The Baby Pool, Version 2

Baby Pool Round 2 is here!!! For Josie's little brother or sister, due date July 13th, we've got a baby pool for all family, friends, and everyone else to guess when the little bugger is coming, what size and weight, and the biggie, if it's a boy or girl.  Baby is measuring a bit ahead of where Josie was (she was 7lbs, 14oz, and 21", and two weeks early) as a reference.  See points below, then go to the site and put up a guess. Pool is locked once labor begins (Mike Weaver rule)!  FYI don't guess past the weekend of July14th; Baby Deuce will be here one way or another by then.


http://www.expectnet.com/games/BabySharpe2 
Scoring (fewest points wins) 
Wrong gender: 50 points
Birth date: 1 points / hour
Weight: 10 points / ounce
Length: 10 points / inch

The winners for Josie's was Lisa Buoniconti (even though she didn't pick March 6th, her own birthday!) and Kevin Nowak; Josie donated to The Buoniconti Fund and the Pan-Mass Challenge, respectively, for Lisa and Kevin. So - step right up and make your guesses; you may be helping out your favorite charity in the process. 

A Prom to Remember!!

Last night was one of those "thank my lucky stars" nights. Jen and I are active with the Unforgettable Prom Foundation charity; the mission of the charity is to give the ultimate prom experience to children affected by cancer. It was Prom night for 200+ kids in the South FL area at the Ritz on Fort Lauderdale beach. For many of these kids, it will be the only prom they ever go to - many are too sick to go to prom with classmates, or they are not up to the physical and mental challenge of trying make a normal, monumental teenage night as the one who's different - as the girl with the wig or the boy with the walker. Last night, these teens had a chance to soak in every wonderful moment surrounded by kids who are afflicted by the same illnesses and relate to the same struggles. Teenage years are hard enough without having to fight potentially terminal illness, so enabling these children to enjoy one night of just being a teenager gives them both wonderful memories and something to look forward to during their treatments. It's also personal to me - as a cancer survivor with 3 grandparents who lost lives to cancer and too many friends who've been affected (with the silver lining that they're all here to tell their scar stories, too) it hits very close to home; I still can't even imagine the strength some of these children need to battle daily. A co-worker's daughter was one of our attendees this year, and she (the co-worker) brightens every time we talked about the upcoming prom and how her girl was so excited after months of painful and difficult treatments. Hearing the mom that excited was the lump-in-your-throat, misty-eyed moment I realized this is making a real difference in the lives of kids that have so much less than I do.

The prom was started 3 years ago by good friend Brandon Opre; it has also made it's way to Cleveland (and we're looking to grow to other cities - certainly contact me if interested to see if there's an opportunity to do something where you are). A network of dedicated volunteers procures the services of many to make the evening a success - there was a Las Vegas theme, complete with a red-carpet walk filmed by Deco Drive (the wildly popular Miami Beach gossip show), photos, dinner, dancing with a great DJ, and a surprise performance by Brandon and Savannah (I'm getting old - apparently they are popular teenybop singers with the teens/tweens demographic), plus appearances by several Miami Dolphins players, Dolphins and Panthers cheerleaders, and several of the Miss Teen Florida pageant contestants. The night is made as magical as possible, from the limo/limo bus ride to the Ritz to the gift bag stuffed with goodies.

We were so busy pulling the event off that it was tough to appreciate the magnitude of the moment - by the time I finally got upstairs to the actual prom (3 hours into it), the kids were dancing and getting photo booth pictures and doing everything you'd expect kids to do (take your prom and cross breed it with a Bar Mitzvah or Sweet 16 you see on TV; that is probably the best analogy I can come up with). For this one night, they were just kids at a prom having fun, and it made all the prep work worth it. You could see the smiles on the faces of nearly everyone involved, and that was reward enough for the work put into this.

At the end of the evening, another board member and I assisted one of the children getting on and off the bus. She was wheelchair-bound and had little use of her right arm and leg; getting her in the jump seat of the limo bus gave me new respect for how delicately orderlies handle their patients (and how difficult is). We got to the hospital, and reality set back in - parents were lined up waiting, just like any other parents would be anxiously awaiting their child returning home from prom. These parents and children weren't thinking about this weekend's sports practices, upcoming exams, summer jobs, and college preparations. They instead focus on what time their next pills are needed and making sure the kids hadn't drained themselves too much for their next treatments. The escape from their illness can only be temporary, no matter how great a Prom it was. Many of them will be still fighting when next year's prom arrives, hopefully buoyed by the spirits of the ones who have won their battle and serve as inspiration. The reality, though, is it's likely several won't be with us to celebrate next year. One girl should have been at the Prom Friday; instead, they had her funeral. The child we helped on and off the bus talked and smiled with us as we journeyed back to the hospital; she said this was her first prom and she had "so much fun". For the next 11+ months, I'll pray I get to assist her off that bus in 2013. God bless these children and those who love them.

For more information visit www.apromtoremember.org or contact me directly Follow the Prom on facebook at @FTLProm or http://www.facebook.com/APromtoRemember or on Twitter at #teenswithcancer

A clip from the local news pre-prom: http://www.local10.com/news/Cancer-patients-to-take-part-in-A-Prom-To-Remember/-/1717324/13065578/-/15ulwxsz/-/index.html

More clips to come as we get them. Thanks from the Board to all the volunteers, sponsors, celebrities, chaperones for making this possible, and for our special guests, who provide us all with the hope, strength, and inspiration to assist in their battle against cancer.

Baby Pool!!!

We’re at T-minus 4 weeks as of midnight on Wednesday, so to warm everyone up for March Madness, we’ve got our own version here. Pick the date and time, gender, weight, and length, and win a TBD surprise from the Sharpes and bragging rights forever.

http://www.expectnet.com/index.php?t=0

In the upper left corner there’s a box that says Invited Guests. Enter in BabySharpieMarch17 (all one word) and it’ll take you to the game page; click on Enter a Guess on the right hand side and you’ll get the entry screen.

Scoring (fewest points wins)
Wrong gender: 50 points
Birth date: 1 points / hour
Weight: 10 points / ounce
Length: 10 points / inch

Anyone who wants to cannonball this with Dad’s annual NCAA basketball pool and make this a gambling thing, by all means take the bull by the horns (Rogish, Seamus…) and get it going. I’ve got too much baby stuff to do to coordinate you degenerates right now, but will gladly participate.

Cast your vote!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year/2009 in Review

DISCLOSURE - this is a LOT of reading... get comfy! UPDATED - fixed broken links in the last few paragraphs

We rang in 2009 at the Steel's, after a lovely cruise to dinner at Blue Moon Fish Co. closed out 2008, and a night of hanging out with good friends, champagne toasts, funny hats, and midnight kisses. 2009 started early, with the Penn State Rose Bowl game at the Parrot. As ugly as that game got, we did see a team in blue (and orange) show up to play a few days later at Fred and Doreen's, with Fred making mad celebration dashes around the neighborhood sans both blue and orange. We also got to do a little wine tasting with the FSU'ers during the extended weekend.

A few weeks later, there were Sharpes all over Orlando as Mom and Dad met Jen and I there (Jen had a conference all week there), and Uncle Jerry, Aunt Gwen, Bob and Trev all were there for a visit to Disney. We picked up Mom Mom and Pop Pop and the ten of us did the Magic Kingdom all day - thanks Stacie for getting us in!! A couple of Disney hints - having a really good friend work at Disney is a great start, having a Mom-guide (well in our case, an Aunt-guide) who has the whole Disney thing down is great for avoiding lines as much as possible, and having a wheelchaired Pop Pop helps skirt those lines even further. It was a great day and night with all the Sharpes; Jen and I and Mom and Dad got to do a bit of Epcot too (it was their first trip to Disney since Jason and I were kids), they loved it. Dad particularly liked the Mickey-tron 3D thing or whatever it's called, we also had a good time just sitting at Epcot, watching the light show and listening to a Beatles band outside the U.K. outpost. I'm sure there's going to be many more Disney trips for the Sharpes soon... Dad also turned the local Ale House into the official Sharpe Eagles HQ for watching the NFC Championship game, but the wrong Birds won. It was a great to spend the weekend with my Godfather and my cousins (and of course you too Aunt Gwen!!) and getting to have Mom Mom and Pop Pop join us for everything made it even better.

The one sad note from an otherwise great family weekend is that we returned home to an empty house. While Jen was at her conference, her black Lab Zoe passed away. Many of you know just how much Zoe meant to Jen, that doggie has been through thick and thin for 13 years by Jen's side. So returning home from Orlando and not having Zoe there to greet us was tough.

February started a busy travel month for both of us. We had our first semi-big party at 1601 for the Super Bowl, with a couple TVs and a couple dozen people hanging out for the game. More on big parties at 1601 in a few... I found out towards the end of 2008 that I was likely losing my job sometime in the next year+; Republic Services had bought another company but was moving their Corp headquarters to Phoenix, AZ, and the choices were either to transfer out to the desert or stay for the integration and eventually get let go. So, we're staying in FL but because of the integration, there was lots of travel on the horizon for 2009. I got to head to Philly for Tracey's shower (unfortunately Jen got sick right before the trip and had to miss it), then went right to Detroit and got to see the Pfeiffers who made the trip up from Toledo to catch a Pistons game with me.

From there, it was right out to PHX and Valentine's weekend in the desert. Jen flew from FL and we had a great weekend in the Phoenix/Scottsdale area, going hiking with Aunt Jackie on Saturday afternoon and dinner with her and Uncle Steve on Saturday night. Sunday, Jen surprised me with a hot air balloon ride through the entire valley. It was pretty cool (and it was pretty "cool" too, especially that early in the morning and only having a 3/4 sleeve shirt!) and definitely something I'd want to do again. Funniest moment had to be when the balloon pilot ever-so-silently lowered us to maybe 20 feet about the roof lines, and we passed one house where a guy was sitting outside stark naked. He didn't see us until we were (literally) right on top of him, causing a mad scramble for the sliding glass door. It was a fun weekend, but Jen eventually had to go back to FL and I had to actually work out there in Phoenix. I was also able to connect with some old CMU friends out there, was great to see Haley, EJ, Howie, Shannon & Mike, etc...

After a brief 48 hour layover in FL after Phoenix (and a Doreen and Fred engagement party), it was back on the road, this time to Dallas. Got to see the new stadium, it's ridiculously big in person, like some spaceship in the middle of nowhere. I'll have to get back there for a fall weekend one of these days. A few weeks at home, then back on the road for a two week stretch in LA. Jen came out for the weekend in between, and we did another fun weekend on West Coast time. Friday we did some work then had some good seafood and drinks along the PCH, eventually ending up at Duke's in Malibu Beach for Friday happy hour. From there it was back to Redondo Beach and dinner with a couple of Jen's friends. Saturday was more of the same... got to see my CMU buddies as Avi and Dirty Ray made the trip up from San Diego, and Goldi and Seema took us out in Newport Beach and gave us a little tour of the Orange County area. LAter that night, we met up with some of the West Coast Eustace boys - it was Pat Hogan's birthday and Carmen came down for the night. (I was able to hit the birthday celebrations of two of the four Hogans this year, 2010 we're going for at least a trifecta)

Our best trip, though, was the first weekend in April, when we went up to NJ to see our newborn nephew!! Tyler Jason Sharpe was born on April 2nd, and we got there a day later and got to see him on Saturday and Sunday. Tracey had a loooong delivery, and wasn't able to do much but rest, so Jason got a trial by fire introduction to parenting 101 (he passed with flying colors!). More on just how cute Tyler is in a bit, the first weekend was all about seeing the little bundle of joy wrapped up in his Ewok-like outfit. It was great to be there for Tyler's first days (almost made the ensuing trip to Houston for work bearable) and we couldn't wait to see him again.

Easter weekend, I flew into Orlando and met Jen there for a day and night with Stacie and Matt. I had my first experience with Muay Thai, a killer 2-hour workout that hit muscles I forgot existed. Unfortunately it's been the only Muay Thai (or pretty much any other) workout I've done. I can see 2010 resolutions forming already... From Orlando - and after a quick pitstop to see Mom Mom and Pop Pop for lunch, AND meet with someone who was going to buy Jen's Land Rover - we went to Tampa on Saturday to stay with Matt and Kelly, and Lyn, Luke and Grandpa all came over. We had a great dinner and an even better brunch Easter Sunday. The Land Rover got left in Indian Rocks Beach for the buyer, so a rental car got us as far as Naples, where Taryn and Mark were staying with the Cucinotta's. We had a great night catching up with them, and crashed there to get up early for the drive across Alligator Alley to work. We also got to "Trash the Dress" on the beach in Dania in April.

At this point you're probably thinking "well that has to be the last they traveled all year". Of course, you'd be wrong... After a full week "off" (as in, in FL working in the office) it was back out for a quick trip to Atlanta. I try and see someone I know in each location I went to, so while in ATL I got to go to dinner on consecutive nights with my co-worker Kim and our friend Jim from FSU. Luckily, this was a quick trip, since once I got home, I had to pack yet again...

... for a quick weekend anniversary cruise out of Fort Lauderdale!! There's a lot of cruise lines that do the Fri-Mon cruise, where you leave port Friday around 5pm and wake up Monday morning right back where you started. They are great for quick weekend trips, and Jen's family has been taking them for years - but always out of Miami. I found a "deal" for one out of Fort Lauderdale, and we had a great time, but it was a deal for a reason. The ship wasn't nearly as big or nice, and since it had been a passenger ferry somewhere in Europe in its previous life, you could definitely feel it rocking waaaaay more than a normal cruise ship. It was nice to leave out of Port Everglades though since it's so close, we even passed Grandpa's condo on the way out and could see all the special things from our wedding weekend one year ago, like St. Sebastian and Pier 66. The cruise was fun, we had a day in Nassau to wander around - and take a looooong hike from the port all the way to Atlantis and back, stopping for lunch on the water.

The fun continues into May. The weekend after the cruise, it was time to go camping in the Florida Keys. Jen and I headed down to Long Key State Park, between Islamorada and Marathon, Friday night for two nights, and were joined the next day by Mom and Dad. It was a nice, relaxing weekend in the Keys, scuba diving (Jen's first foray back underwater in nearly a year, since Tahiti), grilling out, and just spending some time unwinding in Monroe County. The timing worked out perfectly, on our way up Sunday, we grabbed a couple dozen stone crabs and a cooler full of drinks, and headed to a Jim Morris show at a golf course in Miami. It was a little more "laid back" than most Morris shows we're used to, but after Jen told Jim it was my 34th birthday, not only did he do Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother (containing the line "he's 34 and drinkin' in a Honky Tonk", a favorite of Mom's and mine) but he played, and explained the start of the Morris Sangria Wine tradition back in 2003 in Delaware. (not the same day, but yea that's me at the 1:50 mark from 2006 MOTM) It was a great afternoon, Jen's co-workers came so we had a nice little group having way more fun than anyone else there. Like usual, I suppose.

After a trip to Chicago (and a couple of fun nights, one with Mark and another with Steve and AW; God I have too much of a good time in that city) May was somewhat tame until Memorial Day. Our buddy Scott is getting married on Sunset Key, across from Mallory Square in Key West, in February 2010. Like a good friend, I "volunteered" to assist on a wedding prep mission with him to Cayo Hueso. The recurring theme of "had a great weekend" was appropriate here too. Scott, Keith, and I got just about all the wedding planning done by Saturday afternoon, leaving too much idle time for us to have fun. Got to watch a couple of Phils-Yankees games at the Rum Barrel (and witness a Mets fan get stuck with a $900 credit card roulette bill, serves him right), checking out Emily's Toybox at Sloppy's, hanging with Sam and Zach, and generally keeping ourselves on the outskirts of trouble without ever getting fully into it. Meanwhile, Jen was busy in Fort Lauderdale, heading out on the boat and hanging with the FSU girls. After Memorial Day, things wound down a bit for a month, lots of work on the house (new casement windows, bamboo floor in the Florida room, garage, etc...) and a bit of golf, first with Hogan & Steve and their buddies, then with the PSU Alumni.

Our big summer adventure was a road trip from FL to NJ. A $1/day rental car got us started on Thursday in style, heading up to Orlando to see Matt and Stacie. Friday we got some time in the partial rain at MGM, eventually meeting up with the Montgomerys/Lamons for a few hours before getting on the road to Tybee Island, GA, and the Williams family!! We got to spend a great weekend in Tybee with Carolyn and Gay and the kids, and also with Amanda and Connor. Tybee, a small island at the mouth of the Savannah River with a view of Hilton Head, SC, is such a fun little place to go, and the Williams have a great house withing walking distance to the beach. Jen and I had a great time and definitely see plenty of Tybee trips in our future!

Unfortunately our time in Tybee had to end, but we headed north and made landfall in Richmond on Monday night and got to spend some time with Josh and Po. They're renovating an ooooold house in Richmond, so we were right at home with the construction. It was nice to see them, since we hadn't seen them other than our wedding and their wedding in the last couple of years. The Rogish's were out of town, but that didn't stop us from swinging by and leaving WaWa stuff all over their house and some Go Phillies messages in soap on their SUV. (Unfortunately rain washed it away before Jackson & Co. could see my work of window art). After "our" shenanigans, it was further up 95 into VA. We got to Fairfax Co. and hopped on the Metro into DC and did a mini-walking tour of the Mall for a few hours, stopping to see the WWII monument. Both Jen's Grandpa and my Pop Pop served in the war, so it was really neat to see the monument. We eventually headed back to Herdon, VA and Christine's place, for a little midweek get-together BBQ. Luckily CHab is as social as we are, and always up for mixing different groups of people, so we had CMU friends (with kids, too - quite different from our Hoboken days!), CHab's work friends, our DC Parrothead friends (and second Connor toddler of the trip), and... Seamus, a man who defies conventional categorization. :) It was a fun night catching up with everyone, and Jen and I appreciated the folks making the effort to come to us while we were passing through town. And, of course, all the time CHab put into getting the food, hosting, etc... thanks Christine!!

The fun wasn't yet done, though. Since we were passing *right* past Camden Yards and the O's were playing a day game, we decided that would be our final stop before NJ. Steve and Drew met us there with Seamus, and my three cousins drove down from Jersey for the game. Jen and I walked around the Inner Harbor for a bit - still a great place - and then met everyone at Sliders before heading in. Afterwards, we "let the traffic die down a bit" at Sliders again (Drew was the entertainment) before finally embarking on the final leg of our journey. So, Wednesday evening, after six days, 1,000+ miles, five stops, four different beds, and many great times with several dozen family and friends along the way, we crossed the bridged to the Jersey side. We got to see Tyler and the rest of the family (and Kinja) for dinner at Jay & Tracey's and crashed in Cherry Hill that night. Thursday, Dad took Jen on a Philly tour of hoagie shops for our own little Best of Philly Hoagie contest, while I spent some good QT with my Godfather, Bob and Trev on the golf course before heading down the Shore for the rest of the weekend and our final stop, 28 Poynte Drive. It was a typical Poynte weekend, with lots of hoagies, lots of family Tiki Bar time, washers, Tyler, crazy neighbors and cousins in for the weekend, a failed boating trip, more Tyler, and finally, a sunset on a fantastic 11 day trip up the East Coast. It was an adventure, and we had so much fun with everyone who was gracious enough to open their homes and/or contribute to the many great memories we made on our adventure.

Luckily, we were a bit better about updating the blog in the 2nd half of the year, things died down somewhat (at least on the travel front) the latter half of the year. Since I am getting tired of typing, here's a somewhat briefer version of the rest of the summer and the fall - some of the links go to blog entries:

* WE'RE PREGNANT!! Baby Pictures!!!
* Jen's night at the W and telling all of her friends
* Tyler's Baptism and telling the family we've got one on the way
* The first annual Sharpe Summer Splash... Taken inspiration from the BaratBashes that Avi has hosted for years, we started this out as a small BBQ and ended up with a blow-up water slide that was live video streamed on ustream.com. Plenty of stories out of that one too (including Jay feeding Tyler at midnight watching our beer pong games in FL)
* Trevor and Shannon get engaged!!! Trev had a big surprise birthday party for her at their house, it was a ton of fun. He made a "highlight" video and at the end, popped the question.
* O.A.R. in Pompano Beach with Caniz, Lehman, and Rick visiting from Philly. Another looooooooong weekend. Also, Jen's first concert pregnant, which we ran into her Ob-Gyn in the parking lot after the show (he was feeling as good as the rest of us, except Jen). Oddly interesting. Jen and I also got to hit a Springsteen show in Sunrise with Sam and Zach. BBBBRRRUUUUCEEEEE!
* Tommy and Heather Franklin get married in Philly, leaving only one more chance for the Franklin/Sharpe kids to have a blowout wedding party like the other four. Always fun those Franklin and Sharpe events.
* A couple of Dolphins and Phillies games at LandShark Stadium, including halftime on the field for Parrothead night for the Dolphins. The halftime show was lame (no Jimmy) but we got run around on the field like kids for about 10 minutes. Their grass kinda sucks, we played on better at Cherokee.
* Fred's bachelor party in New Orleans and Baton Rouge. What a ridiculously fun time. From finding some dirt bar off the beaten path in the back streets of the French Quarter, to (poorly) riding a mechanical bull, to the thousands of Gators fans that descended on the Crescent City, to an unbelievable tailgate and game day experience, this weekend had it all. If you're a college football fan and you've never seen a game in Baton Rouge, go - especially when it's two top-1o teams. Just a great, great trip. And when the bachelor has to make a run to the emergency room on Sunday morning, you know it was a proper send off (luckily it was only for scratching his eye on a tree branch and cleared up a few days later).
* Jen and the gals in the Dominic Republic for Doreen's bachelorette party. Quite a good time was had by the ladies, including Cheryl and her wheelchair and crutches.
* An absurdly long, fun, draining weekend in Philly to close out the Spectrum with Pearl Jam. Caniz and I hit the last two Spectrum shows there, tailgating in the same spot two days in a row, got to catch a Flyers game Saturday morning, and then got Phillies-Yankees Game 4 standing room only tickets. There was about a dozen "what a great weekend" moments, and had the Feliz HR turned the tide we might have very well crowned that weekend the best ever (we still may), but it was still one of the best we've had. Go search for the highlights on YouTube, including PJ covering Divo on Halloween in full Divo get-up. Got to see Lehman, both Schultz brothers and Jay, Uncle Jerry and Bob, and oh yea got a couple of Flyers HOF'ers to tailgate with us (OK, OK, so they were there to see Brett and Chad, it was still pretty cool). This weekend should have been it's own blog post, I could probably write about it for another 10 paragraphs and not cover everything.
* MOTM 2009 - we were going with Mom and Dad, then they had to cancel last minute so we did too, then Saturday morning we decided what the heck, let's take a trip down. Had to talk our way into Tom and Estelle's passes (since we didn't register) and got out to the Saturday Beach Show just in time to bring in the Sangria Wine. Also got some decent Rum Barrel time - especially for the Cowboys W over the Iggles - and had a fun day on Sunday with Joe, Candy, Krissy, and the rest of the gang at Captain Tony's. Plus, Dale Aiken finally paid off a two year old bet and wore a Lindros jersey all day. We stayed at the Rum Barrel for the first half of the Cowboys game, then got the rest of the Morris No Plane on Sunday party that night. Always a good time down there on Duval (even though we really didn't hit Duval at all...)
* Took a Grandpa Bahamas cruise to Nassau and Coco Cay (Royal Caribbean's island) - it was originally supposed to be a big family cruise, but due to various constraints it ended up being Jen and I, the brothers Facarazzo, Mike's buddy Spencer, Cheryl, Gary, and Gary's daughters, and Grandpa. A motley crew, to say the least! After a very tame first night (all that work - and fun - travel finally caught up to me), we hit the private island on Saturday and then Nassau and Atlantis on Sunday. We tried to get into the pool area of Atlantis (without paying the $80 pp), but Jen, Cheryl, Gary and the kids got snagged... and the Jersey boy walked in unscathed. Unfortunately I couldn't find a way to get the rest of them back in, so after taking in the sights (it's pretty damn cool out there) we all met up and walked back to the ship. A third full evening of stuffing ourselves at dinner and winning some money at single-handed blackjack and the fun was over.
* Lyn and Luke get married!! Doreen and Fred get married!!!
* Thanksgiving in NJ - and our last trip home for awhile. Thanksgiving morning, the annual Turkey Bowl beatdown of the Gee's with some timely TDs and INTs and post-game ball busting. Thanksgiving night was plenty of turkey (and some duck), even those who weren't quite ready for big-people food yet. Friday was for sleeping in and making Turkey Soup, but first, Dad, Jen and I went and picked up some of my great-grandfather's stuff - his original passport from Ireland, his immigration papers, etc... It was REALLY great to see the original Thomas Sharpe's journey from County Cavan (in the native tongue, Contae an Chabháin) to America. Kinda made our "journey" up 95 a little less epic. Friday night, we picked up Martin in Philly, then had a bunch of people over Mom and Dad's - the Franklins, the Holmes and Ninja, Jen's friends Gerry and Paul and their adorable little guy Dexter, and, thanks to Pat Franklin, some duck heads. It was a great night with family and friends. Saturday we relaxed and shopped and after quite a few missteps in getting going, Jen and I got to give our Christmas presents to our family - tickets to see Jersey Boys on Broadway!! We got a big limo bus up there (eventually) and even though traffic caused us to miss the first third of the show, it was still a great, great night. Jen and I had seen the national tour down in Fort Lauderdale, know my entire family would love it. Despite the slight travel challenges we had, it turned out to be a great night. It was something we had planned for a long time - knowing 2010 will be a life-changing year that won't allow us to make as many trips to NJ, we wanted to do something special for the Sharpe family. Like many other evenings in 2009, it left us all saying "Oh what a night!"

How College Football Should Be

I'll be the first one to admit there's an occasional Jersey attitude that emanates from me. It usually involves a faux confrontation and we all laugh it off.... sort of probably. that is just how it is from philly, you're either with us (phils) or against us (dallas)

that confrontational mind set was ridiculed today. I've never seen so many people who went out of their way - and they did go out of their way, almost to an embassing fault - to make 4 guys from FL feel at home. We didn't go but a block or so before an LSU fan came over and insisted we have some "Gator Burgers". And we couldn't get away from the southern hospitality. We actually left a 24 pack and a bottle of vodka unchecked at someone's tailgate, because she said she would watch it for us. not only did she watch it, she made sure we got it back - AFTER THE GAME. i dunno, it's been a long weekend and maybe i am romanticizing Baton Rouge, but this was bar none the best football watching experience I've ever had. I can't stop gushing about how welcoming the LSU fans were. I hope one day my kid(s) get to see that - it's football at it"s very finest. Tiger fans, you have my utmost respect. You were one hell of a host today, and even in defeat, you cared more about how your guests from the sunshine state were treated than how well your team did. (ok maybe it's the same.... but still)

i'll post pics from the tailgate soon, it;s like nothing you've ever seen. I promise you. I thought the PSU tailgate was America's best, but this put it to shame, and for me to say that about my team is a lot. Put Baton Rouge on your bucket list; it was bleepin awesome. If the world was as friendly as an LSU tailgate, we'd have a lot less problems. thanks my new Cajun friends, and Gauex Tigers.

Tyler's Baptism & Telling Nonna and Pappy

Luckily, we had this trip planned to go up to New Jersey so we could tell Mom and Dad Sharpe in person that we were having a baby! Otherwise, we may not have seen them until September (for Tommy Franklin’s wedding) or November (for Meeting of the Minds) so this trip was just perfect! Since we were flying into Philly so late at night (we were supposed to arrive in Philly at 10:45pm), our plan was to head to Lehman’s apartment to hang out with him and his girlfriend, Steph, and spend the night there. We ended up not getting in until after midnight and finally arrived at Lehman’s apartment at almost 1am. They were troopers and stayed up with us for a couple of hours, but eventually we had to go to sleep. It was great to meet Steph, don’t screw it up, Lehman!

We got up early and headed to meet our friends, Gerrie, Paul and Dex for brunch. We were in for such a treat, Gerrie is a chef and went all out for an amazing brunch. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them for the morning, and Gerrie and Paul gave us lots of pointers on staying sane during the pregnancy. Gerrie also gave me “Belly Laughs” by Jenny McCarthy which is hysterical so far. And Dexter couldn’t be cuter – if I wasn’t already pregnant, I would really want to be after that morning, he is the sweetest, happiest baby and you just want to love on him all day. But of course, we had to go, so we headed to T.J.’s parents house.

On the way, we debated as how we should tell mom and dad about the pregnancy. It was Mom’s birthday yesterday, so we bought a birthday card for “Grandma” and signed it from “the baby”, but we couldn’t figure out when to give it to them. We had early dinner plans at Maggianos for the seven of us (Jay, Tracey, Mom, Dad, me, T.J. and Tyler) but we hadn’t quite worked out when we would give Mom her gifts.

When we got to Mom and Dad’s house, they were hanging at the pool with Mom Mom and Pop Pop. Mom Mom and Pop Pop were heading out that night with a lot of the Sharpes to see Mark Cucinotta’s dinner theater rendition of Dirty Dancing, so we wanted to wait to tell the 'rents after Mom Mom and Pop Pop left because we weren't sure when to tell the extended family. We had to work fast, because if I wasn’t drinking, our charade would be up quickly. Dad had already given me a dirty martini as I was getting ready (poor T.J. drank it for me) so we knew we had to do it pretty soon after we sat down for dinner.

Of course, we were in a rush to get out the door and make the dinner reservation, so T.J. had the great idea of giving Mom her presents at the restaurant. One of the gifts was a wine glass, so when Dad told T.J. just to leave the presents in the car for after dinner, T.J. thought quickly and said that he wanted to give Mom the wine glass for her to use during dinner. Giving Mom the gifts was a little awkward, it is a family style restaurant, so there were a lot of servers at and around our table, bringing the wine, bread and appetizers. Also, Mom missed seeing the card in the bag, so T.J. had to dig it out for her. The card said something like "Happy Birthday Grandma" on the front, and inside I wrote "Looking forward to meeting you on March 17, 2010 even though i love you already Nonna! Love, Grandchild #2 on the way!" :)

She was speechless and they were so excited. T.J. actually got it on video, it is too cute. Dad was crying and hugging the waiter and everything, and of course Jason and Tracey were excited for us too. It was awesome, all of us were pretty happy! Of course, soon after came the complaints about us living so far away in Flaw-rida LOL

Sunday, we got up early and headed to Tracey and Jason’s to get some pictures of Tyler before the baptism. We bought a picture frame as one of Tyler’s gifts, so I really wanted to get a great picture of TJ and Tyler for the frame. Tyler is adorable to begin with, but that day he was the happiest I’ve ever seen him, he was smiling ear to ear and just awesome. I got the greatest pictures, and couldn’t decide when the time came to pick one for the frame, so we printed them all.

Church went really well, Tyler was so good, like he knew it was his very special day and he was just perfect. T.J. did great in his Godfather role, though a practice run wouldn’t have hurt. We headed to lunch at a great Italian restaurant, and Tracey was so sweet to bring alcohol free wine for me to drink at the lunch. T.J. and I had debated about telling all of the family of the pregnancy (I was just shy of 6 weeks at this point), but it seemed like the right thing to do with so much of our family in the same spot, so we decided to wait until the end of the luncheon to start telling the family - even though a couple of T.J.'s cousins already knew (their maternal instincts must have kicked in, or they noticed that wine). Everyone was so excited for us, it was so wonderful to be able to share it with everyone in person. Overall, it was another wonderful weekend! Although I don’t recommend the alcohol-free wine, I’ll stick to club soda with lime, thank you!

9/11 - Eight years later, a remembrance

Eight years ago already? It's hard to believe it's been that long. That Tuesday was one never to be forgotten, especially to those of us living in and around NYC. At first, it was an unknown novelty, Ali coming downstairs at our place and saying "A plane just hit the World Trade Center!" My reaction? "Wow, no shit, that's kinda neat", thinking one of the many tourist planes had mistakenly veered far off track. Still not the most compassionate of reactions, I know, but hey, it's just another odd occurrence in the world's most interesting city, right? Yea, we had no idea...

Ali and I turned on the TV about 2 minutes before the 2nd plane hit. One look at the fire from the first impact, and my novelty idea was quickly subdued. Something bad had happened. We saw the 2nd impact live on TV, about 2 miles away as the crow flies from our living room in Hoboken. The talking heads on Channel 2 were still debating the first incident - was it a plane, a bomb, a helicopter, etc... when everyone saw what happened next. A 767 loaded with innocent people and combustible jet fuel barreled into the South Tower. Innocence vanished. A feeling on safety was gone, replaced by an all-too-real sense of vulnerability. Lives were lost... luckily, no one I knew well, but many friends would not be able to say the same when they woke up Wednesday.

Somehow, I got a call out to my Dad letting him know I was OK (riding my bike over to my office in Jersey City, watching the towers burn the entire way) and Jody got a call into Ali, probably the only two we were able to make before sundown. Jody's was the call that broke the news of the 4th crash to us, which hit nearly as close to home - Shanksville, where his parents' lakefront cabin was located, a quiet town of 245 permanent residents in the hills of southwestern PA, was the final resting place of the heros of Flight 93. At that moment, nothing seemed safe.

In the hours and days and weeks to come, the gravity of the attacks sunk into you, something you couldn't just scrub off in the shower. Everyone I knew in the area was affected. Ali and I made a list of those we knew that may have been in the WTC area, and started walking around Hoboken ringing door bells. Somehow, we crossed almost every name off the list in just two mile-long laps around the town; guys I worked with like Posty and Tony just happened to drive by us, or someone she knew we ran into at the park, watching what was now a solo tower burn, and that person had talked to another one, who knew that these other people were safe, and so on. The stories started to come out as those closest to the towers began to return to Hoboken, dust covering their suits, a dazed, rattled look on their face, unsure of what the hell just happened and just how close they'd been to the afterlife.

One of my best friends - Ninja - finally made it home, with a heartwrenching story of helping a fire fighter try and locate his mother amidst the panic in the area that is now known as Ground Zero. Another good friend - Lori - I had convinced to take the WTC train in from Hoboken that morning, rather than try and drive to her meeting on Wall St. from Fort Lee. She *should* have been well clear of the Trade Centers before her 8:30 meeting, but I didn't know until Ali and I pit-stopped at 90 Grand between laps, and she (and a coworker) popped out of our living room, startling the shit out of us. Never have been happier to have my heart nearly stop. In retrospect, my occasional laziness may have saved me, since I was going to head over on the WTC train with her to do some quick Christmas shopping for my Dad that morning, and would have been in the building across the street when the planes hit. Thank God I valued some extra sleep over a $20 Century 21 gift card that was about to expire.

Hoboken lost more people to 9/11 than anywhere else, save NYC. Something changed that day to our little yuppie bar town. Fliers for missing Marsh McLennan employees were posted on lightpoles. A makeshift memorial at the tip of Sinatra Pier appeared, with an empty Financial District skyline in the background. Cars collected tickets until someone put 2 and 2 together. Ruins smoldered, and trucks carted away 220 stories of more than just metal. Friends gathered, watching the coverage. Mark and I went to Manhattan the next day to try and do something - anything - to help. There was nothing to be done. The Red Cross blood donation line was 3 hours long, and, as it turns out, fairly useless to those directly impacted the day before. Ambulances lined the West Side Highway, waiting in vain for survivors to be miraculously pulled from the wreckage. The city was eerily quiet, like someone had taken the hustle and bustle and madness and transplanted it to a location far, far away. There were almost no cars in the streets, and nearly everyone who passed by had the same solemn look.

The feeling of helplessness was pervasive - indeed, if there was one word to describe that entire experience, it would be helpless. Helpless to stop the attacks, helpless to keep the Towers upright, helpless to rescue those that clung to the outside of the Tower, ninety stories above the ground but only a few dozen feet over a roaring, impassible inferno. We tried to get to Manhattan on Tuesday, to do *something*, but by the time they opened up limited train and ferry service on Wednesday, the only thing left to do was pray.

Eight years later, we are still praying, for the lives of those we lost that day, for the brave men and women from the FDNY and the NYPD, for those whose lives still go on with a daily reminder that a loved one isn't coming home again tonight, for nearly the 3,000th time in a row. For all of those, and for the millions of lives that have been affected in the 9/11 aftermath, we continue to pray, for you, for the ones you love, and for a better world, so that something good might silver line this date for years to come.

Tyler's Baptism Weekend

July 17, 2009 – Tyler’s Baptism and telling Nonna and Pappy that Grandchild #2 is on the way!
Luckily, we had this trip planned to go up to New Jersey so we could tell mom and dad Sharpe in person that we were having a baby! Otherwise, we may not have seen them until September (for Tommy Franklin’s wedding) or November (for Meeting of the Minds) so this trip was just perfect!

Since we were flying into Philly so late at night (we were supposed to arrive in Philly at 10:45pm) our plan was to head to Lehman’s apartment to hang out with him and his girlfriend, Steph, and spend the night there. We ended up not getting in until after midnight and finally arrived at Lehman’s apartment at almost 1am. They were troopers and stayed up with us for a couple of hours, but eventually we had to go to sleep. It was great to meet Steph, don’t screw it up, Lehman! :)

We got up early Saturday and headed to meet our friends, Gerrie, Paul and Dex for brunch. We were in for such a treat, Gerrie is a chef and went all out for an amazing brunch. It was a lot of fun to hang out with them for the morning, and Gerrie and Paul gave us lots of pointers on staying sane during the pregnancy. And Dexter couldn’t be cuter – if I wasn’t already pregnant, I would really want to be after that morning, he is the sweetest, happiest baby and you just want to love on him all day. But of course, we had to go, so we headed to T.J.’s parents house.

On the way, we debated as how we should tell Mom and Dad about the pregnancy. It was Mom’s birthday yesterday, so we bought a birthday card for “grandma” and signed it from “the baby”, but we couldn’t figure out when to give it to them. We had early dinner plans at Maggianos for the seven of us (Jay, Tracey, Mom, Dad, me, TJ and Tyler) but we hadn’t quite worked out when we would give mom her gifts.

When we got to Mom and Dad’s house, they were hanging at the pool with Mom Mom and Pop Pop. Mom Mom and Pop Pop were heading out that night with a lot of the Sharpes to see cousin Mark’s dinner theater rendition of Dirty Dancing, so we wanted to wait to tell Mom and Dad after Mom Mom and Pop Pop left because we hadn’t decided if we should tell the extended family or not yet. But we had to work fast, because if I wasn’t drinking, our charade would be up. Dad had already given me a dirty martini as I was getting ready (poor T.J. drank it for me!) so we knew we had to do it pretty soon after we sat down for dinner.

Of course, we were in a rush to get out the door and make the dinner reservation, so TJ had the great idea of giving Mom her presents at the restaurant. One of the gifts was a wine glass, so when Dad told T.J. just to leave the presents in the car for after dinner, T.J. thought quickly and said that he wanted to give mom the wine glass for her to drink out of during dinner.
Giving mom the gifts was a little awkward, it is a family style restaurant, so there were a lot of servers at and around our table, bringing the wine, bread and appetizers, so there was a bit of commotion. Also, mom missed the card, so TJ had to dig it out for her. The card said something like "happy birthday grandma" on the front and inside i wrote "Looking forward to meeting you on March 17, 2010 even though i love you already nonna!" love your grandchild #2 on the way!" :)

She was speechless and they were so excited. TJ actually got it on video, it is too cute. Dad was crying and hugging the waiter and everything and of course Jason and Tracey were excited for us too. it was awesome! :)

Sunday, we got up early and headed to Tracey and Jason’s to get some pictures of Tyler before the baptism. We bought a picture frame as one of Tyler’s gifts, so I really wanted to get a great picture of T.J. and Tyler for the frame. Tyler is adorable to begin with, but that day he was the happiest I’ve ever seen him, he was smiling ear to ear and just awesome. I got the greatest pictures, and couldn’t decide when the time came to pick one for the frame, so we printed them all. :)

Church went really well, Tyler was so good, like he knew it was his very special day and he was just perfect. T.J. did great in his godfather role, though a practice run wouldn’t have hurt. We headed to lunch at a delicious Italian restaurant and Tracey was so sweet to bring alcohol free wine for me to drink at the lunch. T.J. and I had debated about telling all of the family of the pregnancy (I was just shy of 6 weeks at this point), but it seemed like the right thing to do with so much of our family in the same spot, so we decided to wait until the end of the luncheon to start telling the family. Everyone was so excited for us, it was so wonderful to be able to share it with everyone in person. Overall, it was another wonderful weekend! Although I don’t recommend the alcohol-free wine, I’ll stick to club soda with lime, thank you!

Lots of Updates

So much for updating this regularly... we're not exactly getting stuff up on a regular basis. Maybe once a season instead... ugh. Quick update on the summer, working forward from the Spring...

• Got to take a cruise for our anniversary in April. Was quick and easy, left work at 2 on Friday and was back (unfortunately) by 10 on Monday. It was relaxing and fun, did some wandering around Nassau town and over to the Atlantis. One day when we're not putting all our dough into this house and other assorted debts, we'll get over there and not have to sneak onto Paradise Island.
  
• Went camping in the Keys for my 34th birthday - Mom and Dad came down for the weekend, and on Sunday on the way back, we caught Jim Morris playing in Doral for the Miami PHC. For all those who have attended a Morris show with us, you know the deal - among the drinking songs (Sangria Wine) and the tropical songs (Laid Back and Key Wasted) there's another Jerry Jeff Walker/Ray Wiley Hubbard song that gets played. "Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother" wasn't exactly written for Mom and I, but I think she uses it as a chance to give me the Italian Mother Pointer Finger. One line did fit the weekend perfect - "he's 34 and drinking in a honkey tonk" - but I suppose it's been about a ten year build up of seeing Jim's shows with my parents, so there was no way we could miss a show in our own backyard the day after the 34th anniversary of May 2, 1975.
  
• We had a looooooooong road trip - 1,200 miles or so - all the way up 95 from exit 27 in Fort Lauderdale to exit 30 off the Garden State Parkway in Somers Point. There's no way to recap it all (hopefully a future blog post w/pics, likely months after the fact) but here's the highlights:
  * A night in Orlando with the Covingtons, followed by a day at MGM with the Montgomery's and Lamons
  * Friday to Sunday at Tybee Island with the Williams family and Amanda and Conner. They have a fantastic "little" place on this little barrier island 30 minutes east of Savannah. We had a a great time at their beach house, which also could be its own blog. We'll be back there soon.
  * We drove our longest leg on Monday afternoon, 7 hours from Tybee to Richmond, and got to spend a night with Po and Josh.
  * A quick jaunt up from Richmond and we were in Norther Va - hopped on the Metro for a half-day in DC (WWII Monument was great to see) and then back the Christine's to have a little BBQ with a whole bunch of friends. Thanks to CHab for tossing us that little one-night party.
  * Wednesday we headed towards NJ - but had to stop at the Inner Harbor first to catch an O's game and have a few with Steve and Seamus, and the young Sharpe cousins too. Would have liked to stay longer, but the Garden State was calling.
  * Got to spend a round of golf with said Sharpe cousins and Uncle Jerry, then headed to the shore with a bunch of hoagies in tow for the Best of Philly, Sharpe edition, contest. Jen and Dad ran all over creation getting them, and it was sooooo worth it (says me, the one who shot 18)
  * Spent the weekend at the baby-friendly Tiki Bar with lil' Tyler. It was definitely great to see how big he's gotten (3 months) and how much more he responds to everything. Aunt Jen and Uncle T.J. certainly LOVED our Lil' T.J. time!!! It was a fun, relaxing weekend - got to see the whole family, Scott and Cheryl stopped by on their way to DE, fireworks on the deck on the 4th, even had the predictable 3-hour cruise aboard one of our barely-seaworthy vessels and had to get towed in. It was a great weekend, and although we didn't want our vacation to end, it was nice to be home and in our own bed after 11 nights on the road.
  
• Oh yea, we got the one way rental car up to NJ for $1 a day. One of the best deals I've ever gotten, and I'm notorious for looking for a better deal in just about anything I spend a buck on.
  
• Phillies game - FINALLY - down here. Fred, Mike and I went, saw a near-no hitter by Moyer, and behaved pretty well... almost. Until we had to go pick up Doreen at her cousin's... and the beers turned to rum... and the pool cues got broken out...
  
• Tyler's Baptism. Jen's got a blog post for that half-started so I'll let her post.
  
• Lobster Mini-Season. Fred and I scoped out the Florida spiny Lobsters, and then got in the water by 630am to hunt crustaceans. 2 tanks each, and there were 21 in our bags (limit is 12 per person). It was a great way to start a Wednesday, although I was dragging by mid-afternoon. Was totally worth it though, we hit one spot at the end of our first tank (literally at the end - I ran out of air surfacing) and went back down and cleaned house. It was a pretty cool experience going back down and seeing about a dozen lobster sticking out from various crevices in a 20 foot area. Here's the GPS Coordin... uh, nevermind. Fred would ban me from the Lost Boys for good if I give those out.
  
• And finally, the first annual Sharpe Summer Splash... Taken inspiration from the BaratBashes that Avi has hosted for years, we started this out as a small BBQ and ended up with a blow-up water slide that was live video streamed on ustream.com. Plenty of stories out of that one too (including Jay feeding Tyler at midnight watching our beer pong games in FL)

We'll be adding a bunch in the near future and toss in a few more pictures when we can from some of the events from above.

Telling Baby Sharpie’s “Aunties”

Today we are celebrating Kim’s birthday, and the plan is to spend the day hanging out at the pool at the new W hotel, go up to our room and get changed, hit the bars at night and spend the night at the W. I had told Kim on Thursday that I was pregnant, and I also told Cristibelle (who is also pregnant – about 8 weeks ahead of me). My initial plan was to try to get away without telling anyone else…with Kim and Belle knowing I was pregnant, I figured they could ward off the alcohol which was sure to head in my direction. :) We are really early in the pregnancy (I was 4 weeks and 3 days at this point) and I know that the proper “protocol” is to wait until 12 weeks before telling the world. T.J. of course had didn’t think I’d be able to make it through the first hour (he knows me so well). Regardless, it had been awhile since I hung out with the girls, so I was excited for the day.

I picked up Shannon, Doreen and Corinne, and we headed to the W. When we got to the hotel, we met Julie, Lisa and Cheryl in the hotel room. As I walked into the hotel room, Julie pretty much thrust a bottle of vodka in my face and said "drink this cocktail or i know you're pregnant!" I pulled her in the bathroom and told her that I was pregnant and that I was going to try to keep it quiet for a little bit. And we tried to keep a lid on it for awhile. I made it through a few hours, dodging vodka being poured into my drink from Lisa’s stash in her beach bag and going in the hot tub with Cheryl and Doreen, but a turkey gouda sandwich threw me over the edge. We were sitting around the pool and decided to order lunch, and Corinne and I were going to share a meal. I was scanning the menu, and there seemed to be so many things that a pregnant person wasn’t supposed to eat. After much debate with Corinne on what we should order (which she is already like, "why are you so picky today") we settle on the turkey gouda wrap and in the back of my mind I’m thinking "OK, I’ll just take off the gouda, whatever." But Julie happens to be around (luckily :)) and she says "you can't eat that!" and I was like "I’m taking off the cheese" and she said, "no, the turkey!" and then i remembered she's right, deli meats are supposed to be a no no unless they are heated, so I just stared at her and I was like "this is really hard!" and she said "Just spill it, sista!" LOL and so I just blurted out “I’m pregnant!” and you could hear my friend's squealing from a block away! It was so much fun. And for anyone who is concerned, I ended up having a veggie wrap (and caramel popcorn!)

If I hadn't been with all of them that day/night, I’m sure I would have waited, but these girls have been through so much with me, and I would share with them anyway if (god forbid) something bad happened, so I was happy to share this great news with them.

by the time it was time for us to go out at night....there were only 5 of us left (Cheryl, Kim, Lisa, Julie and me) - and we were hanging out in the Living Room at the W and Kim thought we should confirm my pregnancy (I think she saw me lusting after the basil martini) so she sent the concierge to go buy a digital EPT test that says "pregnant" just to be super sure. (The concierge at the W says they will do “whatever, whenever” and they really mean it!) About 30 minutes later, he showed up in the Living Room with the test and Cheryl and I went into the bathroom, and guess what… yes, I was still pregnant! It was a great night.

Oh My God, WE ARE HAVING A BABY!

Written by Jen: We had been “trying” to get pregnant for a couple of months, so I had a general idea as to when I could test and see if I was pregnant. Yesterday was the day, and I used a cheap generic HPT that T.J. bought, and I thought I saw a faint line, but I couldn’t tell. I figured I’d try again this morning with another test and maybe it would be more clear. This morning, same story, I thought I saw a line, but I couldn’t be sure. I had T.J. take a look, he didn’t see anything until he compared it to an unused one, then thought *maybe* he saw a line… but we weren’t sure. I even brought them both into work to ask my coworker, Jen, what she thought. After some research and Googling, Jen decided I needed to use a digital test (and even found me a coupon for one) so we agreed I would buy the digital one and try again in the morning.

That night I had a board meeting for the Boys and Girls Club, which happened to be in the same shopping center as Target, so after the meeting, I went over to Target and purchased the digital pregnancy test. I was going to wait until the next morning, but... I couldn’t. When I got home, I went right into the bathroom and took the test. TJ was working on our new floors, and I didn’t want to tell him that I bought another pregnancy test (we still had a bunch of those less-accurate ones) since he thinks I spend too much money on all "that pregnancy stuff". When I saw the words “PREGNANT” I couldn’t believe it!

We had been trying and we both wanted this baby so badly, but I still couldn’t believe it. My legs got a little weak and I had to sit down as I felt a bit dizzy. For a brief moment (very brief), I considered not telling TJ until we were ready for bed because I really wanted him to finish the floors :) but, of course, I couldn’t even hold in the excitement, so I ran out and shoved the test in his face. He was adorable, so excited, smiling ear to ear, picking me up, hugging and kissing me and rubbing my belly, (even giving himself a “way to go” pat on his back) – it was an amazing moment. Of course the floors didn’t get finished, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Michael Vick vs. Dog Lovers

Apparently my Facebook status got a few friends of Fido a tad upset, so rather than add to comments, I'll post this up there to make it a bit easier to read. A few things here... first to clarify my position (and the status) - I think what Vick did was cruel, stupid, and barbaric. He rightfully lost (almost) all admiration fans had for him, his set-for-life financial stability, anything resembling the career he once had, and for 19 months, his freedom. The status post was merely a small venting at how overexposed this is; after hearing it on the morning news, sportscenter, talk radio, etc... all day, and hearing some of the over the top responses from members of the general public, my thoughts started to migrate from "so the dumbass is out of jail, good luck with that Mikey" and towards actually feeling a *tiny* bit sorry for the guy. Not for the situation he's put himself in, but for the vengence directed in his direction - and where it should fall on the scale that the general public should feel outrage about. (as an aside, although most of you know how much I love football, I'm not a Mike Vick fan. Never have been. Actually very much *disliked* him as a QB and never had any reason to like Vick the Man, either).

It's really a question of two things:
1. Now that Vick has paid his debt to society, where does that leave him in the future
and
2. Was that debt in proportion to the acts he pled guilty to - i.e. did the crime fit the punishment

I think it was the second part that gets under everyone's skin - that somehow, he's not been punished enough, and vigilante justice is in order. I know this is different from the public opinion, but my thought is that his status as a black NFL quarterback in the South got him more time in the pen than the Average Joe Dogfighter. Did it deserve jail time? Of course it did, Vick and his cohorts were involved in something not only illegal but reprehensibly immoral. Was he made into a very public example and given an overzealous sentance?? Debatable... it's a touchy subject, because so many of us abhor the thought of our dogs in the "care" of Bad Newz Kennels, and that hits close to home. How, though, does Leonard Little go to jail for 16 months less than Michael Vick? Is vehicular homicide really 1/6th the crime that torturing and killing dogs is? At the very least, he's gotten his just due in court and in Leavenworth, much less in the court of public opinion.

The first one is what prompted the post in the first place... since it's being debated ad nauseum in the media. Who knows if he has been "rehabilitated" or not, only time and his sincerity will tell us. Regardless, he's completing his sentance and will be done in a few months and will have to decide how to continue his life and career, either the football one, the construction one, or something else. The man deserves a chance to make amends and to live his life with the opportunity to make things right. If that is in his chosen profession, he should be allowed to do everything possible to begin a productive career and make a difference - assuming he does the necessary things for both the NFL and for himself and his parole. If he chooses not to, it will be evident in short order, and the public floggings can resume. I just don't see how canceling season tickets, blasting any team that would consider signing him, and talking of organizing protests outside stadiums before the guy is even considering (or eligible to) rejoining the NFL is anywhere near rational. He's done (or is doing) his penance. Let's move forward. If there's anything short of full remorse, the opportunity to raise hell will come and come quickly.

Look, I understand this is a sensitve subject for many people - Jen and I lost the dog she had for 13 years just this January, and I know Marijo, Kim, and some others have lost their pets recently too. So the emotion a pet can bring to you can certainly color any judgement of Vick or anyone else in that situation. When it comes down to it though, what is the more productive path - making Vick's life exceedingly and continually difficult by making his NFL comeback a public relations nightmare? Or taking advantage of the media attention that this is attracting, getting Vick and a potential future NFL team/city on board, and making animal cruelty a "pet" project (pun intended) for PETA and some team's charity? Wouldn't Vick make a better spokesperson and feel-good story than as a martyr? Wouldn't the Animal Rights community benefit waaaaay more from Vick the co-champion than by Vick the Warning Sign? Assuming Vick is genuinely remorseful and wants to make amends, there's no way in HELL he doesn't embrace this. His friends are gone. His finances are a mess. He's got no discernable alternate career options to turn to. He'd jump on board and pet Paris Hilton's handbag dog the entire time if that is what it took just to get back to even. Trust me, he's on board. So come on, doggie lovers... talk to your local SPCA or PETA or whatever chapters and get them to explore the idea of a Michael Vick partnership. You can make his life hell, and all that venom won't bring any Bad Newz dogs back. Or you take advantage of a rare and enormous opportunity to appeal to a wider audience than you ever have before (and likely ever will again) and take a fallen hero from the most popular sport in the country and put him at the forefront of your cause. Select the former, and you're certain to negatively affect one life; go with the latter, and who knows how many puppies' lives will be positively affected. From here, it's pretty obvious what the Humane choice is...

Baseball Just Won't Be The Same...

It's been covered in great detail and length by both the Philly media , Philly sports blogs , and the national media (ESPN had it as their lead story for the better part of 24 hours, and Jayson Stark gave the nation a glimpse into what Harry meant to us). And if this doesn't give you goosebumps, then you just don't bleed the right color red: http://www.the700level.com/2009/04/the-final-outta-here.html

Like Richie Ashburn and Gene Hart, Harry was an extended part of my life, of every Phillies fan's family. It really wasn't baseball season without hearing his soothing voice calling the games on Philly 57 or over 1210 AM. Heck, Opre and I even paid extra this year just so we could get all the Phillies broadcasters via the mlb.tv package. Yesterday felt like I lost that great uncle that was always in your life (Uncle Mattie comes to mind, except a lot more smiles from Harry). One of the most comforting things since yesterday was reading how much more talented writers than I have been able to verbalize what an entire generation - make that a few generations - of Phillies fans felt about Harry.

The Phillies may not have been very successful for much of my adult life (reality is, they've been more bad then good, or even average, since 1985), but baseball is always baseball, your team will always win its share of games, and each little victory gives a small reason to smile and cheer. If football season is 3 hours of gladiatorial combat preceded by six days of preparation, planning, and hype, baseball is the polar opposite: spanning three celestial seasons from pitchers and catchers to the final "struck 'im ooouuuuut!" in late October, it is the sporting personification of a lazy summer evening on the back deck with a cool drink, shooting the breeze. Harry's reoccurring part as narrator of that annual rite of summer put us fans in the perfect position to appreciate the subtle beauties of the game. Even the silence between pitches - filled only with the sounds of the ballpark, stretches most announcers and/or stadium organists don't give the fans a chance to appreciate - was peaceful, knowing on the other side of that momentary pause, there would be Harry the K, picking up the action at just the right time, with just the right sense of anticipation for the next pitch.

Harry, you'll be missed by every phan who ever tuned into a Phillies game. As many have said, you were the Phillies to millions of Delaware Valley residents, and as one of the many, I'll miss hearing you call every Phils moment, both high and low. My phone ringer, for a very long time, (sorry Jen) will continue to be "The 0-2 pitch... swing and a miss, STRUCK HIM OUT!! The Philadelphia Phillies are 2008 World Champions of Baseball!!" And I hope I continue to get the same chills that I did just now, listening to that wonderful moment just one more time...

Houston

Nothing clever or long on this blog, since it's bedtime here in the heart of Texas. Just random observations about this week's travel to Houston...

• The infrastructure around the city itself is probably the best I've ever seen for a city of any decent size. It's like they knew to have wide roads and plenty of extra space for ramps, HOV lanes, even tolls, way before anyone else. That, or their civil engineering is vastly superior to the rest of the country. Name one large city that doesn't seem to have pretty much outgrown its highways. I'd throw Houston up there as the first one I've ever seen.
  
• Speaking of tolls, this place has a beltway and a couple of spurs in/out of the city that are pay roads. Put it like this - it's worse than the Garden State Parkway when it comes to the frequency and amount of the tolls. I guess I know how they pay for all those infrastructure improvements.
  
• I skipped a Springsteen concert to do work and eat Mexican food; weak, I know. I must be getting older and more mature, or something like that. I just had waaaaay too much shit to do this week (channeling my inner Lehman) and I have another chance to go see him in Chicago I think. Besides, it wasn't just Mexican food - this stuff was KILLER. If you're ever down here, do yourself a favor and go to Lupe Tortilla. There's a good chance if I ever lived here I'd be there 3x a week.
  
• Something about Houston appealed to me... so far it's been the most pleasant surprise of my trips. Truth is, my work travel hasn't been very glamorous... they don't exactly put trash companies in Beverly Hills. Other than the 2nd half of the first week in LA, it's been fairly nondescript, and nothing about Detroit, Dallas (other than the absurd enormity of the new Cowboys Stadium), or LA made me ever think I'd want to live in any of those places. Yes, LA was nice, but all that great weather (ok, so so weather) and beautiful views come with the price of the 2nd biggest city in America and all the negatives that come with it - traffic, crime, an overly frantic pace, and specifically dealing with all the issues of a big city without many of the benefits (like the relative ease in getting around in cities like Philly, Boston, and NYC once you're actually in the city itself). It's like LA is one big sprawling quasi-suburb. Anyways, the point to all this is that Houston seems to have a heck of a lot going for it - plenty of commerce, lots of space, proximity to a shoreline (from downtown Houston to Galveston is actually closer than Philly to AC), good food, seemingly very nice Texas folk... all in all, I saw a lot of good things here, compared to very few drawbacks. I'm not planning on packing up the Jeep anytime soon, but if I ever had to make another move, Houston would definitely be on the "Acceptable Cities" list.
  
• I had four presentations/training classes this week, and something went wrong in each and every one of them, and all four of them were completely beyond my control. It makes for a frustrating week when planes are delayed, accounts are locked, PCs aren't imaged right, and power cords aren't shipped, but it ended up working out in the end. If that's all I have to complain about (it's not, but still) then things really aren't that bad at all.
• Not Houston related but I've been an uncle for all of 7 days now and love it. This is like all the benefits of having a child you love and care about, without the actual responsibility of caring for said child on a consistent basis. I like it. Go ahead J&T, have another!!
  
• There's probably more but I am tired and need to hit bed, so until I remember something else, that's all for now - off to Orlando, then Indian Rocks Beach, and FINALLY back to Ft. Lauderdale after a(nother) ten day hiatus.
  

More Tyler Jason

Spent a great weekend up in NJ with the newest parents of the Sharpe family and their little addition. Due to Southwest f*cking up our standby list and some lousy weather up north, we ended up missing the visitor hours at the hospital on Friday night, but got plenty of time with the little guy, and Trace and Jay. We got two trips to West Jersey Hospital, and still managed to give them some time alone Saturday night. (Conveniently, the end of visiting hours happened to coincide with the beginning of the Nova-UNC game) So two trips to see baby Tyler, along with Sean, Lis, and their kids coming by for the game, gave Jen and I quite a "preview of coming attractions"... when the attractions come is still TBD, although if the inquirey level of the thre F's (family, friends, and Facebook) played any part, it would be soon. It was really special to be with Jay and Trace, watching them take care of their little swaddled package, feeding him, cuddling, even doing the glamourless stuff like burpng and changing diapers. Jason's done a great job taking care of Ty while Tracey is resting up - her labor and delivery lasted pretty long and took a lot out of her (literally!) so he's done a great job of being Mr. Mom for the first few days. They are home now, they got home on Sunday afternoon, and everything at their house is set up. Jen and I are both pretty excited to be Aunt Jen and Uncle T.J., and are already looking forward to our next trip up there. He's pretty adorable, even taking out my Godfather bias. It was definetly tough to leave the little bugger.

Nova got killed but UNC was a beast, so I feel less lousy about it now after they dismantled Michigan State. The thing was they got within 5 in the second half... "what if" they hadn't missed all those freaking 3's, etc... Ahh what can you do - thanks for the run Scottie, Dante, and Co. It was worth it. The Phils on the other hand had the magic of the 2008 WFC last all of a few at bats on Sunday. Not to worry... there's plenty of time to give the Mets time to pad this year's September collapse.

Penn State, Nova and Tyler too!

Big start to this spring... we're 12 days in and it's already been a great season. Penn State just went on a wild ride to win the NIT and beat those pesky Gators of Florida along the way. Hard to really celebrate the NIT championship, it's like pulling the Community Chest card and winning $10. Still, it's a championship in hoops for my favorite football school, so we got that going for us... which is nice.

Bigger story, the upstart Wildcats of Villanova making a run to the Final Four. They had a solid chance before the brackets were announced to make a run, but the initial reaction to their Road to Detroit was "Damn, that's gonna be tough". American (which had them down by double digits with 8 minutes left), then UCLA (which had been to the past several Final Fours), then Duke (OVER-RAT-ED!!) and finally the Pink Panthers of Pitt. It was the most difficult path taken by one of the last four teams standing, and that combination of tough opponents and buzzer-beating heroics will help them this weekend.

Remember a few years ago when the refs ROBBED Nova from a chance for the sweet 16 upset? Also remember that they've lost to the eventual national champions in three of the past four years in the tourney (Kansas, Florida, and UNC), and the current core players have played in at least 2 of those games. This team was ready for the run to Detroit, and they are more than capable of toppling the most talented team in the country. Carolina may have the better talent and more pro prospects, but that doesn't mean they are the best team. Just ask Patrick Ewing.

BUT... the big story on Action News this April 2nd is that, after a day and change in the hospital, a night of dilating and pushing, and an lunchtime c-section, Tracey and Jason are the proud parents of a healthy 20.5 in, 7.7 lbs baby boy!!! Tyler Jason Sharpe made his way into the world this afternoon (sometime before 1:36pm) and everyone is very excited he's here - especially a tuckered out Mommy and Daddy. "Uncle T.J. and Aunt Jen" can't wait to get to Philly tomorrow evening to see the little bugger, he's adorably cute (of course he is, he's my nephew!!). There's going to be PLENTY more Tyler updates, any time another "T.J. Sharpe" can grace the world with his presence, it really needs to be documented for future generations. :) More on this little guy after a weekend in Cherry Hill, Jen and I can't WAIT to see him!!