-stop, and make me want to mute the tv.

This is Pathetic

First it was the Snuggy (blanket with arms). Now this.

If you want to sell a stupid sweatsuit, fine. But please do not advertise it as something to wear to a tailgate.

Notre Dame Bowl Woes

Its official, ND has not won a bowl game since 1995. Ha!

That is all.

Nice Little Vaca Action

This week we are in Marco Island, FL for a little R&R. Yesterday we flew into Tampa, which is about three hours north of Marco rather than flying into Fort Myers, which is just a 45 minute drive, because flights were just 550 instead of 1000. 550 to Fla is expensive enough! For me, 350 is the most I would ever expect to pay, then again, I've never flown for vaca over the holidays.

Jack turned two on Nov 9, which means he must have his own seat on the flight. However, we decided to sneak him on the flight in the dog crate so we didn't have to pay for him. No, we just lied and said his bday was Jan 30 so he could qualify for free without his own seat as "infant in arms." Wifey was very anxious about this; worried about getting caught for lying. So I handled all the check-in action. It was flawless, of course.

It was a decent flight; the kids were well-enough behaved. The three hour drive, however, was frustrating because Hunter was screaming a lot. Shocking, I know.

Something I will Never Forgive Myself For

In 2008 when we were in-between houses living in our condo, we hired a cleaning lady. She was always late and never came at the time she said she would. Our condo was supposed to be cleaned every other Saturday morning, but it always turned out to be Saturday afternoon.

In the fall, this poses problems for me because it is football season. The weekend of the Ohio game, we had the same problems mentioned above. She was supposed to come in the morning, but instead came in the early afternoon. So at half time at the Ohio game, we were forced to leave the condo (maybe not forced, but wifey demands we are not home when the house is cleaned ((she needs to be checked in to a mental institution?)) and we decided to kill time by going shopping.

While at the store, my Mom calls. She has a habit of calling me during Michigan football games for commentary on the game (Michigan won! or Michigan Lost!). Normally if I am planning on watching the game on DVR delay, I will not answer, but this time I did. Instead of "Hello", I said, I am not watching the game, so don't blow it for me. But apparently she didn't hear that, and spoiled it for me anyway. I realize we had no chance to win in hindsight, but that doesn't matter.

Thinking back on this, I pledge to myself I will NEVER let this happen again. I refuse to be run from my house to miss/watch the Ohio game on delay due to the ineptness of a cleaning lady running on time.

Cell Phone Eticate

As I am preparing to rent the two houses that I have for rent, the final step is to have them professionally cleaned. I asked my in-laws for a referral for a cleaning lady, and they happily gave me a recommendation.

So I called the number and nobody answered and there was no voice mail. I called three days in a row with this same result. I talked to my in-laws and they said that is the way she operates her phone. She never answers, but she always calls back. But she never called me back. My in-laws said they would call her and handle it. They did - she cleaned the first house.

Now the second house is ready to be cleaned. repeat above. No answer, no voice mail, no returned call. So I decdied to text her. She finally called me back from the text, and told me she was sorry she didn't ever call me back, and said "I'm sorry I don't answer my phone, I never do, you should have been warned." Then I said, "you should consider voicemail." and she laughed.

How can you run a small business/be a small business owner/sole proprietor with this type of cell phone eticate? This is not the way to success.

Christmas Lights Failure

Every year I try to do a good job with our outside Christmas lights. Shortly after Turkey-day, we had a warm weekend in the 50's and I decided it would be a good day to put up the lights. Our started the project and thankfully I tested the lights early during the project, learning what not to do from Clark W Griswold.

It turns out our single front outlet is not functioning. So after about 20 minutes the project was put on hold/cancelled. I don't know why the outlet won't work and I am not motivated enough to call someone to fix it/figure it out.

So this year we have no lights outside. I am embarrassed.

We have many differenet nationalities in our subdivision, so many folks don't celebrate Christmas at all so they don't bother with lights. But as a proud Christmas supporter/believer, I feel like to not have lights up is just wrong.

Hopefully I will get that outlet fixed for next year? I put the odds at 50/50.

FML

So, the renters are finally out. This has been such a disaster I hardly have the energy to tell the story. The guy in Brighton went with less drama save for the cats. The family in Shitmore, however, is a different story.

In addition to the BS with the FIA agency and never getting that money and getting strung along for an extra two weeks, when I finally put up my arms and said "I've had enough," and submitted the eviction paperwork, last Friday the deputy sheriff went and stuck the 24 hour notice to the door. That cost me $55.00. If they didn't leave by 24 hours, then I would come and pay the deputy $30 per hour plus milage to watch me unload all their shit. Thank God they got out on Monday. However, they left ALL THEIR SHIT in the yard and in the house. It is amazing. There is so much junk that I literally have to have a dumpster delivered to the house and fill the damn thing up. I need to hire a guy for two full days to unload the junk into the dumpster. Literally, they left a live turtle in the basement in a fish tank. What kind of people would do this?

The dumpster is $325, plus $200 labor. Also, the stove and fridge are inoperable due to their stench. So that is another $800. Holes in the wall, cleaning people, paint, God only knows how many other repairs I will need! So in addition to the $3,600 in rent (through November) and court costs they owe me, I'm figuring another $1,500 in cleaning and BS plus paint = $2,000 for a total of $5,600 the effed me out of. Plus December is not rented, so add another 695 for over 6,000. If you add in my agony, grief, time, and rage, then you could take it over 10,000.

One More Reason Why I Love Costco

This hand dipped ice cream bar with almonds is only $1.50 and it is INCREDIBLE. There is nothing like it! Not to mention the price. The actual ice cream is not super premium, but the chocolate and almonds are very very good. The only thing that could make it better is if the ice cream were super premium.

When I compare this product to products from Dairy Queen, there is just no comparison. First of all, the Dairy Queen ingredients are shit. The quality of the ice cream is bad. The prices are outrageous. I am convinced this item at DQ would be 4.99 instead of 1.50.

I love this item so much that I will go out of my way to go to Costco to get this!

Eviction Update

So remember the a-hole tenants for whom I had to go to Chelsea court 3 times to get out? Well I had the judgement as of Nov 2 and they needed to get out by Nov 14. So on like Nov 9 I start calling the tenant telling them to get the Ef out cause the Sheriff is going to come throw their shit in the street. He says he has money coming from the FIA agency blah blah blah. I actually talked to the lady at the agency who said they were about to be approved. But magically, the next day, the FIA lady says she can't talk to me about the case anymore. This was very suspicious to me.

Meanwhile, the tenant tells me he is approved for $1200 and the check is in the mail. So I am hopeful, but very suspicious because I have not received a call, email, or letter from anyone at FIA who supposedly approved him for $1200. If the check was in the mail why wouldn't they confirm it with me? I clearly can't trust the tenant because he has literally been o-fer when "the check is in the mail."

So I waited a couple more days to see if the check would come, and of course, it never did. So I told the tenant to get the eff out and I was sending the paperwork to the sherif that day. He started calling and texting saying he was trying and some other b.s. Then he texted me something like, "I'm still trying to get the info to FIA, I should have it soon, I'm trying." This tells me that he was never approved because he never actually supplied all the information to the agency. I suspect if he would have supplied the info, he would have been approved. Talk about an Effing loser. I mean, you have from Nov 2 to like Nov 30 to get assistance or WORK or SOMETHING and you can't even come up with $1 of rent. That also goes from July 1 to Dec 1. Not ONE DOLLAR OF RENT.

So like I said I sent in the paperwork to the sherif and naturally, they said I filled it out wrong. Well, not exactly. They said I didn't include on the paperwork if I mailed a copy to the tenant, but there was nothing on the form telling me I needed to do that. So that delayed the court a day - fortunately, I was able to fax over a letter to the courthouse to fix it. I asked the lady at the court where I filled it out wrong and she said its not on the form, you're just "supposed to know" to put it in. Nothing surprises me anymore. Nothing!

In other news, you know I have the Brighton judgement from Nov 9. He had to be out by Nov 21. Today is Dec 1 and he still has some big furniture there and I am threatening to have it taken to the dump. I actually went there yesterday to see how the condition of the place was looking and it is in decent enough shape. It just needs paint and to be cleaned. but when I was there, I found all the furniture, and of course, two cats. There was no heat in the house because he didn't pay the gas bill since august. So these cats are effing freezing. Also they are starving, because there is no food left out for them. Or there was but they ate it all days ago. WHY? WHY?WHY?WHY?

So I had to go get some cat food for the cats because I have a soul.

I called my painter to come look at the house and give me a bid. When he went out there, he felt so bad for the cats he took them with him. He said he couldn't let the cats freeze. I was glad, but also worried because this guy is basically stealing these cats and I am not rally supposed to be in the house without the Sherrif. blah blah blah

So today the renter actually gets back to me over text and said he was going to pick up the cats today. I immediately called the painter and told him to take those cats back ASAP! He said he wasn't going to be able to do it until 5pm. So I was forced to tell the renter that I took the cats to keep them warm and I would bring them back at 5pm so they won't be there when he gets there. At this hour, I have not heard from the tenant or the renter about the cat.

If the renter does not have the furniture out by this weekend I am going to pay my painter to take all of his shit to the dump. I am so sick of this shit. The next step is to take dozens of calls about renting both houses, and spend several evenings of my personal time driving out, showing the houses, trying to get the utilities on and in my name, and collecting rent and coordinating all that. Should be a lovely time.

I'M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I'M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE

Best Blog Post Eva

http://mgoblog.com/diaries/nard-wars-episode-iv-new-hoke

We're Back

I've said this many times over the past few years, but this time it is true. I said it in 2009 after the Western Michigan game. The truth is I was so fearful that after the 2008 debacle I didn't even have confidence we could beat Western the following year. However, we took care of business and beat them easily. I remember texting my brother, "we're back!!!!!!!". then I made the bet that we would win 7 games, which was regrettable. We started the year 4-0 and I thought we were back, but we weren't.

Yesterday we beat Ohio for the first time since 2003. I was at both games. We are likely headed to a BCS bowl game, although our team seems much worse than any other of our BCS teams - 1999, 2003, 2004, 2006.

The future looks bright. After a 10-2 year, I don't expect the same next year considering we are at Alabama, at Ohio State, at Nebraska, etc. but WE ARE BACK.

In other news, Michigan State only had one conference loss which would have given them the outright B1G title in any other setup but now with divisions, they will have to beat Wisc again to be champs, and I have little faith they can do that. Ah the irony.

Black Friday

I like to browse the weekly ads from places like Best Buy and ABC warehouse just to know what stuff costs. Today they have some killer deals out there. However, we don't NEED anything. So what is the point?

Well yesterday on the radio, I heard the Home Depot Black Friday ad and it was a deal on front loading LG washer/dryers for half off. We've been looking at them, but our set is only 7 years old and probably has 5 good years left. But the new ones are silent and have larger capacity, and have steam, which in theory means no more ironing or no more taking my dress shirts to the cleaners even?

So we got them. I went to Home Depot at 9am and had instant service. No long lines at the depot!

the picture above is the one we got, but we went with stainless steel, and upgraded to the steam.

Beat Ohio

This is it. Tomorrow Ohio comes to town looking for their unprecedented eight straight win against michigan. We are 10-2 and they are 6-5. We are 15th, they are unranked. We are favored by 7 points, the first time we've been favored since 2003, the last time we won.

This year the game is a week later due to the new B1G scheduling and for some reason I feel like i haven't given it enough attention due do Turkey day. Or maybe its because I am so confident we will win? One thing is for sure - if we don't beat them this year, I don't even know...

This is the year they are down. Kick them while they are down. These Seniors have battled through three coaches, starting with Ap State, beating Florida, Lloyd leaving, Rich Rod debacle, and now as 5th year seniors a 3rd coach. They've never beat Ohio. Let's do this. This is Michigan.

Nebraska Football Fans

Ever since Nebraska joined the B1G, I've heard about how they travel well, are gracious hosts, are educated fans, and are very good sports about winning and losing. There was a decent amount of red in the stands last week, but what stood out to me were the three huskers sitting behind me. They were respectful, courteous, educated about the game, and at times appreciative of a good Michigan play because it was good football. After one Michigan touchdown, one of the huskers was doing a slow motion clap as to say "well done," despite it meant his team was going to lose.

This day in age it is rare to see sportsmanship of this kind. Especially when I compare this experience to my brother, who is the opposite of husker fan in favor of Michigan State. For example, instead of the slow motion respect-clap, it would be like "eff-you, you son of a *&^&*, ref, why have you forsaken me?!?!?!?"

Well done corn, well done. I used to hate Nebraska because they went undefeated and shared the 1997 national championship. But it wasn't their fault they went undefeated. I forgive you.

Its So Cold in the D/Why Must I Cry

In one of the latest Beavis and Buttheads they were watching the video for "Its So Cold in the D" by T-baby. The video is so bad that it is good. And now I have it stuck in my head.

See:

I don't know if the song or the video production is worse. I am inclined to say the video production is worse. I mean, the guy has a camera pointing at the part and T-baby and her goons just leisurely walk into the frame, stand there, and do their thing. Its hilarious. If they were trying to make the video funny, it wouldn't work. They are dead serious, which makes it funny.

Another one that a friend recommended based on my enjoyment of "So Cold" is "Why Must I Cry" by Reh-Dogg. I'm pretty sure this is way worse than "So Cold." The funny thing is the production is much better, but the direction is shameless.

See:

I mean, he goes from the fish tank to the shower (SHOWER????) to running through the woods. why must I cry why must I cry why

So it turns out this guy has several CD's published on cdbaby.com. WHo would pay for this shit?

I Hate Wrapping Presents, and I Hate Wrapping Paper

Wrapping paper is expensive. I mean really expensive. It is like $8.00 per roll. I am a much bigger fan of putting the gift in one of those fancy gift bags. Although those are expensive too. But if you keep all the bags that people give you, you can just reuse them later for free.

I just hate the idea of spending a lot of money and time wrapping up presents. The purpose is to cover up the box so you can't see what is inside it. But why can't we use newspaper? Does it have to be that fancy? Wifey's grandma loves all wrapping paper and always comments during the five minute unwrapping session, "what beautiful paper" and proceeds to carefully peel the tape and paper from the box, saving all of the paper. I just want to rip the paper so bad and scream "for the love of God unwrap the gift!" Then you have the huge mess of paper to clean up.

But above all else, I hate wrapping the gifts more than anything. I hate every aspect of it. Buying wrapping paper. Finding scissors. Finding tape. Cutting the propper size of paper for the box (I ALWAYS have too little or too much paper). I have a reputation for being a "goon" when it comes to wrapping gifts, and I embrace the label. I have no desire to learn how to wrap presents good. I think it is funny when I didn't cut enough paper and I have to end up cutting a new "patch" of wrapping paper to cover it up. I also think it is funny when I use too much paper and the ends are all rough and bunched up rather than neat, crisp, and clean folds. Fuck it.

Montessori Madness

Last night went to a talk by the author who wrote "Montessori Madness." We've been sending our four year old to Montessori for the past two years, so we thought it would be an interesting talk.

The author has several points as to why he believes Montessori is better than traditional teaching methods:

-children take ownership of learning
-children learn at their own pace
-children learn by participating in activities which interest them

I don't have any sources, but I know people who believe in Montessori will tell you how much of a better method it is realtive to traditional methods. So if it works better, why don't public schools integrate Montessori methods? Especially considering the cost of a Montessori education is cheaper than what public schools are paying for shit results?

Montessori cost - 7k
State public cost - 9k

I'm guessing that teacher's pensions are the difference.

This takes the "Montessori methods are more expensive, that's why they don't do it" argument of out the equation. It's sad that my property taxes can't be used more useful.

Beavis and Butt-Head are Back!

I love beavis and butt-head. If I had to choose between the two of them, I guess I like Butt-Head better. Last week I saw an ad that they were back and I was shocked! I immediately set it up for a season pass.

The first episode was last week and I have to say it was excellent. The best part is that in the 90's when it was on, they would have the cartoon and then the videos part where they would offer their commentary on the music videos.

Since MTV doesn't show music videos anymore, now B and BH offer their commentary while watching original MTV programming like Jersey Shore and 16 and Pregnant. This is wonderful; I love it. I love that B and BH make fun of MTV's stupid programming.

Side note: Circa 2003, for my birthday, I asked my brother for the box set of B and BH, and he happily obliged! It was great nostalgia. Now that we have new episodes I'm even happier.

I want this Car

This past April I got on my sports car/convertible/early mid-life crisis kick and was searching craigslist and auto trader daily for a BMW Z4. I actually went to go look at a 2004 Z4 with 90,000 miles for $12,000. It was in mint condition all the way around. It was a Sunday and I'm sure if it was a weekday I would have immediately headed for the bank to acquire a cashier's check. However, I was very nervous about making a purchase like this. First of all, it is completely irresponsible. Who really needs a third car? Plus it is a stick, and wifey has no clue how to drive a manual. Finally, I have two little kids, so when would I really even drive it?

So after thinking about it for a couple days, we went with the default option and did nothing.

I still want one. Badly.

I also want to finish the basement. With a theatre room.

Night Time Routine Addition: Making Lunch

Question: How many fathers in America are responsible for making lunch for their kids?

Answer: One.

The one, is me.

Now after the whole bedtime ritual is complete, it was now been determined by wifey that it is up to me to make lunch for our four year old for the next day. She also requires I make the lunch with "love."

He has a half sandwich, usually ham, turkey, or salami. Plus a fruit (banana, strawberries, or grapes), a dairy (yogurt), a snack (goldfish, crackers, etc), sometimes a vegetable (what is this?), and a small bottle of water.

It only takes about 5-10 minutes, but that is on top of all the other BS I/we need to do starting at 8:00 to start the bedtime ritual. It sucks.

Eviction Update

After much anticipation, I finally secured the judgement for possession and the money judgement! It took three court appearances and $450 in legal fees to win this case.

Here is how it went down:

When I walked into the court house, to my horror, the tenant and kids were already there. Why would they not bother to show up for the first two rounds and come for #3? It is like she knew I filled out the paperwork wrong the first two times! Funny.

I was prepared for defeat as soon as I saw her there. I just figured the judge would pull something out of his ass and find a way to feel sorry for her position. But to his credit, I filled out all the paperwork this time properly, and he was obligated to follow the law. He even referenced that making these sort of judgements is the hardest part of his job.

To the credit of my tenant, she didn't put up a fight and make up a lie about me that would make the judge postpone the case or anything. She owned up to her mistakes. She admitted she was behind in payments and things were tough for them, and they were trying to get assistance from different agencies, etc. After this testimony the judge gave a long lecture about how the assistance programs work and how they are very difficult to work with. He took his time explaining the rules and even told her she and her family would be in his thoughts and prayers!

The most ironic part of the whole case had to do with the money judgement. As you may recall, the reason the first two cases were thrown out had to do with the amount of money I was requesting on the paperwork. So when he was filling out the judgement paperwork he took the liberty to add in the month of November (the court date was Nov 2) which is exactly why the case was dismissed in round two (asking for the month of November when it was still September).

In closing, she has until November 14 to vacate the property, unless she can come up with $3,600 (july - nov rent plus $152 in court costs). I suspect there is a zero chance they will come up with anything, so they are toast.

I will need to go to the house on Nov 14 to see if they are still there. If they are, then I need to go down to the courthouse and file a writ and pay a small fee and the sheriff will throw their shit in the street.

Case closed.

Please Evict my Tenant (s)

I will be in court tomorrow morning to try and recover posession of my rental property and a money judgement. In Brighton, this is cake. In Chelsea, watch out.

In the past, I have evicted two tenants in Brighton, which was seamless: 7 day notice, file the papers, the tenant doesn't show up for the hearing, I win the possession and money judgement by default (don't even get me started about trying to collect a money judgement ((I have three judgements out there totaling about $7,000 which I will never collect))).

In Chelsea, I sent the 7 day notice then waited eight days and went to court to file the paperwork. The court aid informed me my 7 day notice was not sufficient because it didn't have the proper disclosures in it. But the same one worked in Brighton twice. So I had to do another 7 day notice and re-file. Strike one.

Strike two was on the court date. It was my turn to get in front of the judge and of course, the tenant did not show up. I would win by default. but wait.....the numbers on my 7 day notice did not match the numbers on my Summons. The pay or quit figures were higher than on the Summons. therefore, the case was dismissed. The logic is that the tenant receives a notice for, say, $3,000 and says " I can't pay." So when I come to court asking for less, I have made an administrative error and I'm done.

Strike three was when I refiled yet again - this time I made sure the figures matched. However, I went for the full amount on the remaining lease - time that the tenant should not have to pay for. Again, I was in front of the judge and the tenant didn't show, so I was sure to win by default. But I was greedy, asking for too much money.

Will I get a strike four? Tomorrow is my THIRD court date for the same case. Embarrassing. this time, the numbers match and I am only asking for the time they were in the house. I should win, but I am scared. I have fear this judge is going to fu^k me again for some sort of small administrative mistake. I covered all my bases - could I lose again over a technicality?

The worst part is that this is November 1. I haven't received any rent since June 30. July, August, Sept, Oct - four months of bullshit. The first court date was August 2! If everything would have gone right, they would have been forced to move out August 12!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On top of that, each time I go to court I have to pay $110 for the court costs plus $40 to have the deadbeat served. Since this is my third filing, that is $450 plus the missed rent! FML

On a side note, I will be in Brighton on Nov 9 to kick another deadbeat out of that house. I'm guessing that one will be easy - that judge likes me. However, the process server can't find the tenant, so I can't collect the money judgement - just recover possession of the house.

Check back tomorrow to hear how court went in Chelsea!

Book Review: Three and Out by John U Bacon

I read the book in four days. If you know me, you know that is unbelievable!

My main thoughts after reading this book is that I feel sorry for Rich Rod. I actually found myself wishing he was still the coach. Ok, maybe not. But I do feel sorry for the guy.

The deck was stacked against him from day one:

-ridiculous job search which probably left fans and supporters thinking he was the 5th best choice

-He was not coached up about M in the first few months about how to win over support

-Perception he didn't understand M tradition

-Lloyd Carr offered to sign any transfer papers for existing players

-Lloyd left the cabinet bare

-Rich Rod's defensive coordinator did not come with him

-The Free Press was out to get him (rosenberg)

-no QB in year one

-the AD who hired him retired after his third year

Problems arising from RR's own fault:

-the defense got worse each year (how can this be????????????)

-he failed to convince supporters he is a Michigan Man and did embrace the tradition

-despite offensive improvement, he could not win in the B1G

-worst special teams EVA

I would like to believe if he had a shot at year four Michigan would be just as good as 7-1 under Hoke. HOWEVA, you look at the defense and you wonder if we would ever see improvement. And the special teams also. Hoke has turned the defense into above average! The offense is not racking up as many yards but is scoring effectively in the red zone rather than turnovers on downs and missed field goals.

At 7-1, Michigan has IOWA, ILLINOIS, NEBRASKA, and OHIO. I like to think we will win at least two or maybe even four of the remaining games and have a shot at the B1G title game. We shall see.

Bedtime Routine FML

Our kids are good sleepers; I shouldn't even be complaining. They sleep through the night and they sleep in their own bed. But the bedtime routine is something I do not look forward to.

Our 4 year old was in a crib until he was about 2 1/2. Everything was great - we lay him down, he falls asleep. However, when we put him in a toddler bed, everything went to hell. He would come out of his room 50 times before settling in. Literally one of us would sit at the top of the stairs to keep putting him back in his room time after time.

Things have gotten better since then. He still comes out of his room to tell us he has to go to the bathroom, he needs a drink, or because he has to "tell us something." But most nights that is just once or twice.

The purpose of this post is all the little stuff. When we tell him it is time to go up, he says he wants the other one of us to do it. So if I am the one who says "ok, its time to go up for bed" he will be like "no, I want mommy to do it." and it pisses us off because neither one of us wants to take him up so if it is my turn, she will say lets go up and then usually he will want me to do it.

Next he walks up the stairs SO SLOW. I'm like, let's GOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Then we need to brush teeth, and he has to be the one to put the toothpaste on the brush. Then he needs a drink of water, but if he drinks too much he will wet through his diaper. So it is always a fight about how much water gets to drink. Then he wants some kid mouthwash and he has to be the one to measure out the proper amount. Again, he just takes a long time to do these things and they must be done on his terms.

Now it is time to lay on the floor and put on his two diapers ( a normal one and a pull-up - he still soaks through both of these on a regular basis). The struggle here is WHERE on the floor he will lay down. He picks a new spot every night and sometimes decides to switch spots in the middle of changing, which really pisses me off because I have to crawl around the floor following him. Sometimes during this process he gets noisy and I get afraid he will wake up his little brother, which is a separate issue.

Finally, he is in bed (he has a regular bed now) and I lay in the bed with him to read a story. I let him choose the story and then he is likely to change his mind once I start....Without fail, before the first paragraph is over, I am yawning.

Now the story is over and we are downstairs and he is coming out of his room within one minute saying he has to go potty. This process takes about 20 minutes from start to finish. So if we take him up at 8:30 it is 9pm by the time he is in his room for good. After an exhausting day, we are usually going up by 9;30-10 which doesn't exactly leave much personal time in my typical day....

The Definition of Clockwatchers

Tonight we were watching Snow White as we were starting out bedtime routine. My favorite part is the heigh-ho song, so that is where I always start it out. Truth be told, I like the song.

Grandma bought the movie for the 4 year old's birthday, so we've had it a couple weeks and the kids love it. We've probably watched it 5 times. So tonight I noticed that the heigh-ho song starts at exactly 5pm, quitting time at the ol' dwarf mine.

See:

Safe to say these dwarfs are clockwatchin fools.

I just thought of another good example. Schmidt's last day of work.

I love how it is his last day of work EVA and he is just sitting at his desk staring at the clock. If it were my last day of work before retirement I would probably be out of there before 5!

Ford Field Loud

For Father's Day this year, I took my dad to the Atlanta Falcons @ Detroit Lions game yesterday at Ford Field. The last few years we went to Tigers games but I decided to switch it up a little this year because I thought the Lions might have a chance to be good this year. After a great 5-0 start, I was right; they are looking pretty good.

Yesterday we left early to go tailgate, but barely made it into the game on time due to extremely long lines. The Lions started with the ball and promptly went three and out. While the Lions were on offense, the stadium was pretty quiet. But as soon as the Falcons got the ball, Ford Field fans went to work. I COULD NOT BELIEVE HOW LOUD THE STADIUM WAS! And it was like that the entire game. Every defensive possession for the Lions the crowd was deafening.

I say this as a sports fan who has attended a myriad of events: games at Michigan Stadium, Spartan Stadium, The Palace, Ohio Stadium, Breslin Center, Comerica Park, Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, etc, etc. I've witnesses playoff games, the equivalent of B1G Championship games, NCAA National Championship games, etc. NEVER have I heard a crowd as loud as the Ford Field crowd yesterday, and it was a regular season game to boot.

Why was it so loud? It was clear to me the dome made all the difference. It resonates.

Michigan State Logic

Last night I call a call from Sparty complaining about the Gholston suspension for tomorrow's game hosting Wisconsin. He was called for two personal fouls against umich last week; one for a late hit/helmet twisting of Denard Robinson well after the play on the bottom of the pile, and one for punching Taylor Lewan at the end of another play.

See? See.

As you can see, these were two blatent penalties and clearly unnecessary roughness.

The B1G suspended Gholston due to the Lewan punch.

In fact, for comparison purposes, the B1G suspended Jonas Mouton of Michigan in 2009 for a similar play.

Show? Show.

Sparty is complaining about the suspension saying, the Wisc game is the biggest game of the season, how can you suspend one of our best players for our biggest game? So if State was playing Minnesota next it would be OK to suspend him but not if they are playing Wisc? My point is that it doesn't matter what the next game is, you can't go around doing this type of thing and not expect some fallout.

Deficit Discussion

For the past couple of years everyone has been paying attention to the US deficit/debt problems. After reading an article on CNBC today about the issue, where a senator was quoted as saying that obviously we cutting spending wasn't going to fix the problem by itself and we need to cut spending and raise taxes jointly for the fix, I started wondering how the government revenues look today vs 2000 when we had a massive $200 Billion budget surplus.

So I did a google search and came across this website: usgovernmentspending.com. According to this site, which seems legit, in 2000 we had tax revenue of 3.7 Trillion. In 2010, we had tax revenue of 4.2 Trillion. Hmmm. That looks like a 15% increase in revenue, on top of 200 Billion surplus. In a 2-3% inflation environment, I can see how you might have swung to a deficit during this period, but overall, revenue doesn't seem to be the problem. Let's take a look at government spending over the same time period:

2000 Total Government spending; 3.2 Trillion (my memory tells me we had a 200 billion surplus back then, but according to this site it was even larger)

2010 Total Government spending: 5.8 Trillion

The growth in spending is 80%. What the ef?!?!?!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am left wondering how this could happen. Is it more people on Social Security, the IRAQ/AFGAN wars, Medicare part D? Let's take a look at the spending in 2007 before the financial crisis and before Obama's stimulus plan:

2007 Total Gov't Spending: 4.9 Trillion. So it looks like a lot of the spending was baked in prior to the crisis.

Based on this research it is clear to me that government revenue is not the problem, the spending is the problem. Revenue has been growing slowly over the past ten years, while the rate of change of spending has been out of control. So why are our elected officials on record saying the solution must include higher tax revenues? It seems to me if we can just roll back some of the spending increases over the past several years we would be in much better shape. Instead, the President and Congress can't seem to cut anything. I vote for a mandatory balanced budget amendment.

Blog Update/Apple Air Product Review

For my zero readers out there, you may have noticed I have not posted in about a year prior to this past week. There are several factors for my disapearance (lack of time (busy at work, kids, etc), lack of motivation), but the biggest factor is because of the computer situation.

In March of 2010 my laptop contracted a virus and I was unable to access the internet (I strongly recommend keeping your antivirus software up to date)! So I bought an Asus Eee netbook. The netbook was attractive because it was cheap (just $300) and small. I continued posting with the netbook, but then the hard drive crashed (by no fault of my own). I sent the computer back and they replaced the hard drive for free because it was within the warranty period. Then in March of 2011, we went on a family vacation to Disney and I carried on the netbook along with my iPad on the plane. When I was unpacking at the hotel, the netbook screen was shattered. I could not believe it! The iPad screen was perfect but the netbook was destroyed!?!?!?!? (testament to the quality of iPad hardware vs netbook hardware)

So within one year one laptop was killed with virus and I replaced it with a netbook which broke twice. WTF?!?! I was upset and not ready to spend new money on yet another laptop, and not going to invest in having the old laptop formatted and reloaded because the hardware was old. So I decided to see if the iPad could go it alone. I started using the iPad exclusively using LOGMEIN software so I could access my desktop at work and still have windows, which is required for my job. It worked pretty good, but it obviously is not good for typing long entries, etc, and the blog suffered.

Last week I decided to bite the bullet and get a new laptop. But I decided to change it up and get an Apple Air book. It was a tough decision because the Apple is $1,000 vs a netbook of $300 or a regular laptop for $6-700 or so. Another key point was that I still need windows for work. I figured I still have LOGMEIN, which works well. I can also load windows on the apple. While I have not done that yet, I still may.

As far as price goes, I am hoping the higher quality of hardware will allow the air to last several more years than a netbook would. You can just tell it is put together ten times better than the Asus netbook.

The mac software took a little getting used to, but I feel pretty comfortable with it already. I was worried because I haven't used a mac since college!

In conclusion, I am happy with the purchase. HOWEVA, if this air book crashes or breaks it will cause me to bleed baby blood from my eyes (I plan on taking care of this baby(!

Fox Robots Have Taken a Back Seat This Year

You know how I feel about those Fox Robots.

For the 2011 NFL season I was hoping like hell they would retire the damn things. They would stand there on the side of the screen doing jumping jacks and stupid things like that. After reading my blog, the Fox execs appear to be phasing the robots out of their broadcast. They are still involved slightly, but no longer on the screen for what seems like minutes at a time after each commercial break.

Fun with Three Billy Goats Gruff

The other night I was reading my four year old a bed time story - Three Billy Goats Gruff. It's one of his favorites - we probably read it once a week. Sometimes I am Big Billy Goat Gruff, Hunter is Middle Billy Goat Gruff, and Jacks is Little Billy Goat Gruff. To date, I have no idea why the goats are called "Gruff."

The purpose here is to point out a huge plot flaw in the story. It's not as glaring as the Little Red Riding Hood issue, but significant nonetheless. The point of the story is that the three goats need to get across the bridge to get to the rich grass to graze. But under the bridge is a Troll who eats people who cross the bridge.

The goats are afraid to cross the bridge because of the troll. So Big Billy Goat Gruff comes up with a plan. Little billy goat gruff stars across the bridge and when the troll comes up to eat him he says, "oh you don't want to eat me, I am little. Next my big brother middle billy goat gruff is coming and he will be a better meal for you." So the troll lets LBGG cross safely.

Next Middle BGG crosses and uses the same tactics as LBGG. So the troll agrees to allow MBGG cross in order to wait for BBGG.

So here comes BBGG. The troll comes up to stop him and BBGG easily uses his horns to throw the troll into the river, who is never to be seen again. The End.

So let me get this straight (keep in mind BBGG can easily throw the troll into the river): The three goats are afraid to cross the bridge because of the troll. So BBGG's idea is to allow the weakest goats to cross first armed only with the argument that a fatter goat is on his way. What if the troll was starving? What if the troll didn't buy this pitch? LBGG would surely be fucked.

At this point, I am not sure if MBGG would be eaten or if he is strong enough to kill the troll. But obviously their best chance was to send BBGG to fight the troll in the first place. Why risk the lives of LBGG and MBGG in the first place? What is going through the mind of BBGG? He needs to step up and go across the bridge first and protect his younger brothers. While he is the hero of the story, in my eyes he is weak and stupid.

And why are we reading our children bedtime stories featuring a big bad wolf and a deadly troll? WTF?

Hokamania Update

Michigan is 6-0, following up last year's 5-0 start and 2009's 4-0 start. Those years finished 7-5 and 5-7 respectively. The prior two year's starts both included wins vs ND and beating IU to open B1G play. But this year, we have opened up B1G play 2-0. We are ranked 10th nationally. Can it stick?

I have no clue.

This is MSU week, and with the Spartans winning three straight, they are favored by 3 in Vegas to win their fourth straight in the series. Of course, this is unthinkable to me, but the risk is very, very real.

I think we have a good chance to win. Our defense is much improved and the offense has started to find its identity with the coaching change. State, on the other hand, has regressed from last year. With they are 4-1, they have looked weak at times, particularly at ND. Their defense has been a positive, but the offense was supposed to be strong and has been surprisingly inconsistent lead by QB Cousins- as a 3rd year starting senior, I would have expected more. But the season is not over and he can still salvage a trip to Indianapolis.

I truly believe we would have still had a decent season under RR, but you can't ignore the regression in defense and special teams under his command. Clearly he is an offensive minded coach, but there is no excuse for your defense to get worse and worse every year. This is Michigan for Godssake! I figured the defense would be better simply because of more experience, but RR had not proven this would be the case.

Under Hoke, the offense started out shaky. They seemed to have lost their identity playing half i-form and pro-style and half spread n shred. But after six games they seem to have ironed out those wrinkles playing more towards Dilithium's strengths. The rushing attach is one of the best in the country lead by Denard and I think if they can keep the passing attack simple for him he can improve as he did against N'western last week.

The defense has been the true surprise. We were just about dead last in passing defense last year, and I think we gave up an average of 40 points per game to close out the season. As mentioned, I expected some improvement because of experience (we returned just about everybody and gained Wolfolk back from injury) but that does not account for poor scheming and game plan by RR and GERG. Mattison and Hoke have gone back to basics (tackling, etc) and the turnovers have been in our favor, and with the adjustments made during the game (it seemed like even under LLLLLoyd we were out coached in the adjustment category), we are a MUCH improved defensive team. We no longer are required to score a TD on every offensive possession to stay in a game.

Remaining schedule:

@MSU - winnable, but will be tough

Purdue, home - easy win

@Iowa - should be a win

@Illinois - winnable, but will be tough

Nebraska, Home - winnable, but will be tough

Ohio, Home - win (no choice, must take advantage)

Summary of remaining schedule: 6-0 as of today, with all 6 remaining games winnable. Is this likely? No, but I have hoke. Vegas has us favored in all save MSU. Can we split? YES, which would put us at 9-3. I believe we can easily win 4 and get to 10-2 and possible put us vs WISC in indy.

At this point, I believe Hoke has returned Michigan to (potential) glory. As Ohio crumbles, Michigan rises. This is MICHIGAN.

Fun with Little Red Riding Hood

Tonight I was reading my four year old Little Red Riding Hood as a bedtime story. Let me just say this story has many flaws in the plot, and I intend to point out just one - see below.

As you may recall, LRRH is walking to Grandma's house with a basket of goodies for Grandma because she is sick. As she is walking through the forest to Grandma's house, she is approached by the wolf. There appears to be nobody nearby. As clearly stated in the story, the wolf would like nothing more than to eat LRRH. And it is also made clear that this is quite a wiley wolf. There is nobody around, and the wolf wants to eat LRRH. Clearly he could take advantage of the situation and eat her right on the spot - so what does the wolf do?

He comes up with an elaborate plan to sneak off to Grandma's house and wait for LRRH there. The wolf takes the risk of complicating the situation by changing the setting and involving more people.

As you know, this ends terribly for the wolf. He sneaks off to Grandma's house, enters the house and Grandma faints in fear, he then puts on Grandma's nightgown and hat and gets in bed (can you imagine the wiley wolf taking off Grandma's nightgown and putting it on himself)?

LRRH comes in the house, realizes with the big ears, big eyes, and big teeth it is not Grandma (she doesn't realize it is not her until she is standing next to the bed), and escapes the house unharmed. As the wolf is chasing LRRH out of the house, the wolf is shot dead by a hunter who was tracking the wolf all day.

The wolf made a fatal mistake by playing games. Obviously the right move would be to eat the little girl on the spot. Instead he decided to make things hard on himself and it ended up costing him everything....

Moral of the story - always take a trick you can win?