May 29th - 3-13

Short day at work, as I had to get home in time to allow my wife her night out with the girls. That wedding we are at recently, where she danced? She remembered how much she loves dancing, so they scheduled another night out. It's cool by me. I go to concerts with friends, she goes dancing with friends.

So, I got home, she showered, she left, I bathed the kids, and we watched Godzilla vs. Megaguirus. Good times. The kids were in bed at 10:00 two hours past their bedtime, but I figured that'd help them sleep in later for Tieraney, since I'd be at work when they wake up (still working Saturdays, you know). Played some Zelda, then went to bed at 11:00.



But a strange thing happened. I had trouble sleeping. The later it got, the harder it was for me to fall back asleep. Dude! I was totally worried about my wife! I'm a family man! She didn't know what time she'd be back, but when 1:00 a.m. rolled around, I was surprised she hadn't returned or hadn't contacted me. She finally did get in at 1:15, and I promptly fell asleep.

God, I hope I'm not like this when my kids are out on dates in ten years.

We try for the TD, but the pass is incomplete.

My ball: 4th and 7 on Life's 19.

May 28th - 3-13

Another day of nothing going on. Late meeting at work kept me there until 7:00. Put the kids to bed, and played video games. Why not be more productive at the end of the day? Tired of typing, I guess. Why so judgmental?

So, if there's nothing going on, what's coming up? Sophie's day care graduation is June 10th. My first MAC2MUG meeting is June 2nd. I've got an authentic away Houshmandzadeh Seahawks jersey heading my way (for free, mind you, because I'm a hell of a guy). I'm looking forward to no movies this summer, but I am looking forward to many Wii games. I have many books I have to read. I've abandoned my play about the guy who writes plays, and am now writing one about guys who invent a time a machine but have no real desire to use it.

I'm going to eat an English muffin for breakfast.

I think that's it.

Three yard run.

My ball: 3rd and 7 on Life's 19.

May 27th - 3-13

Nothing much going on. Work, Appletell, food and water. I'm staying up too late playing video games again, but who cares. Sleep is overrated. And if getting only five hours a night makes me die sooner than I would otherwise, then life is overrated.

Incomplete pass.

My ball: 2nd and 10 on Life's 22.

May 26th - 3-13

Sam did the tubes again today. It went pretty well, I think. I mean, the surgery was fine. No troubles there. But the waiting went good, too. This is important, because as a great man once said, "The waiting is hardest part."

We get to the hospital two hours before the surgery is scheduled. A bunch of people come out to talk to us and the boy. We've been through this twice before, so Tieraney and I barely paid attention. It made Sam comfortable, though, so I guess it's worth it. The most traumatic experience for him, apparently, were the pajamas.



The boy did not like them at all, but who cam blame him? Teddy bears flying complex spacecraft? That's just stupid.

Better yet, when the anesthesiologist came out to talk to us, he asked if the nurse had been out to explain things. We said we're not sure, so he replied. "She's young...a bit overweight..."

How about that? Wonder if there's a story there. Actually, I'm going to start describing people like that. "Did you see our receptionist? She's young...a bit overweight...smells like dog piss...you can't miss her. She literally smells like dog piss. Oh, and her face is off-center just enough to make her kind of ugly, but not really ugly. Just ugly enough so that you wouldn't trust her to watch your kids."

Anyway, Sam cried a bit at various points (mainly because he wanted to eat when he couldn't and wanted to get all of the wires and identifiers off of him), but did well beyond that. Immediately back to his normal self.

Successful surgery equals four yard run on what was meant to just get a first down.

My ball: 1st and 10 on Life's 22.

May 25th - 3-13

Memorial Day! But I did no memorizing. I went to work. I prefer work over parades. After work, I drove the family up to Geneva-On-the-Lake for some miniature golf. I've learned to never do this again. My daughter apparently has a fierce competitive streak in her, and gets quite angry when she can't do something well. Good luck teaching her guitar. Sam is always more concerned about the next hole than the one he's playing. He's three, though, so I'll let that slide...for now.

That's pretty much it, then. No cookouts, no flag waving, no fly-overs. Just me and my family and "America's Oldest Miniature Golf Course." I think I'm pleased.

3 yard run.

My ball: 3rd and 2 on Life's 26.

May 23rd-24th - 3-13

Not much doin' Saturday. I did that on purpose. I could've done all kinds of things, but opted against it. It was my first official weekend without two houses to maintain, so I opted to maintain neither. I'll get back into that next weekend. Saturday...cripes. Oh, the girl was sick. Threw up in the morning, so she slept on the couch all morning. Watching her, I fell asleep, too. Tieraney came downstairs, saw us asleep, and fell asleep as well. Lord only knows what the boy was up to. Crystal meth, maybe. So easy to miss that.

Sunday we went to Ashland for my niece's birthday. Brookside Park. Playgrounds, kids yelling, parents yelling, that sort of thing. This happens every year, and although it's not my favorite, it's at least outdoors, so I can grab one or two of the kids and go somewhere fenced in and just ignore everyone else. It works.

All in all, a pretty relaxing weekend. Nothing about which to complain.

We stick to the pass, but only pick up five.

My ball: 2nd and 5 on Life's 29.

May 22nd - 3-13

Zoo. I enjoy me some zoo. I like the animals, I like the dinosaurs, and I like that I can get bored there after three or four hours and not feel pressured into staying all day.

The kids seems to have fun, too, and were pretty good, for the most part. Both got cranky at different points, but that's to be expected. So did Tieraney. I was a ray of sunshine all day.

Here's the family dealing the volume of the dinosaurs:



Here's me and the girl dealing with the taming of a dinosaur:



Zoo took up most of the day, so not much to report beyond that. It's enough, though. Zoo is good.

Oh, and we got the word. The house is officially sold. It's out of my name. Done. No more faxes, no more heating bills, no more leaf raking.

Big pass downfield to a wide open receiver.

Quick pass to the halfback gets us six.

My ball: 1st and 10 on Life's 34.

May 21st - 3-13

Long day at work. Had to be, as I'm at the zoo on Friday. But, it was interrupted throughout. I drove to Pepper Pike (a town bordering Beachwood, and the name of my favorite Judy Blume character) to drop off my check for $18,500 to pay for the house. Bitches wanted me to drive to Stow, but I won that battle. I WON IT!

Of course, they won the $18,500 battle, so...

Before lunch I met with my insurance agent to find out why my house insurance is going up $5 a month. The reason? Because it does. They won that battle. Then the insurance agent tried to talk to me into buying vulnerability insurance in case I ever get sued. My response, almost verbatim, was, "Valerie, listen, I've only got so much money I can spend on this stuff. I've got auto and house. I'm going to buy life in August. That's all the money I'm ever going to throw at insurance. You can work all you want to trying to convince me otherwise, but I'm telling you right now, never in my life and I buying vulnerability insurance."

Her response? "You know, Kirk, I never really have to worry about where I stand with you."

"Yeah, I get that a lot."

In the afternoon, then, had my windshield chip repaired. That was free. I win!

Quick pass to the halfback gets us six.

My ball: 2nd and 4 on my 40.

May 20th - 3-13

All remains calm, save for the pending check to the title agency. My sudden concern is that the credit cards won't actually put out the money, and that I won't get the check in the morning. It's probably irrational, though. The credit is there, so why wouldn't they give it to us? Regardless, I have a back-up. Fellow Canadian Steve Crane told me yesterday that he'd've been happy to loan me the money.

- Wait, what? Loan me $18,500?

- Sure, as long as I know I'll get it back in a week or two.

So, I apparently have a friend who can loan me short of $20,000 if I ever need it. He's a pharmacist. So is his wife. Remind me again why I majored in English.

And something tremendously weird happened. I don't watch the American Idol. As I've said numerous times, I preferred it when it was called "The Gong Show." But last night, while sitting in bed playing the DS while Tieraney watched, I was twice interrupted; once to see Steve Martin, once to see Queen. Steve Martin and Queen on the same show. It felt just short of nirvana, however, as Queen didn't back up Steve on an AOR version of "King Tut."



Kickoff returned to the 34.

My ball: 1st and 10 on my 34.

May 19th - 3-13

The battles with the old house aren't done yet. We were told we had until Friday to pay off the loss. Now, suddenly, the title agency has reversed and decided they need the money by Thursday. We'll have the money by Thursday, but that they're doing this without explanation seems pretty lame. I hate these people. They're evil. I'm told I'll have to pick up the cashier's check in Beachwood Thursday morning, then drive it all the way back to Stow before noon in order for this to happen. Like hell. They can send a courier to pick it up. I'm not losing work time for these people. I'm guessing they're somehow losing money by not honoring the day they original promised, so they'll come get the check if they want it badly enough. I need at least one final victory in this.

Beyond that, not much. Well, I did some personal computer work for a client, and he rewarded me by having his wife cook up a salmon dinner. It was good. Good food, and we exchanged some good stories. But food and stories aren't enough to prevent a 28 yard field goal.

Life extends the lead to 3-13.

May 18th - 3-10

I went to work late. I had to take Sam to the ear doctor. Sam has had tubes in his ears, and he needs to have tubes in his ears again. Tubes are expensive. There has to be a way to make tubes that doesn't require them to be put back in over and over. For instance, these guys:



I've had The Tubes in my ears, too, but it was free on the radio, and it was "She's a Beauty." Good song. Bonus day when they play that on the 80s radio shows that every station in Cleveland has on the weekends.

So, next Tuesday, Sam goes to the hospital again for more tubes. Sad for him, sadder for us, because it's expensive.

Pass is complete, but the runner is pushed out before picking up the first down.

Life's ball: 4th and 2 on my 28.

May 16th-17th - 3-10

I'm having anxiety dreams. Wonder why that is, seeing that I've sold the house. I guess it's the finances, but the dreams are decidedly about things I'm paying for now; infestation of spiders in the new house, dramatic car crashes of my Soul, that kind of thing. I don't mind such dreams. I enjoy the relief of realizing it's not true (notable, after I crashed the Civic, there was a brief period where I ran through the plausibility of whether that was a dream).

But it's not all anxiety dreams. I also had one where the third, youngest son of Prince Charles and Lady Diana broke down in an interview over how his father never loved him, and only I realized that he was doing a bit. Am I the only one who understands the humor of the Royals who don't actually exist?

This weekend, let's see...Saturday, my father-in-law and I moved the last of the goods from the old house. It went surprisingly well, despite having to take apart the swing set to get it in his truck. Goodbye old house, you mother fucker. When speaking with the new owners Friday, Tieraney told them, "I'm going to miss this place. Our children were born here." Later that day, I told her I felt nothing. No feelings of loss or nostalgia. She said, "Oh, me too. I hate that place. I just wanted them to think we'd miss it."

Let it be known that I love my wife.

Sunday was the birthday party for my brother and sister. Nothing to report there, other than tasty food. But I mowed afterwards, and realizing that I didn't have to go mow another yard, I also clipped the weeds around the house, swept up the driveway, pulled some crabgrass...I now have time to be a suburbanite. I just wish I could afford it, too.

Run is sniffed out and stuffed.

Life's ball: 3rd and 8 on my 34.

May 15th - 3-10

Worked through to noon, where one our two black clients (both brought on by me, by the way), told me she loved Duran Duran. Of course she did. All right minded people loved Duran Duran from 1982 through 1988. It was just weird not to.

Then, it was back to the old house where the new couple was already moving in despite not being allowed to do so until 6:00. Whatever. The sooner I get people in there, the better I feel. So, once Tieraney showed up, we cleared out the attic and the basement. That's done. Man, I've got a lot of crap. I would've really loved to have had a garage sale before this happened, but once we were sure it was going to, there seemed to be something every weekend (and usually in Ashland). So, sometime this summer, we'll have one in Mogadore.

We left a few of the larger items that we can't fit into the Soul and the Matrix; swing set, grill and such. I was hoping the new owners would buy them, but they weren't interested. They did decide upon a computer desk, the lawn mower and a large run in the living room, so that'll get me another $150 or so...provided they pay me. They haven't yet. Of course, I know where they live...

Tieraney's dad is coming up help with the other stuff this weekend (he has a pickup truck, after all...what kind of respectable gun owner wouldn't have a pickup truck?) After that, I'll never need to set foot on that property again. And that's all right by me.

Life tries to pump it downfield quickly, but the receivers are covered, and the QB has to throw the ball away to avoid the sack.

Life's ball: 2nd and 10 on my 36.

May 14th - 3-10

Okay, we're going to say we has out of bounds. We're going to do this because, despite the fact that the cost of selling my home went up to $18,500, I was able to get the money. How? Credit cards. Good Lord, the debt, but I'm able to do it. Being able to grab that kind of cash on such short notice, credit or no, that's a thing. Trouble is, the credit checks take 5 business days to clear. So, despite the fact that we signed the closing papers, we don't close officially until 22nd. That delay raised the cost the additional $400 or so.

But, it's done. Tieraney and I did go to sign the papers. Felt bad for the woman there, as neither Tieraney nor I were in good moods, and we bounced her levity right back at her with barbs. By the time we were done, she got out of that office very quickly and didn't look back. That kind of made me laugh. Tieraney and I make a great team when we want to make someone uncomfortable.

I guess we say, then that the house is now sold. Despite it not being official until next Friday, we signed the papers, including one that allows the buyers access during that time. So, tomorrow, Tieraney and I are moving everything out that remains so they can take possession at 6:00. Guess I'll be talking about tomorrow.

Life's ball: 1st and 10 on my 36.

May 13th - 3-16

$18,104. That's what it's costing me to sell my house.

Another special teams TD for life, as they return the punt for the score. I'm challenging the ruling on the field, however, as it appears our punter was able to barely get him out of bounds on my 36.

May 12th - 3-10

Well, I guess the good news is that my dog doesn't have to wear diapers.

Or maybe she will. I don't know. Gelert has been having issues with incontinence, it seems. When getting up from the floor, there's sometimes a spot of urine there. We had her at the vet six months ago to check on a bladder infection, but the results were negative. I figured I'd have to start buying her those diapers for dogs, 'cause I'm kind of tired of cleaning up pee. That's why I moved out of NYC, after all. But I brought it up with the vet again while I had Gelert there for her shots and check-up, and he prescribed something called Proin. So far, it's working. I guess that drugging her up is better than making her hate life because all the other dogs are pointing at her and laughing.



Not my dog, by the way, for I'm a man. A man with a pair of dignities.

Worked from home yesterday because of the vet trip and Tieraney's car repair, which sucked. $300 in vet bills and nearly $600 in car repair bills. Know what I can't afford right now? You guessed it. Life. I keep thinking is this fine, because I'm paying over $900 a month for the old house. But that doesn't mean much when I'm sinking further in debt in order to stop paying. It's all going to hit the fan when the mortgage folks ask me on Friday how I'm going to pay the nearly $15,000 I'm losing in order to unload this house. My answer?

"I don't actually plan to. You think about that for a while. I'm going to get a corn dog."

Had the kids and Tieraney at the old house after we picked up her car. Got a lot packed, but there's plenty more to do. All attic now. Bunch of empty boxes and styrofoam I have to pitch, too. I hope I can get this done before Friday, or else I'll need to rent a moving van in order to get it done in one trip. Don't want to rent a moving van.

3rd down pass is incomplete.

My ball: 4th and 3 on my 46.

May 11th - 3-10

I accidentally met the home buyers yesterday. I left work early to meet Tieraney at the car repair shop (check engine light is on on her Matrix), but she got off work late, so I killed the time by loading some stuff into my car at the old house. When done, she still wasn't of work, so I played the DS. Before long, there were people on my porch: the buyer, her boyfriend, some kid (I'm assuming it's theirs) and their Realtor. They were doing there final walkthrough, which I thought was happening earlier in the day. Regardless, they seemed pleasant enough. Didn't say much, but that's because I'm an intimidating son of a bitch. It briefly talked with them about buying some of the stuff I don't want to move out of the place. Do I want to be bothered with hauling a computer desk, lawn mower, grill and rug back to Mogadore? Hells no! But I also am in desperate need of money, so we'll see if they're interested in giving me cash for them.

Either way, it's going to be a long week. I'll be taking off early each night to stop by the old place and get more boxes to the new place. There's not a lot...just some junk in the attic and kitchen. But I'm not looking forward to running up and down 2-1/2 flights of steps multiple times each evening. I won't complain, though. This week is the final push towards closing on Friday.

Interestingly, meeting the buyers led to what I figure to be one final anxiety dream about the house. I was out there with my dad and brother Matt, when I saw holes through the roof in the boy's old bedroom, and giant water damaged area that were growing and bubbling right before my eyes. I started yelling and screaming about the place as my family looked on as if I was insane. Which is appropriate. Were that to really happen, I actually would go insane.

Refs didn't overturn the call, so the four yard pass stands.

My ball: 3rd and 3 on my 46.

May 9th-10th - 3-10

Another trip to Ashland, this one quite disturbing. It was for Tieraney's dad's (Bill) birthday. The plan was for his daughters to pitch in and get him a Blu-ray player, which I put a halt on because they don't have a TV that can handle Blu-ray picture. Makes no sense...am I the only one who reads about these things? Talk moved to a gift certificate or a detailing package for his Saturn Sky. But then I get a call from Tally saying they're not doing that because they're going to buy him a gun, and do I want to go on it.

Excuse me? Do I want to help a 60-year-old man who watches my children buy a gun?

Uh...no.

But, the gun was bought. Some kind of revolver. Do they even still make those? It was given to him, and passed around to those inclined to touch such things, and at one point Tieraney's grandfather is looking at it and it's pointed right at my head. I swear to God, there's a gun pointing straight into my face. I politely ask Earl, who's on oxygen and lives in a retirement home, to kindly point the gun in a different direction. "Oh, it's not loaded," he says.

"Isn't the first rule of gun ownership that the gun is always loaded?" I ask.

Chris, the guy who bought the gun and owns the AK-47s and isn't a member of the NRA but has been to Ted Nugent's house many times (I crapping you negative) is quite proud of me for knowing that. I'm not sure if I knew that or just wanted it to be true, because, you know, gun pointing at my head.



So, my kids can never spend the night with their grandparents again.

Then, the day ends even worse. Tieraney were having a late night "conversation," if you know what I'm saying, when Sophie interrupted us by crying out in her sleep. Nightmare, I guess. I tried to keep talking, but Sophie interrupted again, which kind of kills the desire to talk, you know? So, I never got to finish what I was trying to say. Tieraney didn't care. She was done with the conversation. I had a few more points I wanted to make, and now I don't get to. Bummer. Hope I don't forget what I was going to say.

Sunday, I was out at the old house mowing and putting the finishing paint touches on the garage. I also tried to clear some of the crap out of the attic, but there was more there than I thought. I'm too old to moving computer equipment, baby clothes, old gaming systems and who knows what else down 2-1/2 flights of steps, so I put it off until I can get some help.

I did find out that Tieraney and I are action heroes, however. After getting home from church, Tieraney carried some stuff into the house while I went in to let the dog out. When we went back to the garage, the Soul was rolling out of it. Sophie had climbed into the front seat and bumped the gear shift into neutral. Tieraney and I both ran to the car; her to the passenger side where Sophie was sitting and freaking out, and me to the driver's side where the breaks are. See? Because Tieraney goes into protection mode. I go into "I can't afford my car repairs" mode. With the car moving at a decent clip after hitting the slope outside the garage, Tieraney and I each got our door open and hopped in. She grabbed Sophie, I hit the brake, and the day was saved! Sophie's freaked out, Tieraney's freaked out (although calmer than I would've expected), and I'm thinking, "I'm the Tomb Raider! I can jump into moving cars!"

The weekend is almost too weird to even make a call. Like the sprinklers came on or something. But we'll say the ball was snapped over the QB's head. He got back to it, and threw a desperation pass to avoid the sack, but it slipped out of his hands. One of our linemen caught it, and rumbled forward for four yards before tripping over his own feet. The play is now under review to determine if it was a fumble or a forward pass.

May 8th - 3-10

Good day at work; many billable hours, despite going tout to lunch with the company to say good bye to Phyllis. Phyllis, the owner's sister, has been our extremely part-time receptionist, but is now moving to Florida with her family and changing her name to Susan because she never liked the name Phyllis as she always felt it made her seem old.

So, now that she's actually getting old and moving to Florida like old people do--in other words, now that the name is actually appropriate, from her point of view--she's changing it.

I've never pretended to understand people.

Beyond that, the same. We grind closer to selling the house. Of course, considering the loss we'll be taking, I'm having a hard time labeling it a "sale." It's more like I'm giving it to charity. I'll get to claim the loss on my taxes, though, right?

Running game seems to be working, so we stick with it.

My ball: 2nd and 7 on the 50.

May 7th - 3-10

We've suddenly become very busy at work. This is good, because maybe now my boss will settle down. We hired a dude last fall, and I don't think we've ever had enough work for him. As a result, Bruce is pushing us all to be salesmen and join business clubs and shit like that. I really mean shit. I had that shit. Corporate America...sales...shit.

Thankfully, the business group I joined is MAC2MUG. I think it stands for Massilon Akron Canton Macintosh User Group. I have no idea what the 2 stands for. Doubt I ever will. But it's at least something that interests me, it's a group in which I can be valuable, and it's near my house. Better that than some stupid chamber or business club. In MAC2MUG, I can actually learn something valuable, and hopefully let my Mac expertise get us some business.

The garage is done, I guess. I haven't heard from anyone, but I did stop out there yesterday on my way home. Kind of a mess inside, but the roof looks good. Have to get the bank back out there now.

Tieraney's dad's birthday is this weekend, I guess, so I'm putting together some kind of video slideshow. These things take me forever, mainly because I refuse to do anything in crappy manner. So, that's been occupying all my time: scanning and correcting. In fact, I better get back to it.

Fullback muscles his way through for a first down.

My ball: 1st and 10 on my own 47.

May 6th - 3-10

Sophie went to kindergarten today. The school had an observation day in which incoming students (and parents, obviously) could observe class for half an hour. Sophie had no problem getting into it, but that's not a concern of ours. The girl is not lacking confidence or social skills. She did, however, want to always have the teacher's attention, and when the teacher actually broke into a lesson, Sophie quickly became bored and started focusing on other things. I'm not concerned about this yet. Five years old, and all. But if there's one thing Tieraney and I have always had trouble with with her, it's the short attention span.

Went out to the old house to check on the garage repair. It's certainly in the work, but apparently had to be stopped because of rain. There's a gigantic tarp hanging over the entire garage roof. I'm now thinking of canceling the whole thing and just leaving up that tarp. The bank said to stop the leaks. They never actually stated how.

My wife wants to go to Florida. I don't want to go to Florida.

Getting closer to getting Sophie out of day care is worth some extra yards. Five yard pass to the TE.

My ball: 3rd and 2 on my own 45.

May 5th - 3-10

Weird stretch lately. There's just nothing going on with team Hiner. Usually, I've got little something here and there, but no. Just waiting or the closing, which actually has me a bit nervous. There's no communication going on. Shouldn't there be communication? I'm going to find someone with whom to communicate.

The conservative play calling continues. Three yard run.

My ball: 2nd and 7 on my own 40.

May 4th - 3-10

Here's the big news for May 4th...I gave the kids a bath. I don't usually give the kids a bath. The kids are usually bathed or being bathed when I get home. Plus, Tieraney doesn't like the way I bathe the kids. She has her way (with soap and water), I have mine (without), so she usually does it. But I got home and saw that the kids weren't bathed, and that she was doing the checkbook thing, so I said, "Listen up! I'm doing the bathing tonight."

So I did. And that's the only thing I have worth talking about.

Life punts. Fair catch.

My ball: 1st and 10 on my own 37.

May 2nd-3rd - 3-10

Too much going on this weekend. Friday was as usual...home at eight, kids in bed, played some games. After work Saturday morning, we drove to the Lodi Outlet Mall to dump the kids on Tieraney's parents so we could go to a wedding. Tieraney spent too much money on an outfit (the one I didn't like as much, of course), then we went to the wedding.

I hate weddings, just so you know. Only one I really enjoyed was mine, and that's because I was too busy to get bored. Weddings, graduations and parades. No interest. But this one was especially obnoxious because I knew no one other than my wife, and had to sit with a few of her coworkers. They all got drunk and talked about work. Now, on Tieraney's behalf, this is all fine with me. She had fun, and that was the goal of the evening, so it's all good. But how do I keep myself entertained? I leave.

Yes. I left my wife to dance with her drunken buddies while I took a walk around Canton, watched some Flash Gordon and hockey on the iPhone, played some games, and too photos of houses with blank tombstones in the front yard.



"But Kirk," you caution, "what kind of man leaves his inebriated wife alone to dance with a bunch of horny drunken wedding guests?" I ask you this...what kind of man can't trust his wife in such a situation? Funny thing is, Tieraney felt guilty for the whole thing because I was so bored I had to leave for over an hour. Winner is me. Actually, winner is both, because I didn't have to listen to godawful wedding music, and she got to have fun with her coworkers.

The next day, we went to Ashland for my mom's birthday. Mom's 69. Happy birthday, mom. So, I got nothing done all weekend. Which reminds me...I have to call lawn people. My new yard isn't going to make it without lawn people.

Nothing new on the old house. Everyone has all their faxes, though. Heaven knows everyone needs to get their faxes.

Pass incomplete.

Life's ball: 4th and 7 on their own 23.

May 1st - 3-10

Before I forget, Thursday I drove past a house fire on the way to work. This was weird because it's still dark when I drive to work, so it was quite striking. The house is near the large bridge I cross on I-76 (quite close to my accident, actually), and the smoke was blowing across the highway. What bothered me is that there were no fire trucks there yet. I was witnessing the start of the fire, and who even knew if the people in the house were awake yet. I did notice some cars stopped on the road next to the house, so I'm hoping they were taking care of the issue. I wouldn't have been able to get off the highway there to do anything, but I have to wonder if I would have had there been an exit. A little later down the highway, I passed an ambulance heading in the opposite direction, so I guess that was good.

This is the second big fire I've passed on my way to work since moving to Mogadore. Last year, there was a huge fire in a restaurant/banquet facility on Gilchrist Road, just before I get on 76. Many fire trucks, many flames. Again, this was before dawn, so it pretty dramatic. That restaurant still hasn't reopened, by the way. The craziest fire I ever saw, though, was between Bluffton and Ada during my senior year of college. Returning from a dinner with the Office of Public Information, we passed a barn fire. The firemen had pretty much given up on the barn, and were dousing the house next to it so it wouldn't catch. As we drove by, the flaming roof literally lifted off the barn and started floating away. Honest to God, it looked like phoenix or something, this giant flaming bird angrily flying away from the destruction. I felt bad for the owners, but man, it was the coolest thing I've ever seen, and likely ever will.

As for Friday, no fires. Just a bunch of faxes to roofers, title agencies, Realtors(r), etc. I may as well be just sticking money in a shredder, as each fax means more and more debt. But you can't take it with you, right? Isn't that what the people say? Don't the people say that you can't take it with you?

Life tries to get in position for a manageable third down, but their runner is stacked up.

Life's ball: 3rd and 7 on their own 23.

April 30th - 3-10

As expected, Tieraney's not pregnant. We were both quite certain she wasn't, but considering our current financial situation and the fact that she'd never been late before, it was worth mentioning. I still don't want a third kid, but if we do decide to go that route, I at least want all the lovin' require to make it happen. With Sophie, we had eight or nine glorious months before she was conceived. With Sam, it was eight or nine hours. I could go for another nine months of solid baby making, I'd just prefer it if it didn't actually result in baby.

A little good news on the garage. The buyer has agreed to pay $350. That's not a lot, maybe 1/3 of the cost, but I'll take what I can get. Beyond that, more of the same from Hiner. Work, reviews, Wii, bed.

Short pass over the middle is behind the receiver.

Life's ball: 2nd and 10 on their own 20.