"Tay, Will You Marry Me?"

Today, Tay, the girls and I went for a family walk through the woods to a scenic field on top of her Dad's farm overlooking the valley.

I let the girls know earlier the true purpose of this walk, except for Kitty, who was baking with Tay most of the day.

As we neared the top, we stood and took in the breathtaking view on a brisk sunny Sunday afternoon. I turned to Tay and said:

"What a beautiful day. You know what would make this day so much better?"

"No...what?"

I dropped to a knee. "Tay, will you marry me?"

Tay cries for about 2 minutes, then realizes that she hasn't answered me.

"Well?"

"Yes, of course I will!"

Tay cries for another 5 minutes and Tay, Aussie, Loni, Bebis, Kitty and I form one big pack for a group hug and kisses.

Then the girls proceed to dog pile on top of us and start rolling down the hill in celebration.

Aussie snapped a picture of the moment and I will post it soon.

So to all my friends and family, we're engaged!

Triple Cow Office Chair

My company is in the process of moving to a new location. We are all getting new chairs courtesy of Poppinfresh. However, whilst everyone is ordering new leather desk chairs, Erie is pushing for Poppinfresh and as many others she can convince, to get "Pleather" (fake leather) chairs.

When she came into my office to plead her case, she wrote "Save the Cows" on my whiteboard and drew a cowhead.

I told her that I wanted a "triple cow chair".

She asked "What's that?"

"It's a leather chair that three cows had to be sacrificed for to make", I replied.

I then added to her drawing to illustrate how I wanted my finished product to look.

Hence, the triple cow office chair! Of course, the other two heads either ended up in the landfill or could be used as bookends in Poppinfresh's bookcase. I haven't decided yet.

Yabba Dabba Doo! Hail Mary 157, Flavorfools 74

AP: Bedrock, PA:

Bluey's Hail Mary was able to right the ship as Peyton Manning led the troops to a much needed victory in Bedrock versus Freddie's Fools. Flavorfool coach, Mr. Slate called his team's performance disappointing and cancelled tomorrow's scheduled day off. He said that his "soft" team would be putting time in his rock quarry to get in shape for next week.

The Hail Mary improves to 4-3 and now trail division co-leader Warriors and Birdmen (both 5-2) by one game. Four teams, including 4-3 Blicious are vying for the Northern Division's two playoff spots.

Next up on the slate are the Donkeypunchers.

Heads Roll! Hail Mary Sends Jacobs Packing!

After Monday nights' fiasco involving RB Brandon Jacobs' sore vagina on the sidelines, Bluey's Hail Mary GM, Special Ed went into a spittle spraying rage and sent Jacobs candy-ass to ProDonor in a package that brought WR Reggie Wayne.


Even 40pt scorer Wes Welker was caught in the crossfire when he complained about Special Ed getting goop on his game ball. Wes and Donte Stallworth were throw-ins in the deal.

Third party sources involved tell a story of Hail Mary coach, Don Shula, telling Jacobs that the team was 16 yards shy of victory and to "get his fat lazy ass back in the game!". When Jacobs refused, his fate was sealed. Special Ed came screaming into the locker room with a tube of Vagisil after the game to yell at Jacobs, informing him not to expect to be wearing his uniform next week. As Welker walked by the scene, some Vagisil got mistakenly squirted on his game ball and as he started to complain, a scuffle ensued between Special Ed and Welker. Stallworth unfortunately came between them.

The Hail Mary (3-3) are clearly in disarray after their heartbreaking loss to Blicious. Morale is low and management felt a sledgehammer was the best way to bring about a change in attitude in the locker room.

Reggie Wayne comes in to be the Hail Mary WR3, behind Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmandzadeh. New QB Peyton Manning was ecstatic to hear the news of being reunited with his former receiver.

Week 7's match-up against the Flavorfools is critical. A loss pretty much dooms the franchise's inaugural season.

Clash Of The Titans: Blicious 189, Hail Mary 184.

What a matchup! Our two squads finish 1-2 for the week but the Hail Mary are unfortunate enough to run into the steamroller that was Blicious.

Brandon Jacobs shit his pants, needing only 18 points to carry the Hail Mary to victory on Monday night, he exited the game late in the 3rd quarter with a sissy sprained ankle, 16 yards short.

Bluey's Hail Mary experiment falls to 3-3 and Peyton Manning makes his Hail Mary debut against the Flavorfools this coming weekend. It's early, but I'd call it a must win game versus Flav owner, Freddie Flinstone.

Bow Chicka Bow Wow

Remember the Brady Bunch? Remember this song from childhood?

Homo we go,
Les' be on our way.
I love you, you love me
that's homosexuality!

There's a story today running that Marcia Brady (Maureen McCormick) has a new book out today that will touch on some very Brady girl-on-girl action.

If loving you is wrong....

I don't want to be right...

Black and Bluey Durango

I bought a companion used Black 2007 Durango to go with my White 2004 Durango.

I guess you can say that my 2004 Durango was lonely and wanted some lovin'.

Or you could say that with Tay and our four daughters, we finally outgrew the Durango without the third seat.

I actually splurged for a vehicle with 4WD, so now I won't spin tires up tay's driveway or worry about dying in Western PA's snowbelts.

It's main purpose will be winter driving and carting around my five peteys. We've already come up with an idea for the license plate.

5PETEYS

Bluey Drives The Herd!

This past Sunday, I was pulled away from the Dallas-New England game to help herd about 50 or so cattle from Tay and her Dad's property back into the neighbor's pasture.

"The neighbor's cattle broke through the fence and are on Dad's property"

"Really? Did someone call him?

"C'mon, get up. We're going to help dad herd the cattle back onto the neighbor's property."

"What? You're kidding right?"

"No, c'mon"

"I ain't no fucking cattle shepherd. I'm from New York City. I don't want to be trampled by cattle"

"C'mon, we'll use the quads and baseball bats to herd them."

"What?......I'm not slamming some cow with a bat! They'll charge and trample me!"

"Will you get up already!"

"Are you serious? They're not even your dad's cattle. Let someone else die for the neighbors' cows."

"C'mon already!"

"Okay."

And so began Bluey's first experience herding Texas Longhorn cattle using multiple quads, as Stacey worked the gates and her dad and I rode quads like horses and were able to herd about 10 or so cattle back onto the neighbors pasture. Thank God I didn't have to use baseball bats but I was worried at one point when Tay's Dad was herding them towards me and I had to guide them to the gate on the quad. I had visions of getting flipped off the quad and gored right in the ass by a few big bulls.

The other 40 cattle proved too stupid to return to their pasture as they streamed by their gate with our last ditch effort. We left the rest for more experienced hands than mine.

And I was able to escape with only one asshole thankfully, but I got my first experience "riding the herd".

Get em up, move 'em out...Rawhide!

Manning A Mary!

AP: Skeevemont, PA:

Bluey's Hail Mary GM, Special Ed pulled off the coup of the trading season by securing the rights of Peyton Manning from JusticeLeagueNow. Peyton will replace former Hail Mary quarterback Phillip Rivers as the new starter. Also included in the deal was Jerricho Cotchery and Marvin Harrison.

Hail Mary coach, Don Shula, expects nothing short of a championship from his new field general. The Hail Mary (3-2) are currently in a four way tie for second place in their division which finds every team sporting over a .500 winning percentage.

Current Hail Mary Roster:
QB Peyton Manning/Jay Cutler/Jason Campbell
RB1 Larry Johnson
RB2 Adrian Peterson/Brandon Jacobs/Maurice Jones-Drew/Ladel Betts
WR1 Chad Johnson
WR2 TJ Houshmandzadeh
WR3 Brandon Marshall/Wes Welker
TE Owen Daniels/Greg Olsen
K Nick Folk
D/ST New England Patriots

Bluey's Hail Mary 118, Birdmen of Alcatraz 106

AP: Alcatraz, CA:

The Hail Mary (3-2) got back in the win column by defeating the Birdmen in a hotly contested game played in the home team's prison yard.

After slugging it out all day Sunday afternoon, it came down to kickers to decide the result. The Hail Mary's Nick Folk outkicked Birdman Robby Gould to seal the victory.

Next up: Ohhhh Blicious!

2007 Fall Pilgrimage: Here Comes The Sun!

During the Spring 2007 pilgrimage, we were unable to field many outdoor activities due to the horribly cold and rainy weather. It rained almost nonstop the whole weekend.

This Fall Pilgrimage more than made up for it as we enjoyed the beautiful 80 degree weather by relaxing beachside, doing some kayaking and getting some swimming in!

Contrary to Las Vegas oddsmakers, Halo 3 did not ruin the pilgrimage, as surprisingly, a very minimal amount of the game was played.

Friday afternoon's golf event saw a nail biting finish as The Don (51) successfully defended his championship edging Sparrow by a stroke, Bluey by 3 and the Handyman by 4. The scores were uncharacteristically atrocious and represented the first time a score in the 50's won the event.

Saturday's Softball event saw the Genuises (Sparrow, Este, Poppinfresh, The Don, rent-a-tard Karlos and Bluey) dominate the SRU Tards (Meersky, Irish, Handyman, Special Ed, Francois and Choder) in a mercy rule shortened 4 inning game, 17-2. Genius hitters were unmerciful as every starter, save Bluey, pounded out at least 5 hits. Este had clutch RBIs just about every trip at bat. Poppinfesh picked up the win, pitching the first inning and Bluey recorded the save, mopping up the final three frames in relief.

Axis and Allies was won by the Allies (Meersky-Russia, Handyman-US, Francois-Britain) over the Irish Nazis (Highmark as Hitler and Irish as Japan).

I missed the Stones and Texas Hold'em tournaments due to painful cramped calf muscles caused by horsing around with the football and the frisbee in Lake Erie with the guys. Someone, please forward the winners, so I can post them for posterity.

Horseshoes were cancelled because everyone feared the Handyman/Bluey connection. We will now go down in Pilgrimage lore as the third tandem to hold the Horseshoe title for at least 1 and a half years while ending their reign undefeated (Meersky/TDog, Meersky/Bluey previously). Handy's miss next Spring will probably end our title run.

Jen was also called multiple times by pilgrimagers which makes any future appearance by Handyman tenuous at best.

All in all, a very relaxing pilgrimage. The nice weather was a great change of pace. For those I missed on Sunday morning, thanks for a wonderful weekend!

Warriors 150, Bluey's Hail Mary 119

The Hail Mary shit the bed this past weekend as their rivals, the Ass Pirates, er...I mean the Warriors came out to play, disposing of Bluey's squad by a score of 150-119.

The Hail Mary return to par at 2-2 on the season. Next up, the Birdmen of Alcatraz.

Mets Are A Bunch Of Choking Pigs!

How the hell do you blow a 7 game lead with 17 games to play? Obviously, we got a lesson by the Mets since no one seemed to be able to do it in over 110 years of baseball history.

Shitty starting pitching, crappy hitting, atrocious defense and a manager who is unwilling to dress down his team all added up to the most pathetic finish to a season ever. Do you think the 1962 Mets could have held that lead? I'm thinking that they would have had just as good a chance.

I'm glad the team didn't can Randolph, I like him. But a lot of the faces on this team better change come next spring. I'm thinking most of their middle relief should go except Sosa, the injured Duaner Sanchez and Feliciano. I'd even trade Wagner if I could. Shoenweiss, Heilman and Mota, I'd send out on a rocket.

I'd also ditch Green and let Gomez and Milledge battle out RF. Can Valentin as well. I'm also pretty tired of trotting Glavine out there. Keep Maine and Perez and build the rest of the rotation from scratch.

The 2007 Mets go on the list of things that give me ass cancer.

Bluey's Hail Mary 180, JusticeLeagueNow 115

AP: Skeevemont, PA:

The Hail Mary sent the Justice League home crying in their soiled underoos as Bluey's squad pounded said superheroes by 65 points. QB Captain America was repeatedly bitchslapped while Batman and Robin were sodomizing each other and Aquaman on the sidelines.

Their was a brief controversy as the Bluey offense poked Superman in the eye, which kept him from preventing the Hail Mary from stealing the Justice League's defensive signals. Hail Mary backup QB Jay Cutler somehow also managed to get Wonder Woman pregnant from his own sideline while the Green Lantern shit his pants in the 1st quarter and never returned to action.

All in all, a successful day as the Marys beat the sissy marys. The Hail Mary go to 2-1 on the season and next face the WashPA Warriors.

"Oh, warriors!!!!.....come out and play!"

On The Set of "Trapped"

Just wanted to give some props to my buddies Gavo and Hamdog, who continue to work filming their first feature length movie this fall, "Trapped", starring Corbin Bernsen, Tom Atkins and in a small cameo appearance...Bluey!

I was just overjoyed to be able to help and witness parts of the process. The script was written by Gavo, Hamdog, Gav's buddy Ron and Gavo's wife and is, from what I understand, a psychological thriller with plenty of plot twists. The Tribune Review wrote a story recently about the film and it's principals. If you are interested in following the progress of the film making, please see Gavo's OccaBocca blog. There is a link on my blogs' front page.

Guys, all of my best wishes with this film. I can't wait to see the finished product.

Oh, and I guess I should start to figure out the seven degrees of separation from Kevin Bacon to Bluey for cocktail parties, and start assembling a posse of my peeps.

Epilogue: Just in case anyone is interested. Here is the 7 degrees of separation from Bluey to Kevin Bacon.

Bluey "Trapped"
Tom Atkins "Trapped", "Lethal Weapon"
Danny Glover "Lethal Weapon", "Saw"
Cary Elwes "Saw","The Princess Bride"
Robin Wright Penn "The Princess Bride", "Forrest Gump"
Tom Hanks "Forrest Gump", "Apollo 13"
Kevin Bacon "Apollo 13"

also acceptable:

Bluey "Trapped"
Corbin Bernsen "Trapped", "Major League"
Wesley Snipes "Major League", "Rising Sun"
Sean Connery "Rising Sun", "Indiana Jones/Last Crusade"
Harrison Ford "Indiana Jones/Last Crusade", "Apocalypse Now"
Laurence Fishburne "Apocolypse Now", "Mystic River"
Kevin Bacon "Mystic River"

I guess they are right, Kevin Bacon is the center of the universe!

Framed!

Anybody who has kids, understands how important it is as a parent to have some decent detective skills. It always seems that when something gets broken or goes wrong in the house, somehow nobody did it or is responsible.

Unfortunately, my kids don't have a prayer in that department because I was born with crazy good analytical skills. From looking around and talking to them, I can usually figure out the truth and bust them pretty quickly.

This past weekend, Tay and our four daughters, Aussie, Loni, Bebis and Kitty, were enjoying a nice weekend together when Loni came down the stairs crying. I ask her what is wrong and she tells me that she knocked a cup of diet 7-up on the computer keyboard. Immediately, I get annoyed because the biggest rule I have for the computer room is NO FOOD OR DRINK. There is no exceptions. I don't even break that rule...ever.

I ask Loni why there was a drink up there in the first place.

"It wasn't mine daddy, I swear. I'm so sorry for knocking the drink on the keyboard!"

She breaks down in tears and it breaks my heart. I'm fairly confident that even though Loni knocked the drink over, it really wasn't her fault and she was besides herself with grief.

I dismiss Loni, ask her to bring down the keyboard, and start cleaning it by removing all the keys. The whole time I'm talking to Tay about the whole situation to get any ideas she has about who the culprit is.

So, then I call my youngest, Kitty, downstairs and ask her if she brought a drink into the computer room.

"It wasn't me daddy, I would never bring a drink into the computer room".

And you know what, I believed her. She's about as much of a rules nut as I am and I doubt very much that it would have been her. Plus, she's more of an orange-strawberry-banana juice girl. I've rarely seen her drink 7-up, when given a choice.

Which brought me to Bebis and Aussie, who seemed to be doing their very best to avoid me. Bebis can be a little bit of a rebel at times and reminds me so much of myself at that age. She's got a little bit of a devilish streak in her at times. I talk to her and she adamantly denies bringing the drink in the room, but I remain unconvinced. You see, Bebis is more of a water drinker but she wasn't exactly persuasive in her denial.

7-up is Ausssie's favorite drink but she also is the oldest daughter and is pretty responsible. She also denies bringing the drink up to the computer room and sounds convincing.

At this point, I'm perplexed. I bring them all together and ask them together who did it.

"We didn't do it"

"Of course you didn't. Nobody did it! It just magically appeared in the computer room or maybe we got a ghost that likes to drink Cherry 7-up. Is that what you're trying to tell me? If you gals can't follow simple rules, I'm taking computer time away from all of you."

They agree to the ghost part and cringe about losing computer priviledges.

Maybe we do have a thirsty ghost. I'm pretty disappointed in myself because even though I live with the four peteys, they never usually get anything past me. But that turned out to be my problem and why I couldn't solve "The Case of the Soggy Keyboard".

I'll get to that in just a second. I figured that I'd visit the scene of the crime before I gave up. When I was looking around the room, Tay walked in to console me.

"Oh my god!"

"What?", she says.

"You did it!"

"What, no I didn't!"

"You framed the kids!"

You see, that was my mistake. I dont have FOUR PETEYS...I have FIVE PETEYS! That was the error in my deduction.

As I looked around the computer room, there was the box of tomato basil wheat thins that I had been eating in my room the night before. The kids hate those wheat thins. I hadn't used the computer that morning, so there was only one way they got into the computer room. I also had a 7-up drink in my room that I'd bet my left testicle wasn't still there either. Before I got up to check on that drink, I look at Tay.

"You came in here this morning to use the computer while I was making your coffee and cooking your breakfast. You brought the drink and the wheat thins in and left them there."

"I did no........oh, my god.....I did!"

"I know you did. I'm sure if I check for the drink in my bedroom, I'll find it gone"

She is mortified since we had been grilling the kids for an hour and Loni had been in tears.

As I walked into the bedroom, of course the drink is gone. I turn to Tay and say, "You framed the kids!". She throws me on the bed and she tells me that I'm going to keep my big mouth closed.

I start to yell for the girls.

Tay puts a pillow on my head and then tries to shove a sock in my mouth. She is stone cold busted but refuses to come clean. I continue to tease her by calling for the girls. She tries to smother me.

"I can't believe you framed the girls and now you won't come clean"

"They don't need to know anything about this...ever"

And the secret is safe to this point....well, to the girls anyway.

Of course Tay tries to turn it around on me and make an excuse that she was merely cleaning up after me and just happened to leave the stuff in the computer room.

I open my mouth again....

"GIRLS...hhhmmphhhh........!"

Muslims Versus the West

Props to my buddy Blue for finding this video nugget.

Here is a powerful and amazing statement on Al Jazeera television. The woman is Wafa Sultan, an Arab-American psychologist from Los Angeles. I would suggest watching it ASAP because I don't know how long the link will be active. This film clip should be shown around the world repeatedly!

http://switch3.castup.net/cunet/gm.asp?ai=214&ar=1050wmv&ak=nul

And shame on people who continue to believe that the US is somehow responsible for 9/11 or brings this grief upon itself.

Bluey's Hail Mary 160, DyNasty 142.

AP Report, Skeevemont, PA:

Bluey's Hail Mary popped it's WashPa fantasy football cherry by defeating Cali's DyNasty squad by 18 points late last night. The tandem of Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmandzadeh put DyNasty in an early hole that they just came up short of climbing out of. DyNasty RB Laurence Maroney had a final chance to squeeze out the victory but evidently, he must have been caught sleeping with coach's daughter, Chastity Belichick, during the pregame warmups as Bill relegated him to a very minor role.

The Hail Mary improve to 1-1 as DyNasty owner Cali falls to 0-2 and calls for a the replacement of one tear-stained carpet.

Messin' With Sasquatch

Tay's stepmom makes out of this world beef jerky. It is ten times better than the crap you buy in the stores. I'm totally addicted to it and asked Tay if she would be agreeable to learning how to make it. Her stepmom made me a big gallon ziploc bag a few weeks ago to keep me in jerky until Tay gets up and running.

So, I pretty much forget about it and I'm finishing up mowing the lawn one day when Tay comes up to me and grabs my head and slips a piece of beef jerky in my mouth. "You did a real nice job on the lawn". She kisses me and walks away.

A day or two later, I was changing some burnt out lightbulbs in her kitchen and after I'm done, she does the same thing, while patting me on the head. I'm thinking to myself, "Man, is that beef jerky yummy".

Then it occurs to me after I finish chewing the piece of jerky. I have no idea where the big bag of beef jerky is. And it also occurs to me that it hasn't been beef jerky that I've been eating (well, in reality it has been).

I've been eating fucking Scooby Snacks!

Now, you may be confused by this, by the grim reality hit me like a sledgehammer. Tay was using the beef jerky as a reward after I performed jobs around the house for her without me realizing it. I always knew that men were dumb mammals but what a dope I had been. I was nothing more than a trained circus seal.

So, I asked Tay where the bag of jerky was. She immediately knew that I was on to her.

"You don't get to have the bag."

"What the fuck? That's my beef jerky!"

"And I've been giving it to you"

"Yeah...giving it to me like giving god damned Scooby Snacks to a dog after doing jobs around the house!"

She starts laughing, realizing that she is busted but probably because she had manged to get away with it for three or so days.

She still doesn't surrender the bag even after I throw a tantrum.

"We'll see how much gets done around here while I'm waiting for you to fork over that bag".

"If you want jerky, you'll do what you're told", she jokes.

Thankfully, Tay's daughter, Aussie, who has had her cellphone taken away, finds the bag in Tay's hiding place and gives it to me. I immediately lift her cellphone restriction for her good deed.

All was right with the world, except now I'm out of jerky again.

Brio 122, Bluey's Hail Mary 107.

Well, I shit the diaper in my inaugural fantasy league matchup. Props to Flip for giving me my first lesson in fantasy football. That lesson is that matchups matter. Playing P. Rivers (SD) against the vaunted CHI defense instead of J. Cutler (DEN) against the crappy BUF defense is what cost me the victory.

So, the Hail Mary experiment starts at 0-1. Next up, Cali's DyNasty (0-1).