Gotcha Day 2006

We celebrated Gotcha Day on Saturday. Aug. 19 marked the third anniversary of the day we picked Thomas up at the airport and brought him home.

The crazy thing about Gotcha Day this year is that Thomas is now the same age Nolan was three years ago.

We commemorated the occasion by taking the boys and my mom to Hoffman’s Playland. As you might imagine Thomas was most excited about riding on their miniature train.

Unfortunately, we had to dodge the raindrops. We thought it wasn’t supposed to start raining until later in the day, but just as we were walking out the door the sprinkles started falling. For a while they weren’t running all of the rides at Hoffman’s because of the rain (including the train), but eventually the rain let up and all of the rides started.

To top the day off we ordered a pizza for dinner and ate it at mom’s house.

One of the things I like to do on Gotcha Day is take a picture of the boys together so we can compare the then and now. But since it was raining I left the camera in the car, and then I kept forgetting to take a picture later on. So here I’m using another recent picture of Nolan and Thomas.

Baseball Fever

It was all baseball all the time on Friday.

First I had game 1 of the Yankees-Red Sox double header on at work (the first of a five-game series). Then Nolan and I went to a Tri-City Valley Cats game that night. After that I came home and was still able to watch most of the marathon second game in Fenway (it went for a record-setting four hours and 45 minutes).

We went to the Valley Cats game with Ray and Danny. For Nolan and me, it was our first trip to Joe Bruno Stadium. I was pretty impressed with the place, but then my only frame of reference for minor league baseball is Heritage Park.

Snakes on the Top of My Head

Ok, I’m ready to jump on the “Snakes on a Plane” bandwagon. For months now I’ve been completely willing to let myself get sucked in by the Internet hype.

It really is crazy how this movie with perhaps the dumbest title since “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” has generated so much buzz with so little actual studio promotion. All people needed to know was that movie had some snakes…on a plane…and that it stars the great Samuel L. Jackson.

Before you know it, before any footage was released to the public, fans (can they be fans if they haven’t even seen the movie yet?) took to the Net, having all sorts of fun with the premise. Just check out sites like Snakes on a Blog and Snakes on Stuff.

And I’ve got to get one of those cool fan-made T-shirts:


The online buzz was so huge that the studio actually went back re-shot a scene so they could add in a line of fan-created dialogue that everyone seemed to want to hear Samuel L. Jackson say, even though it meant probably pushing the movie from a PG-13 to an R rating (if you’ve ever seen “Pulp Fiction” you can imagine what particular curse word was added in).

Then when the studio did finally start cranking out their official promotions, they came up with the very cool customizable Samuel L. Jackson phone calls you can send to your friends.

Is this movie going to be dumb? Probably. But does it look like a ton of fun? Hell yeah!

Land of Tall Corn

While reading the Upstream blog I stumbled across a link to a blog called York Staters, which has an interesting post on the meaning of the name Niskayuna.

Growing up, I remember being told it meant “Land of Tall Corn.” I’ve also heard that it’s an old Indian word for “High Taxes.”

Breaking ground in the Bronx

Mark your calendars for April 2009. That’s when the new Yankee Stadium is scheduled to open.

Ground was broken a short time ago on the new ballpark in the Bronx. Ironically, we were just talking about the new stadium at dinner last night. My mom and Kris didn’t realize a new stadium was being built and we were saying that we’ll want to make sure we go one more time before the old ballpark closes. At the time I didn’t realize the ground breaking would be this morning.

I’m slowly warming up to the idea of a New Yankee Stadium. Don’t get me wrong…the House That Ruth Built is one of my favorite places on Earth. Once your sitting in your seat and taking in the view of that field you can feel the history and the magic. However, that said, the rest of the stadium on the outside is a tad on the ugly side.

So while a new stadium will be very nice, the really sad part will be seeing the old ballpark destroyed. I had always hoped that somehow, even though the team would be playing in a new stadium across the street, the original baseball cathedral could somehow be preserved. But now I’ve read that the plan is to demolish the old stadium that was first built in 1923.

Apparently the plan is to place three baseball fields in the space occupied by the current stadium. Hopefully one of those fields will actually be the original field that’s there now. Maybe they can tear down the building around it, but leave the grass, the pitcher’s mound and the base path where so many legends have played the game.

Who's new

I’m trying to get back into the swing of things here on the blog with a long overdue dose of geek news…

Good news on two fronts for “Doctor Who” fans. First, the BBC and the Sci-Fi Channel have announced that season (series) two of the show will be coming to Sci-Fi in September. The run will include David Tennant’s introduction as the Doctor in last December’s special episode “The Christmas Invasion” and then continue season two’s first regular episode, “New Earth.”

Meanwhile, filming on this year’s Christmas special, “The Runaway Bride,” is complete. Filming began this week on the rest of the third season, which will debut next spring.

The new season will introduce a new companion to the show. An actress named Freema Agyeman will be introduced as medical student Martha Jones. This week they released the first publicity photos of the Doctor and Martha.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Wow…this may be the longest I’ve ever gone without blogging here. Sorry for the unexpected absence everyone. I guess life has been pretty busy lately.

I’d like to send out a big thanks to Kris’ sister Kim and her husband John for hosting us this past weekend. We stayed with them in their camper at an RV park in Cooperstown.

While we were there John and I took Nolan on his first pilgrimage to baseball Mecca—the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. I was a little nervous that he might get bored, but he really loved it. He toured through every inch of the place.

He most liked any exhibits that were Yankee related. He was really excited to see some Derek Jeter memorabilia. But he also got a kick out of seeing the bat Babe Ruth used to hit his legendary “called shot.”

On our way out I bought him his first pack of baseball cards (Thomas got some Yankee stickers). You’d think I had given him pure gold.

Party City

So we had an eventful weekend. On Friday, my mom and dad came to visit. The kids were really excited and we went to Applebee's for supper. They have a cool program where if you read 10 books you get a free kid's meal. So that's what Nolan did and he ate every bit. Thomas didn't and left the restaurant screaming because he wanted dessert. So he got ice cream at Gaba's (other grandma) on the way home.

On Saturday we had some errands to do, but in the afternoon my Aunt Helen, Uncle Rush and family came to visit on their way to Silver Lake from New Jersey. Then that night Gaba came over and we had a barbecue in the backyard thanks to steaks from Dad again.

My parents saw the Giants practicing Sunday morning and stopped by on their way home. We went grocery shopping to get ready for another barbecue that night with friends and their kids. That was fun. But we are partied out. We were lucky the weather was beautiful.

In other news, I'm not at all looking forward to fall and school starting. It's been so nice doing fun things and no schedule. As soon as school starts the rat race begins again.

Also, I might be changing my tune with switching from running to walking. I still love walking and don't want to give it up, but I miss running too and the friends I was running with. I think I may find a way to fit in both.

So this weekend we are going to Cooperstown to stay with my sister in her RV. We've never camped that way and I'm anxious to see what it will be like.

Photo flashback

I forgot that a long time ago I entered a picture of Nolan in a photo contest. It didn't win anything.

But then today, five years later, I got a piece of spam trying to sell me a copy of the photo printed on canvas and made to look like an oil painting. Of course, I'm not interested. But it was bizarre to see that picture being sent back after all these years.

Anyway, here is the picture.

The bear basics

When we went camping we experienced something new. We were told that Limekiln Lake was a "Class A campground" for bears. Therefore, every site came equipped with a "bear locker" to store all of our food in.

Normally we keep food and anything else we don't want animals getting into locked up in our car. But this time we had specific instructions to use this locker and not our car.

As a result, Kris was a little nervous about running into a bear during the trip--particularly during a late night run to the bathroom. We never saw a bear in our campground, but one did cross the road in front of us during our drive home.

Anyway, maybe it's just as well we didn't spot this story before our trip:

DEC officers shoot, kill agressive black bear

SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. (AP) - A team of state environmental conservation officers and wildlife experts shot and killed a black bear that had shown aggressive behavior toward people hiking in Adirondack High Peaks region.

The Department of Environmental Conservation say the bear killed early Monday morning was a male who was more than 20 years old and weighed about 350 pounds.

DEC officials say the officers shot the bear when it entered a camp site looking for food. The agency says it was the same bear that had entered lean-tos where people were staying on three different occasions last month.

In one incident, a man lured the bear away from his son after the animal had cornered his son in a lean-to. In another incident, campers had to hit the bear with their hiking sticks when it became aggressive.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Summer snowball fight

Last winter Nolan and I were making snowballs when I told him it would be a great idea to save a couple in the freezer so he and his friend Danny could have a snowball fight in the summer.

Yesterday was the perfect day to break them out. It was easily the hottest day of the year. In our town the temperature topped out at 99 degrees with a heat index well over 100.

So Nolan and Danny threw snowballs around in the backyard for as long as they could. Chester got a hold of one and ate it. The other, I’m sure, quickly melted.

The only problem—today is supposed to be as hot or hotter…and we’re now out of snowballs!

The family that swims together...

My niece Meghan, the eldest of the Rooney grandchildren, came to visit this weekend.

Meghan is the daughter of my brother Tim, who lives near Chicago. She flew in by herself on Friday (after a weather delay kept her on the ground Thursday night) and stayed with my mom.

We all spent the day today lounging in and around my sister Annie’s pool. It was great to have six of the nine grandkids together.

Pictured here are Annie’s kids—Olivia, Helen and Louis—along with Nolan and Meghan (Thomas was over in the shallow end).

Change of Pace

I recently switched from running to walking. It has been a great transition for me but different. I have run for 5 years and even did a marathon 2 years ago. But I stopped getting as much satisfaction from running and it felt like a chore whenever I went out. After all this time running. my body changed a lot in the beginning but over the past couple years it's remained about the same. I figure I just keep exercising the same muscles with running and maybe I should try something new. Lastly, I never really felt like I fit in with the running group I was a part of and wanted more time for myself. So my slow paced running converted to walking and it has been great. I mainly go alone and I like the peace of that. I tend to have a lot of thoughts and I get to clear my head that way. The rhythm of walking is very relaxing. I still do the same miles so it just takes me longer now. I even go 5 days a week instead of 4 now. There are a few friends that I walk with sometimes. Marlene and I walk on Wednesdays and it's great to have time to talk without our kids around. The only bad thing is some friends that I used to run with I don't really get to see much anymore. And I notice I have to watch what I eat a little more because I don't think walking keeps the pounds away as well as running. But ultimately, I think we have to be healthy and happy with ourselves and what we do. Don't you agree?

100 minutes of free iced coffee

If you love free stuff like me, then mark your calendar. To commemorate the opening of the 100th Dunkin’ Donuts store in the Capital Region all of the local stores will be offering free iced coffee for 100 minutes on Tuesday, Aug. 1. You can stop in and get for your free small iced coffee at any Dunkin’ Donuts from 1 p.m. to 2:40 p.m.

Mmm...test footage

UPDATE #2: WooHoo! You can find one of the clips here!

UPDATE: D'oh! Fox ordered YouTube to take the clips down. Bummer. Trust me, it was good stuff.

The big San Diego Comic-Con was held last week. This is the major geek event of the year. Had I not been camping in the woods last week, I would have been posting about lots of things, like news about "Spider-Man 3" and "Star Trek."

Now there just seems to be too much to catch up on, but when time permits I'll get to a few items for the two or three of you who care, but haven't already read about them.

But these clips need to go on right away! These are animatics (early test animation) for the upcoming "Simpsons" movie. Enjoy!

Mutant mayhem

I finally saw “X-Men: The Last Stand” tonight. Yeah, I know, the movie came out in May. I don’t get out as often as I used to.

Anyway, it was great. Never has a movie with so much negative advance buzz been so satisfying. I thought it captured the spirit of the comic books very well and it certainly left me wanting more.

Granted, I did think Juggernaut was pretty silly. He was the low point of the film. And the whole scene with the Golden Gate Bridge seemed a little excessive. But beyond that, it was great.

Also, I was pretty concerned that they were going to butcher the Dark Phoenix storyline—one of the greatest stories ever told in the pages of “The Uncanny X-Men” or any other comic book. But they took a pretty far-reaching and far out story and brought it “down to earth” in a very effective way for the movie.

So this one was clearly better than the first film. I think I’ll need to see it again before I can decide if it’s better than “X2: X-Men United.”

I’ll add this one to the must-own DVD list.

Back in Time

We haven’t been to a SPAC concert in ages, but we went last night to see Huey Lewis & the News and Chicago.

Chicago was alright. They’re solid musicians who put on a good show. Although I think there are only two original band members left. Most of the music, especially the horns, were fantastic, but the vocals were lacking on a few songs (Peter Cetera, where are you now?).

The truth is, I probably wouldn’t have gone to see Chicago if they were playing by themselves. Huey Lewis on the other hand was a fantastic blast from the past! This was actually the fourth time I saw the News at SPAC. Back in 1987, they were actually the first concert I ever went to. I saw them again in ’89 and ’91.

What’s not to like about Huey? They’re music is just plain All-American fun.

They came out and played a tight show that lasted a little more than an hour and packed in many of their hits and only one or two songs I wasn’t familiar with. There was a cool medley of “I Want a New Drug” and “Small World”—two songs with very different styles that you would never imagine going together, but they made it work quite well.

Then they came back for an encore that started with “Back in Time,” after that some members of Chicago came out to join them for a fantastically bluesy rendition “Bad Is Bad,” and then they closed it out with “Working for a Living.”

Huey turned up again later on to lend vocals to a couple of Chicago songs—once by himself and once with the rest of the News.

It was so great seeing Huey Lewis & the News again. Twenty-some years later, they’ve still got it. They may not be cool anymore, but it sure is hip to be square.

Java Joe

After jumping through some hoops, I finally got some vacation pictures to show up on Blogger. So please revisit my earlier post.

Here’s one more I just had to share. This is Thomas enjoying his first cup of coffee.

Every morning when I’m making the coffee at home he sits at the kitchen counter and says, “Mmm, I like coffee!” We always tell him he wouldn’t like it.

But on our trip, we figured what the heck, we’re camping. So one morning we let him have half a cup along with his pancakes and bacon—like a real rugged outdoorsman! Of course he loved it.

Don’t worry. It was decaf. The last thing we needed was him all wired up!

One final camping note...this year's goatee didn't last long. I shaved it off before church Sunday morning.

Happy campers

Blogger might not be letting me upload pictures, but fortunately YouTube is working fine...

Adirondack Rocky Mountain High

The intrepid Rooney family has returned from the Adirondack wilderness. We spent several days camping at the Limekiln Lake state campground in the town of Inlet, just outside of Old Forge.

Here’s the recap:
Day 1: We arrived Monday afternoon and spent most of the day setting up camp. Actually, Kris did most of the work while I took the kids to the beach to keep them out of her hair.

Day 2: We went to Enchanted Forest Water Safari. We were there pretty much the whole day, now that we don’t worry so much about rushing Thomas back for a nap anymore. I think it was the longest family outing we ever went on.

I was pretty impressed with the park. It’s been around for more than 50 years and was bigger than I expected. We started off on their “lazy river” ride, which was very relaxing. Nolan had a blast on a kid-sized water slide. And we all took a raft ride down the Cascade Falls. Kris, Nolan and I loved that. Thomas wasn’t so sure.

But I wasn’t going to leave until I tackled a water slide. I told Kris and the kids they could pick any slide in the place for me. Naturally they chose the tallest one they had—the Killermajaro slide. According to the Water Safari website, it’s a 280-foot drop and you reach speeds up to 30 mph. That was a lot of fun, but it was a little bumpier than I expected and I was a little sore when it was over.

Day 3: It was mountain climbing day, and Thomas hiked up his first mountain. He’s been to the top of couple of mountains before, but with us carrying him all or part of the way. This was the first time he hiked all the way up under his own power—and he loved it! He was so proud of himself!

We climbed Rocky Mountain. It’s only about a half mile to the top. So it’s very easy for kids. Once at the summit, there is a beautiful view of Fourth Lake in the Fulton Chain Lakes (see picture above).

Later in the afternoon we took a ride with the Old Forge Lake Cruise Line. Our two-hour cruise started on Old Forge Pond made its way up the chain to Fourth Lake, the largest in the chain, and then back.

During the cruise, the captain invited both of the boys to come into the wheel house and take turns piloting the boat. They each left with a “junior captain certificate” that they thought was great.

Day 4: We took a ride on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad, which Thomas thought was terrific. Actually, as much as he loves trains, he was a little nervous about it at first. But he warmed up to it after a while.

After the train ride we had lunch and wandered around Old Forge doing a little shopping.

Day 5: It seems like on many of our vacations we feel like we stayed one day too many. We seriously considered leaving Thursday instead of Friday, but decided to tough it out.

On Thursday night we packed up as much as we could and went to bed.

We had beautiful weather for the whole trip. Then sometime around midnight it started raining. Kris and I woke up early and laid there awake. That’s when we noticed it changing from raining to pouring and water was coming in through the seams of the tent where the floor meets the walls.

So we backed the van right up to the tent. We put the kids in the van and had them eat their breakfast while Kris and I packed up the tent and whatever else was left. Then we hit the road. We were home by lunchtime.

It was a pretty successful trip. We all had a great time and I think everyone has returned with some great family memories.

In addition, like our trip to Silver Lake last year, I’ve also returned with facial hair—which I’ll keep as long as my wife continues to humor me.

Vacation time

We're heading out for our vacation this morning. For the next several days we'll be camping in the Adirondacks with no TV, no e-mail, no computer!

Don't worry. We'll survive just fine.

You'll get the full recap when we return.

Baseball banter

Time for another rant against Fox and their coverage of Major League Baseball (all of the birthday business kept me from blogging about this yesterday).

While watching the All-Star Game Tuesday night, Fox played one of their “Sounds of the Game,” which I think was supposed to be Bronson Arroyo saying something to Brad Penny in the dugout. Maybe it’s just me, but it sounded like complete inaudible gibberish and a total waste of my time. Not to mention, you couldn’t tell exactly where the two talking players were in the shot shown on the screen. The whole thing made no sense!

At that point I decided to see how bad the delay was with the radio. Sure, the radio was a few seconds ahead of the TV, but not so much that I couldn’t enjoy the game this way. So with the exception of the tribute to Roberto Clemente, I watched the rest of the game on “mute” while listening to the coverage on ESPN Radio.

Why does Fox insist on tormenting baseball fans with all of their needless gimmicks?

I’ll step down from my soapbox now.

Birthday extravaganza

The birthday party was a huge success, despite the weather.

The forecast called for rain, heavy at times, starting right around the time our party was supposed to start. So at the last minute we called everyone involved and made arrangements to start the party at 11 a.m. instead of 1:30 p.m.

Even still, about an hour before the party it was drizzling enough to start making us nervous. So as we’ve had to do in past years, we strung the huge tarp we use for camping over the patio and a section of the backyard. At least the nine kids we had (counting our own two) would be dry while eating. We decided we just wouldn’t care if they got a little wet in the bouncy-bounce we had set up.

Sure enough, about 10 minutes after the party ended, the heavens opened up and it’s been pouring on and off ever since. I’m so glad we changed the time.

As Kris mentioned before, the party had a “Star Wars” theme. Besides the bouncy-bounce, every kid who came was outfitted with a Jedi robe and got an inflatable sword that stood in for a lightsaber. Yeah, nothing beats inviting a bunch of 5- and 6-year-old boys over and giving them weapons!

The kids were also given squirt guns. At some point one of the kids started squirting me. Before you know it, a battle cry of “Get Mr. Rooney!” was being called out by all the kids. So what else could I do? I grabbed at sword and a squirt gun and took the crowd of kids on! We all wound up soaking wet and laughing hard.

After lunch was served, we had a surprise guest—Kris arranged for Mr. Ding-A-Ling to pull right into our driveway and serve ice cream to the kids. That was a big hit.

As the dust from the party settled we had time to start cracking into some of Nolan’s presents. Nearly everything he got at his party was “Star Wars” related. He got several action figures, some new lightsabers and a couple of “Star Wars” Transformers. We gave him a SpongeBob SquarePants skateboard along with a new helmet and a set of elbow, knee and wrist pads.

At the end of the day, Nolan was exhausted, but he went to bed a very happy 6-year-old boy.

Summer is great-

There are so many great things to do in the summer that just aren't there other times of the year. On Friday we had out friends Lori and Max come visit from the Catskills. It's so hard to see them during the school year because of the trip. The kids had a blast just playing with a sprinkler for over an hour in the back yard.

On Saturday, my friend Marlene and I left the world behind and went for a hike. It was the greatest day. We decided to hike Hunter Mountain in the Catskills which is really a ski mountain. We took the gondola to the top and then hiked 2 miles up and over to the peak where there was a fire tower. There was really no view without climbing the fire tower because of all the trees. But once we climbed the tower, it was a beautiful panoramic view. Lots of flies though which we couldn't figure out. So we hiked down to a lookout point to eat our lunch. We were rewarded with a hawk that glided around near us. Then we hiked down and rode the chair lift down. It was terrific.

Nolan has been in baseball camp this week and loving it. His friend Danny is a year under him and usually can't be in things together but this camp combines 5 and 6 year olds. I think he loves doing it with him. Thomas is jealous because he wants to go do something like his big brother. So I'm signing him up at a place called Kids Care Fitness Center this week.

And today Nolan turns 6. He had ice cream and chocolate milk for breakfast. Chris and I decorated until late last night turning our back yard into space for Star Wars. Another great thing about summer is having party in the middle of the week like this. We'll fill you in on how it goes. We're praying for the rain to hold off!

It's a bird! It's a plane!

I haven’t seen “Superman Returns” yet. I don’t know when I’ll get to, but I’m really looking forward to it.

I just got done watching on A&E the excellent documentary “Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman.” It traces the nearly 70-year history of the Man of Steel, from Action Comics #1 in 1938 to the new film that just came out in 2006.

I was a diehard comic book collector for about 10 years. But I was mainly a Marvel Comics guy. My comic book tastes leaned more towards the likes of Spider-Man and the X-Men.

Maybe I didn’t follow the Superman comic books, but that’s not to say I wasn’t a fan. Although I was never a Superman reader, there is still something about the character. He transcends comic books, having appeared in just about every form of media you can think of.

I’m not sure where I got my first exposure to Superman, but it was probably on either the Saturday morning “Super Friends” cartoon or reruns of the classic George Reeves TV show. They were both favorites of mine. And of course there was Christopher Reeve.

Like millions of kids, I can remember tying a blanket around my neck and jumping off the couch as if I too could leap tall buildings in a single bound. I even dressed up as Superman for Halloween in the second grade.

The documentary on A&E covers nearly every incarnation of the character. Besides George Reeves’ “The Adventures of Superman” and the movies, it also discusses everything from the Max Fleischer cartoons of the 1940s to TV’s “Lois & Clark” in the 1990s and “Smallville” today. It also looks at how the character related to events of the day, from World War II to the JFK assassination to September 11th.

I highly recommend “Look, Up in the Sky.” I think A&E will probably rerun it a few more times. It’s also available on DVD.

Superman has a universal appeal. And on this July 4th I challenge you to name another fictional character that better embodies the best of American values—you know…truth, justice and all that stuff.

We hold these truths to be self-evident...

Happy Independence Day one and all.

You can read a copy of the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives site. Seems very appropriate today.

May the Force be with you

I was playing around in Photoshop, trying to figure out how to make Nolan's lightsaber "glow." Here are my first attempts...

'We love our Mu Ji Gae'

Today was the day for Camp Mu Ji Gae—a Korean culture camp that’s held in Albany each summer primarily for kids adopted from Korea.

This is the 20th year for Camp Mu Ji Gae (which means “rainbow” in English). It’s one of the largest camps of its kind in the Northeast and attracts kids from all over the state. The kids who come to the camp range in age from toddlers to high school students.

For the older kids, it’s more of a conventional camp where they go and stay for the week. But at age 3, Thomas is in the second level, which means he only spent a few hours there this morning accompanied by me.

The kids get to learn a little about Korean culture by checking out some Korean musical instruments, working on a craft project and other activities. But most importantly, it’s a chance for them to spend some time with other kids like themselves. When they get older, it will be a great opportunity to share experiences with other kids who know what it’s like to be adopted.

After camp, Kris and Nolan joined us for lunch. Then we stuck around for “Family Day.” As I mentioned, when the kids are older camp lasts longer and might not involve their parents. So the camp usually ends with Family Day, when moms and dads, brothers and sisters all gather together for fun activities.

Camp Mu Ji Gae isn’t strictly for adopted kids. Nolan has attended the camp in the past. Last year he was at the level where for a couple of days I would drop him off in the morning and Kris would pick him up at lunchtime. We thought the camp would be a great way for him to learn more about where his brother came from. It also gives him an idea what everyday life is like for Thomas, when for a change Nolan’s the only white kid and the rest of the faces around him are Korean.

Most importantly, it’s fun. Nolan opted not to go to camp this year and we didn’t press it. But when he showed up for Family Day, I think he kind of missed it and he told us that he wants to go again next year.

For the rest of the day we wandered around the house humming the catchy camp songs that we sang today.

It also put us in the mood to break out Thomas’ hanbok and try it on him. A hanbok is a traditional Korean ceremonial outfit worn only on very special occasions. When we got Thomas as a baby, packed in his bag was hanbok given as a gift from his foster family that took care of him for his first few months.

In accordance with Korean tradition, we had him wear it on his 1st birthday. He was swimming in it then, but it fits him much better now.

'Lifeforms detected...'

“That’s not Cybermen.”
“Oh my God.”

Holy crap! I just got done watching “Army of Ghosts,” part one of the two-part “Doctor Who” season finale. I can honestly tell you the cliffhanger ending brought me to the edge of my seat.

I’ve been a “Doctor Who” fan for more than 25 years. The show has been around more than 40 years. In all that time, this is the episode “Doctor Who” fans have been dreaming of!

The Doctor and Rose return to Earth only to discover that for the past two months what appear to be ghosts have been popping up all over the world. People aren’t freaked out by this. For the most part, their happy to reconnect to lost loved ones.

But is that what these specters really are? The Doctor is not so sure, and his search for answers leads him to the Torchwood Institute. There he learns the ghosts started appearing soon after a mysterious sphere arrived.

Some answers are uncovered when the deadly Cybermen show up. However, the question remains—what’s inside that sphere? The answer will delight “Who” fans everywhere.

I think I’m going to really enjoy next week’s finale, “Doomsday.” If you’re a “Who” fan, don’t wait for this one on the Sci Fi Channel. You’re going to want to BitTorrent this one ASAP (although it would kind of help to catch the earlier two-parter “Rise of the Cybermen”/“The Age of Steel”)!

Who am I?

So Kris wonders what SNL character I am.

I’d like to be somebody cool like Elwood Blues or Wayne Campbell (although I’m probably closer to Garth).

I actually found an online quiz that said I was Beldar Conehead. But if we’re going for forehead humor, let’s not forget about Phil Hartman’s Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer.

In keeping with the Kris’ whole “opposites attract” theme, I was tempted to throw in a “Point-Counterpoint” reference, but I’ve thought better of it.

Meanwhile, while searching for an SNL quiz, I stumbled across two others that I couldn’t resist. I know I was just comparing myself to Homer Simpson last week, but then I came up with this:



Then there’s this one. Some of you out there knew me in high school. Is this accurate?

'All rise...'

Many people in our neck of the woods are fascinated by the Porco murder trial that's going on right now. But I stumbled across this article about a trial in Oklahoma that could be a little more interesting...if not amusing.

Opposites attract

It's so funny when I look at Chris' blog and the light-hearted quips he includes. Whenever I think of something I'd like to contribute, it's always a deeper issue, like non-violence, thoughts on church, the toddler brain and I hesitate to even tell you the many ideas that pass through my head! Definately not Homer Simpson or what cool gadgets are in the movies. But that's my hubby, always lightening any deep thoughts I have. I'm Jack Handy and he's, I don't even know! I'm trying to think of a quirky Sat Night Live character to assign to him and that's his job! Maybe he can come up with one.

Move over Bono

I just saw this on "The Most" on MSNBC. I'm sure there's a politcal statement in here somewhere. I don't really care about that. I just applaud the great editing job by someone with far too much free time (the best things come from those with too much free time!)...

Summer sickness

It’s summer time now. So naturally it’s the perfect time to catch a cold.

I swear I’ve gone through half a box of Kleenex since I got to work today. Ugh.

Colds usually linger a couple of weeks with me. I hope this one doesn’t last that long.

'Spider-Man 3' trailer arrives!

Heads up, true believers. Here’s some more geek news…

All right, I had my reservations. But I am now more pumped than ever for “Spider-Man 3.”

The teaser trailer was released today. You’ll be able to see it in theaters starting tomorrow with “Superman Returns.”

I’m still a little hesitant about Topher Grace as Venom.

But everything else in this trailer looks fantastic. Sandman looked great. Bryce Dallas Howard looked perfect as Gwen Stacey—right down to the black band in her hair. And even if it’s not the same black costume from the comics, it still looked pretty cool seeing the black goo covering up Spidey.

I have faith Sam Raimi will pull together a great movie.

Mark your calendar for May 4, 2007.

Countdown to Potter 7

We probably have about a year to go until the seventh and final installment of the Harry Potter book series. No official release date has been announced, but if author J.K. Rowling and the publishers stick to the pattern the book will probably hit store shelves during summer 2007.

In the meantime, here’s a little bit of Potter news to hold you over. In a recent interview, Rowling admitted that two more characters will be killed off.

Supposedly, she wrote the final chapter of Book 7 years ago—around the time she wrote her first story and decided it would be a seven-book series.

"The final chapter is hidden away, although it's now changed very slightly," she said in an interview broadcast on Monday on Britain's Channel 4. "One character got a reprieve, but I have to say two die that I didn't intend to die."

Although she gives no hints as to which characters will meet their demise, she does discuss what makes killing off the main character of a popular book series appealing for an author.

Farewell 'Eddie'

Hollywood has lost one if its greats. Moose, who played Eddie the dog on "Frasier," has died at the ripe old age of 16.

Moose played Eddie for 10 years. The show ran for 11 seasons. Moose was fazed out near the end of the series and eventually replaced by his son Enzo.

Coffee Table Talk

We picked up a new coffee table at the Round Lake Antiques Festival on Sunday.

This table was actually a rustic dining room or kitchen table. We brought it home and I cut the legs shorter so we could use it in our living room.

We’re pretty pleased with it, although I wish it was a little shorter. I purposely left it an inch or two taller than we wanted just in case I screwed something up. It turns out I didn’t screw anything up. So we’ll live with it like this for a while. If it really bothers us after a while, then I’ll take it out the garage and hack another couple of inches off.

But like I said, we’re pretty happy with it.

Doughnut delight

I came home from work today to find a pleasant surprise sitting on the kitchen counter—a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts!

Our friend Ray was in Syracuse on business. The city is now home to the closest Krispy Kreme shop to us. Apparently they were having a buy one dozen, get a dozen free sale.

As a fellow Krispy Kreme fan, Ray was as heartbroken as me over the closing of the Latham store. So he picked up a dozen for his family and a dozen for us. Thanks, Ray!

After eating some doughnuts for dessert, Thomas lifted his shirt and proclaimed, "My tummy's full of doughnut!"

Am I coming across sounding a little too much like Homer Simpson with this recent doughnut obsession? Any similarity between the picture of me in the header of this blog and this image used promote the season 6 DVDs of “The Simpsons” is purely coincidental.

Jumpin' banjos!

Has everyone heard latest from David Lee Roth? It’s a bluegrass version of the 1984 Van Halen classic “Jump.”

Call me crazy, but I think it kind of works.

Gadgets galore

In honor of the release of the Adam Sandler movie, “Click,” MTV has put together their list of the top 10 movie gadgets of all time.

Some of these items are pretty debatable. I give them credit for picking two Bond gadgets, but I don’t know that they picked the best two.

But there is no arguing with their No. 1 gadget…
10. The Opti-Grab from "The Jerk" (1979)
9. Portable brain-wave detector with a built-in tongue box from "Barbarella" (1968)
8. The Communicator from "Star Trek"
7. UHF Single-Digit Sonic Agitator Unit From "Die Another Day" (2002)
6. Programmable Batarang from "Batman Returns" (1992)
5. Al Czervik's golf bag from "Caddyshack" (1980)
4. The Rebreather from "Thunderball" (1965)
3. The puzzle box from "Hellraiser" (1987)
2. The Neuralizer from "Men in Black" (1997)
1. The Lightsaber from "Star Wars" (1977-2005)

No more teachers, no more books...

Actually, we hope to continue reading quite a bit over the summer. But we now have a first grader and a preschooler. Yesterday was a tear jerker. Nolan's End of the Year Show really illustrated how much he has grown over the past year. Academically, he can now read, add and subtract. He isn't afraid to talk to grown-ups or perform in public. And he is proud of himself which is great. They sang 6 songs in the show, said what they wanted to be when they grow up (He wants to be a baseball player.) and had a slide show. The slide show was especially moving because one of his classmates' mother died last week after a year battle of lymphoma. It's heartbreaking she couldn't be there to see it.
But personally, I really liked that the slide show reviewed everything they did over the past year that I knew a lot about. I absolutely love being a stay-at-home mom. And I think it gets even busier when they get to school. So although it will be a transition with Thomas in preschool next year and Nolan in school all day, there's no doubt in my mind that home is where I should be. As long as we can continue living a frugal lifestyle, my days are swamped with caring for this home and family we are blessed to have and I am grateful for it. Here comes summer!

Summer is here!

We’ve had a number of events in the past few days that serve as fitting kick-offs to summer.

It started with Nolan’s final baseball game of the season. He played third, first and stood at the pitcher’s mound (a coach pitches) and made two or three outs in the field.

At bat he was the last batter of the game. His manager was pitching and I was catching. After a few strikes and fouls he got a weak hit that came to rest about four feet in front of him. It was quite unspectacular. His manager and I looked at the ball, looked at each other and we both seemed to be thinking the same thing: we can’t end like this. So we both laughed and called it foul. Nolan got one more pitch. This one was a strong grounder that rolled all the way out into right field. Since he was the last batter he got to round all of the bases.

After the game the kids all got trophies. Their manager got a baseball autographed by all the kids and a bobble head doll that said something like “#1 Coach” on the base.

Later that afternoon we took the boys to see “Cars.” This was Thomas’ first trip to the movie theater. I watch video clips and movie trailers on the computer with the kids. Thomas loves to watch the trailers for “Cars,” or as he calls it, “Funny Trucks.” He did well at the movies. He got a little restless toward the end and started moving from seat to seat. But for the most part he was well behaved and had a good time.

We all thought the movie was great. I imagine this DVD will wind up on the Christmas list.

We saw the movie at the Latham Circle Mall, which is of course right across the street from Krispy Kreme. On our way to the theater we noticed a steady stream of people going in and out. So we figured that after the movie we’d go over for our final doughnuts before they closed for good.

When the movie ended we headed over to Krispy Kreme only to be greeted by a couple of employees standing outside who informed us they were closed…for good. They were supposed to shutdown at 10 p.m. Sunday. But it turns out that during the time we were in the movie theater they ran out of doughnuts and weren’t going to bother making more. So that’s the end of Krispy Kreme.

We explained to Nolan that they went out of business and he said, “But they give me hats!” referring to the cool old school paper hats all kids get for free. The boys were bummed, but they got over it pretty quick when we decided to go to McDonald’s instead for dinner.

Father’s Day got off to a great start Sunday morning. I was awakened with breakfast in bed. I got to lay there sipping my coffee, skimming the Sunday paper and watching SportsCenter. There are not many better ways to start your day! I also got cards the kids made and a cool magnet Nolan made for me at school.

It was a beautiful day Sunday. After church we decided to go for a family picnic/bike ride. We drove to Lock 8 in Rotterdam just be different. We ate lunch there and then hopped on our bikes and rode a few miles west along the Mohawk River to a park where a creek feeds into the river. It was a good spot for Thomas to dip his feet in the water while Nolan and I tried skipping some rocks.

We bought a new bike rack for the car a few days ago that we used to get to Rotterdam. Although we enjoyed the bike ride, let me tell you, dealing with this rack was a nerve-wracking pain in the ass. It seemed really hard to get it to fit securely on the car, especially after the bikes were mounted. And as we were driving they seemed to be swaying around far too much. We could see cars behind us backing off for fear they’d wind up with a mountain bike on their hood. So I think we’ll be returning the rack.

Later in the afternoon we went over to my sister’s house to hop in the pool and then enjoyed a great cookout. That was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow is Nolan’s last day of school. But today his class put on a concert, which was great. The kids were so cute. I hope to YouTube (is that a verb now, like Google?) some video of it at some point.

Refreshments were served for everyone in his classroom after the concert, where we said our goodbyes to Nolan’s teacher, Mrs. Bacchia.

Tomorrow he finds out who his first grade teacher will be. Next year will be strange with Nolan in school for the full day and Thomas starting preschool. I’m sure Kris will have some more thoughts to share on the end of the school year.

So that was our action-packed few days. Let summer begin!

Update coming soon

So much to blog about, so little time. I hope to have a big post soon about all that's been going on with the Rooney family. Among the featured topics:

• Nolan's last baseball game
• Thomas' first movie
• Final farewell to Krispy Kreme
• Father's Day
• Nolan's end-of-kindergarten concert

Try not to fall of the edge of your seat!

Fun with soda and candy

I'm sure many of you by now have heard about what happens when you mix Diet Coke and Mentos.

PLANET3RRY posted this back on June 5. I've been meaning to post it here ever since and just didn't get around to it. In the meantime, this viral video boomed like crazy in the past week.

After my boss' retirement party the other night, I stopped back at his house for coffee and watched as his sons conducted this experiment themselves in the backyard. So I can tell you that yes, it does work!

As the Coca-Cola folks say, enjoy...

Little Jack Black fans

Perhaps this is a sign my kids are watching too much Nickelodeon.

The channel has been promoting the new movie “Nacho Libre” like crazy. This morning when a commercial for it came on, 3-year-old Thomas yelled, “Jack Black!”

Somewhat bewildered, I turned to Nolan and asked, “Do you know who that guy is?”

“Yeah, that’s Jack Black,” he answered. “He’s on all the time.”

Then when the commercial ended and the title appeared on the screen. Thomas shouted, “Nacho Libre!”

The Hot Light Is Off...

…or it at least it will be going off—for good—on Sunday. Say it ain’t so!

Is there anything in life that tastes as good as a Krispy Kreme doughnut fresh off the conveyor belt?

The Krispy Kreme in Latham, the only one in eastern New York, opened two years ago to much fanfare. On opening day, Feb. 24, 2004 they sent TONS of free doughnuts over to the newsroom and I ate more than my fair share. In fact, I probably ate more than three people’s fair share. I was hooked!

Not to mention it’s a fun place to visit. The kids love watching the doughnut assembly line and getting their free Krispy Kreme hats.

I also remember hosting a party at our house once. Some guests brought the usual gifts—a bottle of wine, a plate of cookies, etc. But friend and frequent commenter here, Ray Brownell, forever endeared himself to the Rooney family by showing up with a box of a dozen Krispy Kremes. Mmm…nothing says you care like giving the gift of doughnuts…

And my Krispy Kreme T-shirt remains one of my favorite garments. Kris has teased me for exercising while wearing a shirt that promotes fattening doughnuts. Hey, that’s why I exercise—so I can eat those doughnuts!

Anyway, Krispy Kreme has been losing money left and right nationwide, leading to the closing of many stores.

I never did get my free doughnut on National Doughnut Day. I’ll have to make a point of picking some up before the end of the day Sunday. A Father’s Day gift perhaps?

You win some, you lose some

Well, the good news is the rain held off and the Yankees were still winning 3-1 when we left the game. The bad news is it all went down hill after we left. It started pouring once we got above Yonkers and the Yankees went down in flames 9-3. I guess we should have stayed longer—maybe we were the good luck charms!

Nolan usually goes to bed at 8 p.m.—and unlike most kids, at the end of the day he wants to go to bed. He never fights it and tries to negotiate for more time. So I knew we’d wind up leaving early. I was just hoping we could maybe make it to the seventh inning.

But sure enough, right at 8 p.m. he said to me, “Dad, I’m tired. Can we go home now?” I managed to hold him off until the middle of the fifth before we left.

But he enjoyed his first trip to the House That Ruth Built. He got see Johnny Damon and Bernie Williams hit homers (we were on our way out when we heard the crowd erupt over Robinson Cano’s HR) and saw a great double-play to get Jaret Wright out of a bases loaded jam. We took in the sights, including Freddy the Fan, and, of course, enjoyed a Stadium dog.

Despite the outcome of the game, it was a fun trip and he wants to go again.

Rain, rain, go away!

Ok, everyone, start praying for a break in the weather.  In about an hour, Nolan and I will begin heading down the Thruway for tonight's game at Yankee Stadium.   However, I have the sneaking suspicion we're just going to wind up turning around and coming back home.

 

The forecast for the Bronx right now, much like the Capital Region, is calling for rain, rain and…um…oh yeah, more rain.   We're packing our rain gear just in case the game is on.

 

Last night's game was rained out.  That's means that if they do play tonight we'll be seeing Curt Schilling go against Jaret Wright.   If they had played last night, then tonight would have been Tim Wakefield vs. Randy Johnson.

 

As much as I'd like to see Schilling pitch in person (hopefully getting a loss), I think the Wakefield-Johnson match-up would have been more interesting.

9 Days Left

I can't believe Nolan is about to be a 1st grader. Things are really winding down at school. Yesterday he brought home a box of books that he has made throughout the year. The most recent one is about bugs. He actually knows the three body parts of an insect--do you? On Friday he gets to celebrate his July birthday at school and this weekend we have a field trip to his teacher's farm. Next week finishes up baseball. His end of the year show (Niskayuna doesn't do kindergarten graduations) is on June 19 and the next day he is done! He has done great and is even reading a little. It seems like math is his favorite so far. He's getting tall too. He can wash his hands at the kitchen sink now. Not to get all mushy, but it really amazes me when I really think about it. I don't know if Chris has said in the past the trouble we had having a baby. Nolan is really a miracle. I was on bedrest the entire pregnancy and after he was (thankfully!) born around the due date, he had a brain bleed and had seizures for a while. His heart actually stopped beating once because of the medication he was on for the seizures. After 2 weeks in the NICU, he got to come home and has been a normal kid ever since. So I give thanks for Nolan today. We have a lot to be thankful for with both of our kids.

Mmm... Yummy holiday...

It’s National Doughnut Day! I just might have to stop by Krispy Kreme on the way home for my free doughnut…