What is wrong with people?

Alright, so a teacher from my high school (the same school that my father spent 40 years working tirelessly at) has been arrested on charges of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, illegal use of minor in nudity oriented material, sexual battery and pandering obscenity with minors. Fantastic. He wasn't teaching there when I went to school there.

This has me going through a whole range of emotions, mostly anger though. The alleged actions of this teacher have put a black mark on the entire school community. A school that myself and my five sisters graduated from. A CATHOLIC school. A school that my dad dedicated his life to. A school where many of the teachers have been at for decades. The story was on every news channel in Cleveland and I assume will continue to be thanks to the salacious content.

Details of the accusations haven't been released yet but how the hell can a teacher get into that situation and think nothing will happen? Then again the man hasn't been proven guilty yet. But event has already damaged the school's image. There had to be something that wasn't kosher to even warrant these charges.

The Diocese of Cleveland might want to reconsider their media plan. Notice the ad that popped up at the bottom of the TV stations website containing the article about the incident:

Punching Terrorists in the Face

I bought these boxing gloves at Marc's for $4.99. If you're wondering what the hell I'm going to do with them, you're fairly normal. I got them because our ADDY awards theme is boxing this year. And I'm debating getting the Apollo Creed trunks to match for when I make my opening remarks. Pretty patriotic, right? Wrong!

Here's the fairly amusing warning label. Note that they can't withstand the power of adults and the hotmail address of the state-side distributor. Also of note is the fact that they're made in I.R.O.P. aka the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. I've probably just gone on some FBI watchlist as a result of my closeout find.

The what the hell were they thinking/bad taste award goes to

Some Italian casket maker for their annual girly calendar. Enjoy this year's edition here. From here you can peruse past years and find gems like my personal favorite Miss September 2005:



What the hell is this?!

From the looks of the site, they are an actual company that makes some fine looking caskets and some questionable calendars.

Go LeCavs!

The Cavs seem to be playing much better of late - then again, they are playing the NBA cellar dwellers. But Mariella, myself, Vince, Carli, Kev, Jill, Mary and Joan saw them beat the Hawks last week.

My favorite part was when they had an on-court promotion and the prizes awarded were an oil-change and an 84-month battery. Jill pointed out that they could've just said 7 years but that's marketing for you. I was really hoping to win some wiper blades myself.

Family Portrait Fun

While everyone was in town for the holidays, we went to have our family portrait taken. It started out pretty civil and quickly went south.

We learned that if Sammy really likes his top button to be buttoned. He'll hold that collar closed if he has to.

Zeke is kind of scared of our entire family (me in particular) and kept wandering off or screaming if we wouldn't let him.

Henry lost his patience with the whole ordeal.

It got pretty funny when the photographer went all art school on us and wanted a shot of the family lounging in front of a white background.

This might actually be the best shot of Zeke from the whole shoot and it was sheer luck. Mary was throwing him in the air and this is him descending.

$9.99 Shoe Palace

If we lose weight at our Monday weigh-ins, Mariella and I "cheat" by rewarding ourselves with Chipotle. And I typically "punish" Mariella by making her go to the Parmatown Marc's. On the walk to Marc's you'll pass the poorly named "$9.99 Shoe Palace."

Weight Loss Update

Over Christmas, I put on 3.4 pounds. Which when I stop and think about it is not super bad. I actually weighed the same thing on Monday this week, which kind of shocked me. I was pretty sure I had put on weight thanks to eating at Michael Symon's Lolita's on NYE, at Mariella's parents on New Year's Day and various and sundry other locations.

It's really hard to count points when I'm not at work. So my total weight loss is 16.4 lbs. Which is good but I was a mere .2 lbs away from the 20 lb. mark. So I've got some making up to do.

No time for bloggin'

Holidays, blah, blah, blah. It's been busy. So get ready for a post bonanza. Hopefully it's enough to pacify Jill when she's goofing off at work.

Merry Christmas from the Tribe

A few days before Christmas, I had an AAF event at the Terrace Club inside Jacob's Field. Someone had put a small tree up at 2nd base.

It was the first time I've been inside the Club. It would be awesome to watch a game from in there.

Chloe and her handbag twin

This is Chloe posing with the dog-shaped purse I got Mariella for Xmas.

The holidays are trying to sabotage me

I took all these pictures this afternoon in our office. And this is really the second round of treats from clients and vendors. I've managed to be very good. I only had some mini Reese's cups. I dropped 2.4 more pounds this week making my grand total 19.8. I missed my next star by .2 lbs. So I figure I'll get it next week.

Toledo's nearly done

This is a picture of the living room, fresh with carpet. We're nearly done. Hurray!!!

Joangratulations

See that dot at the end of the ramp? That's Joan - graduating from Kent State University. She had "I know you're proud Dad" written on her mortar board. Which made everyone tear up because we know that Dad is proud of her.

There were some dramatic moments as one of the undergrads fainted as we went to get her diploma and fainted again once she got it. I told Joan she should've fainted because that girl got the most applause.

Popcorn tins

Thought of Dad today when we saw this display of popcorn gift tins at Office Max. Had the price been right he would've bought at least half the palette. I remember having to push one of his two carts filled with these at Kmart one year.

He didn't really like the popcorn all that much but he used them as gift for Bingo. We would buy TONS of this stuff. And the best part was the cashiers would always look at us strange and make some comment like "I know what you're family's getting for Christmas" or "Wow you really like popcorn." Dad would just smile and nod. He'd never tell them what it was for. I think he really liked them not knowing. We went through the same thing with hot dogs and hot dog buns. Fairly often, we'd buy 20 lbs of hot dogs (always the cheapest) to stock the Bingo concession stand and the clerk would say "Looks like quite a barbecue." Dad would just say "yep" and smile.

But the popcorn tins were always more embarassing because they always took more than one cart. Which is why you never wanted to go shopping with Dad after the holidays to hit all the clearance sales although I suppose that was better than winning a year old tin of popcorn next year at Bingo.

2 more pounds bite the dust

I lost 2. Mariella beat me losing 3.4. So now it's on.

I'm going to DDR until I puke.

Nobody thought this was a bad idea?

I read an article in Brandweek about the worst brand extensions of the year. I'm shocked by what gets the green light.




The most appalling is the Precious Moments line of funeral urns and caskets.

Also making the list was Hooters brand energy drinks. Which led to the brea- uh, I mean best quote in the article:

“Hooters doesn’t stand for energy. It stands for boobs and chicken,” said
Laura Ries, president of Ries & Ries brand consultancy, Atlanta.

She's right. I also enjoyed the Bumblebee Prime Filet Chicken Breasts. I wonder if the tagline is "The chicken that tastes like tuna" or "The Chicken of the land."

More press still

I appear in this month's issue of Inside Business.

The photo they used could be my "before" photo when I'm doing Subway spots when I'm skinny.

Dropping pounds like a bad habit.

I hit 15.4 lbs. in total weight loss today. Pretty good if I do say so myself.

I keep annoying the women at the meeting because the leader keeps asking me how it's going and I always tell him that it's going well. And he asks me if I'm feeling hungry and I always tell him "no." And then I tell them that I have so many points. And there's a lot of hissing and murmuring. The groups average is probably somewhere in the mid-20s worth of points a day and I get 39. So I'm rarely hungry and that makes the women jealous.

Also we learned today that we're not the only ones that mildly pig out immediately after the weigh-ins. One lady says she always goes to get a double cheeseburger and fries. We usually hit Chipotle. But we're staying within our points. I've been very pleased with how flexible the program is.

I'm not as much of the man that I once was.

Check out our on-line holiday card from work.

It's awesome.

Very busy lately.

Toledo and stuff happened.

And we elfed ourselves.