Rise and Shine --- Ahhh...

Good Morning and maybe we could mix in a little gentle rain this week?




Anyway, I'm already sick of the presidential election and things haven't even really started.

I'm sick of hearing Mitt Romney talk. I'm sick of hearing the rhetoric about the economy, jobs, global warming and healthcare.

I'm sick of being inundated with false report after false report. I'm sick of the commercials where they take one comment from something four, five, six years ago and try to make a point. I'm sick of hearing all these rich people tell me what I should be thinking.

Really, let's face it, most people have already decided who they are going to vote for in November. Those few still sitting on the fence aren't going to be swayed by attack ads.

Yes, it's going to a long stretch of politics.

By the way, saw this yesterday and it's pretty funny.

Rise and Shine --- Just saying...

Good Morning and there is always something calming about a thunderstorm in the summer!




OK, maybe I'm strange. I know storms, especially those summer ones, can cause a lot of trouble. I remember the one a few years ago that knocked out our power for nearly a week.

Still, when there's no damage coming, I like watching the lightning and hearing the thunder.

Like I said, I'm a little strange. I mean, I like to put peanut butter on those Sweetzels Spiced Wafers they sell in the fall.

By the way, speaking of cookies, who cares if Oreo offers multi-colored cream. It all tastes the same and the box doesn't last for more than an hour (at least at my house).

After years of watching the morning news programs in the office, I now pine for the days when I could turn on Curious George without getting funny looks. Really, is there any difference between Curious George's adventures and the stuff people like Steve Keeley at Fox29 try to tell us. It's only so much noise.

By the way, I am pretty sure in my journalism classes I was told there was no place for opinion in reporting the news. You know, just saying.

So, they are adding some red-light cameras along Baltimore Pike. Here are a couple of other cameras that should be added. That means a lot of people will be getting tickets in the mail all thanks to the idiot who decided it's a good idea to slow down to 3-mph when making a turn onto 320. Look, if you are going to turn, turn. It's not brain surgery.

Finally, I know it's old and I'm not a big fan of cats, but, if one can playing the keyboards, so be it:

Rise and Shine --- Summer's past

Good Morning and wasn't it nice to be able to leave the windows open last night?




A couple of weeks ago (on the last day of school), the little ones asked me what we were going to do this summer.

I gave my usual answer: "Depends on how everybody is going to act. A lot of fighting or arguing means a summer spent in a perpetual state of punishment. Acting good will mean more trips and more things to do."

Then, they asked what I did during the summer.

For some reason, I really don't know why, I flashed back to spending time with my cousins at their little farm (well, it had a barn) and tossing rocks into the creek.

It wasn't exactly a Mayberry time, but I remember having fun. The cousins were a little older than me and we didn't see them a whole lot, but every summer we'd spend a few times just 'messing around.'

My Aunt would make some kind of lunch, we'd eat, then head back and run around. We'd sneak in and get some ice cream or cookies, then do more of the same.

As the year's went by, I saw less and less of those cousins. As we got older and jobs or school got in the way, it went from a few times a year to once to none. They still lived in the area (my aunt continued to live in the old house), but I guess it's just the way some things go.

I haven't seen them in close to 20 years.

After I had told the stories of those summers to my children, my dad told me my aunt was sick and had to be hospitalized.

I found out she died yesterday.

I still don't know why I remembered those summer moments above others, but, maybe, it was a way of saying good bye.

Rise and Shine --- Get in the pool!

Good Morning and has anybody been able to hold off on the air conditioning yet?




When it gets hot and school's out, one of the first requests I get is "Can we go to a pool?"

I can pack everybody into the car and take a drive to Mom's house, but the pool is not open yet.

I can try to find somebody with a membership to a local pool who has some extra guest passes. With the work schedule and all, that's not the easiest thing to pull together.

So, I did the next best thing. We went out to a local store and picked up a little something to put in the yard.

"But, it's too small," was the first complaint.

Ah, you'll get wet and cooled off. That's all we need right now.

"But, it's too hard on the bottom," came the second.

We'll put in a little padding.

So, after what seemed like hours and hours air transfer, it was finally blown up and filled with water.

"The water's too cold."

Ahhhhh....

Rise and Shine --- Star Trek stuff

Good Morning and how about the Heat?!?
You know, I usually leave the cool space stuff to my co-worker in the Armageddon Watch blog
Then I saw something this morning that was too cool to wait.
Apparently, scientists believe the Voyager 1 spacecraft is about to leave our solar system.
The ship was launched in 1977 and is about 11 billion miles from earth. If the ship actually does leave the solar system, nobody really knows what kind of data or photos it will send back, but it's still really cool.
 I remember watching old Star Trek reruns when my Dad walked through the room.
"Think we'll ever have stuff like on this show?" I asked.
 "No way," he said. "It's just made up. "
Well, it's funny because we now have talking computers. tablets, holographic images and even more that was on the show.
Now, we have a ship that was made right here on earth about to find out what else is out there.
Sure, it's taken 35 years to get there, but what about the next one?
Then again, I don't think we are going to want to fight the Klingons.

Rise and Shine --- Summer's here

Good Morning and welcome to another one of "those" weeks!

OK, school's done.


Summer, maybe not officially until Wednesday, is here.

Now, what am I going to do.

It would be very easy to let the children run free. Have a "Do what you want" kind of summer.

I think that would last about a day. Besides, if I really let them do what they wanted, it would be hiding in the basement all summer playing video games.

Sure, it would make the rest of the house quiet, but, you know, it's kind of nice outside.

How about we ride bikes? "No"

How about we throw a Frisbee? "No"

How about we put on the sprinkler and run around? "Water's too cold, so No"

OK, this is going to be a bit harder than I envision every June.

So, I'm in the process of planning out as many activities as possible. Keep them busy and they can't complain.

Yeah, right.

Rise and Shine --- Too much?

Good Morning and how about that sun!!

I think we've hit the end. If not the end, we can certainly see it from here:

Rise and Shine --- Ad break

Good Morning and wouldn't it be nice if we could all sleep in late?




Maybe we could make it a new holiday: National Sleep in Late Day.

Target could have a 'Sleep in Late Day Sale,' with doors not opening until noon. We could see Toyota commercials for the month leading up to the day.

Speaking of commercials, they have become really annoying of late.

Let's not even talk about the car ads where a bunch of people are running to the dealer to get the best buy. Now, I know cars might be selling a little better than 2 years ago, but, come on, don't insult me with a bunch of stupid people running to the dealer before the sale is over. I have a feeling if you go into the dealer a day after the sale is over, you can still get the same deal.

So, anyway, the one that is really annoying me right now is the credit card commercial where some town combines their points to watch 'the London Olympics in true London style.'

Excuse me, but the Olympics don't start for a month. How did this town watch them already? Are they in some kind of time vortex where they can live in today, but watch the Olympics in the future?

I know ad agency's are struggling to come up with ideas, but whoever green-lighted this one should be forced to watch hours of Angry Orange.

Never mind, that would probably be illegal torture.

Rise and Shine --- Win, lose, draw?

Good Morning and how about them Phillies!?!




You know, it's OK to laugh at professional athletes when they make mistakes. It's OK, because, well, they are making millions and should be held to a higher athletic standard. Besides, when you watch Ty Wigginton boot a ball it makes all those errors you made in high school seen kind of OK.

I played baseball until I left high school. I know I wasn't very good. By sixth grade, I knew I'd never become a professional player.

Through all those years, my teams only came in first one time. After winning, we went to the pizza shop that sponsored the team and, hoping to get some free pizza, told them we won. Great, the guy behind the counter said, that'll be 10 bucks.

This past spring, a 10-year old I know lucked out and was drafted by a pretty good team. He improved through the season and went all the way to the title game.

So, in the bright sunshine and the heat of Sunday afternoon, we were at the field for the league championship game.

We cheered for our team to win. When they did with an unlikely hit in the last inning, we smiled, yelled and gave them all high-5s.

Quickly, though, I looked over to the other side. Sure, we were happy, but there was another group of players who weren't so upbeat.

I know the feeling on both sides of the field. I know the elation of winning. I know the pain of losing.

We all want our children to know the first one, while hoping to take the sting out of the second.

In 15 years, it'll be OK to laugh at them if they mess up on TV. For now, though, the only laughing should be because they are having fun.

Rise and Shine --- School days...

Good Morning and do we really need a remake of the 'The Munsters?'


So, here we are about a week and a half away from the end of school and the homework wars continue.

I get it, homework is of the lowest priority. I know it ranks below sitting around on the couch or sneaking a couple of cookies out of the jar or even fighting with your brother, but it still has to get done.

It's not like the middle of the school year where you were burdened down with homework. The teachers understand it's getting near the end of the year, so they aren't giving as much.

That project weeks in the making? Yeah, that doesn't need to be done the night before.

The math worksheet? Uh, all that time you just spent arguing with me about doing the work could have been used to get it done.

Reading? Shouldn't we all be reading every day anyway?

So, let's just work out a truce, OK? Get the homework done and everybody will be happy.

Rise and Shine --- Alarming

Good Morning and what are the MTV Movie Awards supposed to be?




Anyway, I've found the sure way to be tired throughout the weekend: set the alarm every day.

I really hate to have to set the alarm on the weekends. It's one thing to have to get up early every day for work, but it's quite another to have that beep, beep, beep going on when you are off.

Unless, of course, you are going on an exciting trip or something. I wouldn't mind it if, say, I was traveling to London in the morning.

This weekend, though, I knew was going to be a long one. When the alarm went off Saturday morning it meant the whole day at the baseball fields. By the whole day, I mean the WHOLE DAY.

The first game started at 9 a.m., which meant we had to be at the fields by 8. That one stretched to 11. We then had an hour break before the next one.

A win there, would mean a game right after, a loss (which is what happened) forced a 3 p.m. game.

Then Sunday we had to be out at Rose Tree Park by 9 a.m. to set up for our live stream from the Italian festival.

Each event (events?) was fun, but I'll look forward to this weekend for one reason: No alarms.

Rise and Shine --- Tripping out

Good Morning and why can't we have a sprinkler out front of work?



Really, though, somebody said to me the other day, "If you complained about the cold, you can't complain about the heat!"

Sure you can. I think it's in the Bill of Rights that we can complain about the weather whenever we want. Don't hold me to that, though, it's been quite a few years since Social Studies class.

Speaking of social studies, a certain now 13-year old boy (13!!!) has been learning a lot this year about everything. Well, being 13, at least he believes he knows everything.

So, while watching something on TV, I'll get things like: "Roman soldiers were paid in salt" or "George Washington didn't really cut down a cherry tree."

Every time I tell somebody the boy has turned 13, I get the roll of the eyes.

"Oh," they say, "good luck with that."

As long as we can get through the attitude (which seems to become more and more prevalent) I don't think it will be so bad.

Then again, we're only a few days into the teenage years.

Rise and Shine --- Is it a deal?

Good Morning and it's tough to wake up on a rainy Tuesday!


So far this morning, I could buy a Father's Day lobster dinner, a full day at a salon, a couple of tickets to a water park, tickets to a baseball game, laser hair surgery and some meat. All at low, low prices thanks to my e-mail inbox.

Whether it be Groupon, Living Social Deals or Google Offers, if I check my e-mail when I wake up, I have more offers than I can possibly see.

Want to take a trip? Well, how about a bed-and-breakfast deal in Cape May.

Need to send flowers? I have at least three e-mails saying I can get roses really, really cheap.

Having trouble at work? Come over and we'll talk.

Now, I've used some of these deals before. I've taken advantage of some good ones. There are still more coming in, though. I can't possibly get all of these.

Wait, coupon for a Mexican restaurant? I'm there.

Rise and Shine --- The Trouble with Triples

Good Morning and doesn't it somehow feel fitting when it rains on a Monday?

The Phillies have been riding a wave of public relations heaven for about 10 years now. To borrow a phrase, their poop didn't stink.
They were winning. A bunch of fans (millions) were coming out to Citizens Bank Park to see the players make a push to a championship. They traded young players for old and kept it going. The owners, who were so hated in the 1990s, were glorified.
It's all pretty good. Still is, but, now, there are some chinks in that armor.
The team took some hits over the weekend for a couple of Inquirer stories. One being on how the use of cortisone injections given to first baseman Ryan Howard could have led to his tearing of his Achilles tendon at the end of last year. The second being how the Phillies kept a reporter from watching Howard rehabbing in Florida.
Having been a Phillies fan my whole life, all I could think was "so what."
This kind of thing happens in professional sports all the time. Teams and players lie or hide from the media. The players aren't really that fan friendly. They do the things the team tells them do to, but get them outside the ballpark and, whew, watch out.
I covered professional sports for many years. Let me tell you a secret: It's not that glamorous.
I've found out what is glamorous, though. It's telling a 7-year old how to hold the bat and seeing her get a hit on a hot Saturday afternoon. It's getting a bunch of 8- and 9-year old boys to make up a cheer for their teammates.
It's being told, long after a hot day in the sun is over, "Thank you for being there today."

Rise and Shine --- Why waste time?

Good Morning and at least the ducks will like today!

So, there was this big press conference downtown yesterday featuring the mayor (who seems to make as many TV appearances as the President) and rapper Jay-Z.
It was talked about all weekend. There was going to a be a big announcement. It was all a big secret, but it was going to be something big for the region.
As these things do, it leaked out by Sunday morning the announcement was going to be about a concert festival on Labor Day weekend.
Seriously, it is good news. We have a rich musical history here (heck, Rock 'n Roll started in Chester). It's about time Philly did something like this.
Then they held the news conference yesterday. All the sponsors talked. The mayor talked. Jay-Z talked.
They all said nothing. No details. Just the dates, which everybody knew. They should have stepped up and threw out something new. That's the way to get things going.
Here are the ways to hold a news conference:

Rise and Shine --- Water Power

Good morning and how about that sun!

So, I threw a birthday party over the weekend for two boys.
With about 10 children scheduled to attend, I figured I better plan a few activities. Either that or have them grouped around the television set playing video games.
So, with the sun shining bright, I set up a couple of Frisbee games. A bean-bag toss. Their sister wanted to organize a game of freeze-dance or musical chairs.
Sure, I thought, that should be enough to keep everybody occupied.
We never got to any of the games.
Somebody found the water guns in the garage.
Soon, there was water flying everywhere (it helped the temperature reached 80). The Frisbees were used to soak opponents.
So, you can plan all the stuff you want, but a child's mind will gravitate to what's the most fun. Maybe we all should throw some water.

Rise and Shine -- Living in the Past

Good Morning and if Charlie Manuel never goes to the bullpen again this season, I'll be happy!

I'm sure everybody at some time or another has been accused of living in the past. We listen to old music. We talk about how great it was when we were kids. Sometimes, we wish we could go back.
Well, this week, I did go back. Way, way back.
On Tuesday I paid a visit to the Penn Museum to check out their new exhibit on the Mayans.
It turns out the whole thing was put together by a Delco native named Kate Quinn. Her story you can read online later today and in the Weekend section tomorrow.
It was a rocking and rolling exhibit with a ton of ancient (by that I mean like 4,000 year old) artifacts. There were writings. There was cool looking pottery and weapons. It was bright and shed a lot of light on the so-called Doomsday that many think is coming this December.
After spending a lot of time at the exhibit, well, sorry Dutch Daulton, but the end of the Mayan calendar really doesn't mean the end of the world.
A day later, I had the opportunity to check out the Dead Sea Scrolls at the Franklin Institute.
While the stuff was just as old (yes, there really is a 3,000 year old sandal on display), it was much more reverent. The exhibit, with the scrolls as the star, is about the evolution of religion and philosophy.
It's quiet, it's a bit dark and it makes you think.
There are amazing, hand-made jewelry, seals and writings.
So, having spent two days this week in the past, I have to say it's all pretty amazing. Hopefully, we don't lose any of this stuff, because it puts a pretty good perspective on everything.

Rise and Shine -- Good for a laugh

Good Morning and why is blogger so slooowwww!

Anyway, so I turned on the Phillies game just in time to see them not score after loading the bases, then have a Mets rookie get his first himt to win the game. Oh well, it's going to a be a long summer. So, might as well laugh at it all.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis: Sean Penn from Between Two Ferns

Rise and Shine --- Blast from the '80s

Good Morning and how about those 76ers!!!

There are a lot of Phillies fans out there right now. Many of them might not remember the lean years, but, so what. We can all enjoy this ride even if this season is going to have some potholes.
The Eagles always draw a lot of interest. Most of that has to do with the machine that is the NFL. It permeates through all our sporting lives. There are even NFL team baseball jerseys, so there.
The Flyers hold a spot in peoples lives mostly because it's hockey and, well, people like to see the fights. That's the way it is and the NHL can't get away from it.
Of the four major sports teams we follow, the 76ers get the least amount of love. I guess mostly because they've been a middle of the road team for so long. They are just good enough to make the playoffs, but not good enough to actually compete for a championship.
This weekend, though, my memory was jogged back to those heady days of the 1980s when the 76ers actually ruled. They had two of the greatest players who ever pulled on a uniform (Dr. J and Moses). They had the consummate professional (Mo Cheeks) and the guy who got down and dirty (Bobby Jones).
Now, for those of you who remember, the Phillies were pretty good the first half of the 1980s as well, but they were upstaged by the 76ers.  After all, the 76ers were in the title hunt every year.
Even after they made one of the worst trades in modern sports history (Moses for Jeff Ruland?) they still had a young Charles Barkley. It was anther six, seven years of success.
Somehow, it went all wrong, but maybe beating the Chicago Bulls is the start of a new run. If not, we always have the videos.

Rise and Shine --- The Fight

Good Morning and, I know we need the rain, but why does it have to be on a day I need to be outside?

OK, I made a mistake Saturday afternoon. I'm big enough to admit it. I should have known better. I should have just kept my mouth shut. I should, could, would.
While sitting around the table eating lunch, I complimented the children on how they were working together. I told them I was proud they could stop fighting for most of the morning and play nicely.
I told them it really made me feel good to hear them talk to each other instead of yelling. I told them it could be a perfect afternoon if they could just not argue.
I was so proud, I thought about taking them down the street for some ice cream.
So, we ate lunch. Joked about a few things. Laughed about a few things.
I walked in the kitchen to clean up the dishes when the first yell started. Next came a scream, finally I heard the first call.
"Dad, he took my Gogos."
"Dad, she called me stupid."
"Dad, he pulled my hair."
Now, I know siblings fight. That's part of the deal. I certainly did my part when younger.
Sometimes, though, it seems like the fighting is there all the time. Arguing over who's feet are closer to the couch. Who gets to brush their teeth first. Who takes the first bath.
Man, it gets frustrating.
I guess I have to put them in a better position not to fight.