Congratulations to my Daughter Mallory!

My daughter, Mallory finished the Pittsburgh half marathon today! It's her first half marathon! Congratulations!

My brother Tim with Mallory at the Finish!

The ACC Accepts Syracuse and Pittsburgh to the Conference...What Should the Big Ten Do?

The news broke over the weekend and became official this morning that Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh were leaving the Big East and joining the Atlantic Coast Conference:

http://espn.go.com/college-sports/story/_/id/6988468/acc-accepts-pittsburgh-panthers-syracuse-orange-14-team-league

It's inevitable that more dominoes are going to fall. As an example (although it isn't official yet) Texas A&M looks to be joining the Southeast Conference.

As a Purdue graduate, and an Ohio resident with a wife (Tammy) and daughter (Mallory) who both graduated from Ohio State, I am a huge Big Ten fan. My allegiances are with Ohio State and Purdue football, Purdue basketball and I root against anyone playing a Big Ten school, with the exception of Michigan. (can't root for the school up North)

The Big Ten currently has twelve members with the recent addition of Nebraska. With today's news, what should the Big Ten do?

They can stand pat. Twelve schools, two six-team conferences in football.

I believe they should add two additional members. That would make two, seven-team conferences for football.

Of primary concern to the Big Ten would be additional markets for the Big Ten Network. As a fan, I have some opinions about schools who would make sense from a competition perspective. Note, I can't speak to women's sports or the collegiate "Olympic" sports teams, so my opinions are really related to 1) football and 2) basketball.

Viable Candidates? I would have loved to see Pittsburgh (natural rivalry with Penn State), and maybe Syracuse added, but with both out of the picture, here is a my list of candidates to join:

Cincinnati
Iowa State
Kansas

Kansas State

Louisville
Missouri
Notre Dame
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Rutgers
Texas
West Virginia

Who would I like to see? With all due respect to the schools on this list, I would like to see Missouri added as my first choice. It brings big markets in St. Louis and Kansas City to the Big Ten Network, and adds a natural rivalry with Illinois.

My second choice? A close call between Notre Dame (adds another nationally followed school) and West Virginia (makes a lot of sense geographically).

Texas is intriguing, but too far away. If the Big Ten said "let's go with sixteen", I'd want Oklahoma to reinvigorate the legendary Oklahoma/Nebraska rivalry.

After a little thought, I would settle for this (if the Big Ten asked for my opinion); add Missouri and Notre Dame if they are happy with a fourteen-team conference. If they choose to go sixteen, bring West Virginia and Oklahoma into the fold.

What will they do? I would predict the addition of Missouri and Notre Dame.

What do you think? Pick the schools you would like to see join the Big Ten in the poll on the right side of my blog.

Dropped Below 250 Pounds This Week! Weight Watchers, Tracking My Progress Update 8/9/11

I reached a big milestone this week. I dropped below 250 pounds! Woot!

I weighed in today at 247.2 pounds. I lost 3.2 pounds this week and have now lost 37.8 pounds since I started the program 19 weeks ago. I also exercised 5 of 7 days this past week, walking a total of 12.1 miles.

I really thought it wouldn't happen this week. I have stayed committed to the program for the whole 19 weeks and can honestly say I have not cheated myself. I have counted all of the points for the food I have eaten and not gone above my daily or weekly allotment.

I have also been diligent about tracking my exercise points.

But this past Saturday, while I was in Pittsburgh visiting my Dad and helping my daughter Mallory move in to her new place I fell of the wagon. Not completely, but it was about 4:30pm and I was starving. I was staying at my brother Tim's house and we broke out Tostitos and salsa.

Veteran Weight Watcher's members know that salsa is free, but the Tostitos...well let's just say I over indulged. After that we went to a very cool restaurant called the Double Wide Grill. I didn't completely overdo it there, but I did have Reuben egg rolls and fritters, which aren't exactly Weight Watchers friendly (lots of points!).

Tim and I ended up going to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes after dinner. No snacks there, but after the movie I was in the mood for ice cream. I ended up getting a non-fat frozen vanilla yogurt at a place called Razzy Fresh, which would have been OK, except that I decided to throw some mix-ins in. Jimmy's, brownie bites, etc.

Bottom line is that I didn't count the points on any of the stuff I ate Saturday afternoon/evening. But I will give myself credit. On Sunday I got right back on the program. Temptation is a bitch sometimes.

So one day of cheating after 133 days on the program. Am I disappointed in myself? Yes. But it did motivate me to keep going.

Yesterday my wife Tammy decided I needed to get some new clothes-as I am swimming in my work pants and some of my shirts are looking really baggy. Since I'm still a long way from my goal, we decided to go to Kohl's. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on clothes that might not fit me in 6 weeks, but it was nice to go into the men's department and find pants and shirts that weren't the largest sizes Kohl's offers. More motivation. Bought two pairs of pants and two dress shirts.

I'm now back on the program and ready to keep going!

Movie Review - Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

I was in Pittsburgh this weekend visiting my Dad and my daughter Mallory who is beginning graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh.

After dinner Saturday night, my brother Tim and I decided to go see Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The early reviews had been good, and as a fan of the original Planet of the Apes series I was looking forward to seeing the movie.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is excellent. The story revolves around a scientist named Will Rodman, played by James Franco, who is working on a cure for Alzheimer's Disease. As it turns out, he has a very personal motivation for doing the work, as his father, Charles Rodman, played by John Lithgow (and very well I might add) suffers from the disease.

The company that Will Rodman works at uses chimpanzees for their testing, and Will early in the movie ends up adopting a baby chimp his father names Caesar.

Caesar, through circumstances I won't reveal here, turns out to be very intelligent and the movie follows his growth into an adult, intertwining his life with Will Rodman's continued experiments with the Alzheimer's drug.

The screenplay is very well written. As this is meant to be a prequel to the Planet of the Apes, the plot line of how the apes become dominant, along with how humans will succumb to the apes is revealed. My brother Tim noticed subtle references to the original Planet of the Apes series, which provides clues to future events in the inevitable sequels to the current form of the movie.

I enjoyed the movie. I particularly liked the fact that even though there is violence, the injuries (and yes some deaths) are not gory. In addition, the movie makes a statement on how man can discriminate against other men (or in this case apes) whom they consider inferior and how there can be a price to pay for that.

My only criticism of the movie is that I felt the computer generated image of Caesar was a little unrealistic looking. I believe the intent of the creators was to have Caesar's features be more human than chimpanzee, but I was uncomfortable with it.

I also should add that Freida Pinto (of Slumdog Millionaire fame) looks great in this movie, playing Will Rodman's girlfriend, Caroline Aranha.

This is a great movie, well worth a visit to your local theater. I also was very pleased when the famous line from the original Planet of the Apes (1968) uttered by Charlton Heston's character, Colonel George Taylor was once again spoken in this movie. Do you know the line I'm talking about?

I will let you discover it for yourself in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

Best Kind of Lake House? A Friend's Lake House!

View of Beth and Jon's Lake House From Their Dock

 One of my wife Tammy and my motto's over the years has been:

"The best kind of lake house? A friend's lake house!"

You can insert boat, beach condo, time-share into the sentence above.

In all seriousness, we have been very fortunate to have some great friends, Beth and Jon McIntyre (see my post "A Great Weekend" from November 2010), who have invited us to their lake house every summer for the past 25 years plus.

My wife Tammy, daughter Mallory and her friend Katie just got back from spending the weekend with Beth, Jon, two of their kids, Duncan and Annie and Jon's Mother Nancy at their lake house on Crooked Lake in Angola, Indiana. Beth and Jon were great hosts, cooking dinner every night, providing the beer, Crown Royal and Maker's Mark and generally just showing us a wonderful time.

View From Back of Cottage to the Lake

We really don't get together enough anymore with the McIntyre's. We are all in our mid to late 40's now, with kids who have graduated college, or are in college, high school or living out their dreams in New York City. We live too far apart from one-another (The McIntyre's in Connecticut, us in Cincinnati, Ohio) so when we do get together it's fun to relive old stories, challenge each other with movie quotes, eat, drink and just talk about where we are in our lives.

This Fall, we are both celebrating our 25th wedding anniversaries, and while we were together we made plans to celebrate this October in Charleston, South Carolina.

So thank you Beth and Jon for a great weekend, and see you in Charleston this Fall!

Columbus Crew Upset by The Richmond Kickers 2-1 in US Open Cup Round of 16, 6/28/11

1,845 of my closest friends and I watched the Columbus Crew get upset by the USL Pro League Richmond Kickers 2-1. The loss eliminated The Crew, who lost in the finals of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup last year to the Seattle Sounders, from the 2011 tourney tonight.

I thought it would be interesting to attend tonight's match. My daughter Mallory came with me. I anticipated seeing several Crew players who have not seen first team action this year, and rumors were that Robbie Rogers, returning from National Team duty, would play, as would Danny O'Rourke, in his first competitive match following knee surgery.

You can read the recap of the match on thecrew.com:

http://www.thecrew.com/news/2011/06/recap-crew-vs-kickers-usoc

Pretty uninspired performance. Danny O'Rourke got a straight red in the 67th minute when the game was 1-1. The ten-man Crew still were able to attack, but the defense (no regular starter played in defense tonight) looked unorganized when Richmond knocked in the winning goal in the 85th minute.

I was a little surprised with the lack of effort put in by Jeff Cunningham who played 90 minutes at striker. He seemed to disappear for several minutes at a time in tonight's match.

Robbie Rogers looked good in his return, creating several scoring chances for The Crew with some good one-on-one effort.

But The Crew lost. Should have figured it wouldn't be a good night when Mallory and I noticed that only half of the Crew Stadium lights came on as the sun set. I thought the match was going to have to be finished in the dark. Late in the match all of the lights did finally come on, but The Crew still couldn't find the back of the net.

Father's Day

At this time last Sunday I wondered if Father's Day today might not be a reason to celebrate.

My Dad (He has involuntarily contributed to my blog from time to time.) fell during my daughter's graduation from Ohio State last Sunday. As a result of the fall, he required surgery on his neck (Waiting...). The great news is that he is doing well and will fully recover.

I credit both my Dad's perserverance and the wonderful care he is getting from the Ohio State University Medical Center for my optimism and for his long term prognosis.

I knew Dad would be OK when at one point this week the nurses asked him if he knew where he was. His answer? Ann Arbor! (Dad is a Michigan grad.)

So I can celebrate Father's Day. Dad will be OK. My daughter Mallory is attending her first National Athletic Trainers' Association Meeting as a certified Athletic Trainer fresh out of Ohio State. My son Brian has moved to New York City, has a job and is close to finding a permanent place to reside there. And my youngest son Michael has just finished his junior year in high school.

Everyone is happy!

Oh, not to mention my wife Tammy and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary in 3 1/2 months.

Get Well Fast Dad!

Weight Watchers, Tracking My Progress 6/14/11

Weighed in tonight at 261.2 pounds. I now have a total weight loss of 23.8 pounds.

Exercised 5 of 7 days this past week. Brisk walks. Went a total of 14 miles this week.

Feel pretty good about this week's results, as I had my daughter Mallory's graduation from Ohio State this weekend. The whole family came in, and we had plenty food and drink as part of the celebration. But I stuck to the program, counted all of my points, and stayed within the limits.

Winning the Battle with the Thurmanator!

I'm impressed by my brother Tim tonight!

He and his wife Cindy arrived early tonight in Columbus for my daughter Mallory's graduation from The Ohio State University on Sunday.

They were looking for someplace to eat, and my daughter and I recommended The Thurman Cafe, located in the German Village neighborhood in Columbus.

Highlighted on an episode of The Travel Channel's Man V. Food, The Thurman Cafe is known for a huge and delicious selection of burgers, the most famous being the Thurmanator. Here's the description straight from the menu:

The Thurmanator!

The THURMANATOR

Bottom bun, mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickle, banana peppers, 12 ounce burger, bacon, cheddar, another 12 oz burger, sautéed mushrooms & onions, ham, mozzarella & American cheese, top bun served with fries 16.49

I did not witness Tim's battle, but with the photographic evidence below, and eyewitness accounts from Tim's wife Cindy and my daughter Mallory, I can announce that Tim defeated the Thurmanator at 10:16 PM Eastern Standard Time, June 10, 2011!

Tim and The Thurmanator-The Battle Begins!

A Premature Declaration of Victory-Tim Didn't Finish the Fries!

I Think He Licked the Plate Clean!

Mother's Day 2011!

Mallory, Brian, Tammy, Michael and Me at Pho Lang Thang

I know Mother's Day was last Sunday, but thought I would post this picture from that day. My three kids (Mallory, Brian and Michael) and I took Tammy, my wife (and yes, their Mother), to lunch at Pho Lang Thang, a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant located at Findlay Market in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Happy Mother's Day Bunny!

Columbus Crew 1, Sporting KC 0 (4/16/11)

My wife Tammy, my youngest son Michael and my daughter Mallory joined me and 7,695 of my closest friends who braved the horrible weather last night to watch our Columbus Crew get a very good victory over Sporting KC, 1-0.

Check that. My wife and daughter sat in the Upper 90 club (no longer the best kept secret at Crew Stadium) and watched the match on TV, while my son Michael and I braved the elements and stood on the Upper 90 club's porch and watched. I drive from Cincinnati for every match, so if I'm going to make the effort to drive up, I'm going to stand in the crappy weather.

OK, I was standing under a canopy.

Robbie Rogers and Eddie Gaven Celebrating Robbie's Goal (http://www.thecrew.com/ Josh Couper/Skyler Schmitt)

This was the 4th straight shutout for the Crew's defense. Sporting KC entered the match as one of the highest scoring teams in the MLS. Once again, the Crew's central defense of Julius James and Chad Marshall led the way with solid goalkeeping from William Hesmer.

Coach Robert Warzycha started Emilio Renteria up top, with Eddie Gaven right underneath him rather than at his traditional outside midfield position. Dilly Duka went the full 90 minutes and earned an assist on Robbie Rogers' second half goal. I give coach Warzycha a lot of credit for conjuring up this inspired line-up. It definitely worked.

Man of the Match? Robbie Rogers, both for his goal and his outstanding midfield play. He continues to play well following his benching in the Crew's first match of the year. Coach Warzycha obviously knew how to light a fire under Robbie.

Happy Birthday to Me!

You Say It's Your Birthday Na Na Na Na NaNa NaNa! (think Beatles)

Today is my Birthday! I'm 48 years old...

I won't dwell on getting older, but I'll use the opportunity to list the things I wish to happen for my Birthday:

I want my Daughter Mallory to have a successful academic career at University of Pittsburgh now that she has been accepted to graduate school there. Oh, and I'm very proud of her getting her Athletic Training degree at The Ohio State University this Spring!

I want to figure out how to get my son Brian to New York City! His dream is to live and work there...we're going to figure out how to get it done!

And soon my youngest son Michael will graduate from High School! I want him to find a college that fits his interest and makes him happy!

On a much less serious note...

I want a  2011 National League Pennant for the Cincinnati Reds!

And a 2011 Supporters Shield for The Columbus Crew!

Restaurant Review-SmashBurger, West Chester, Ohio

So did we really need another restaurant in West Chester, Ohio?

Classic SmashBurger

The answer is...YES, especially when the place serves a great burger! 

SmashBurger opened this past December (2010) in West Chester. I have been there three times and have enjoyed my my experience every time.

The chain originated in Denver, Colorado. I had not heard of SmashBurger until the day I saw a "Coming Soon" sign on the door of the empty space in a strip mall on Cox Road a quarter mile North of Tylersville.

My wife Tammy and I visited on opening day, and were very impressed. Usually restaurant openings can be challenging for the staff, but that visit, and our two additional visits have been very good! 

Food at SmashBurger is made to order. They take your order at the front counter, give you a number, and the food gets delivered to your table within 5 minutes or so. The menu has quite a variety of items. They serve grilled and crispy chicken sandwiches, salads and hot dogs. They also have a nice variety of side items, including haystack onions, fried pepper rings, fried pickles, and sweet potato fries. Of course they serve french fries and their house specialty, SmashFries, are tossed with rosemary, olive oil and garlic. Pretty original. And very good!

I should add that they also have milk shakes, malts and floats, all made with Haagen-Dazs ice cream.

The highlight of the menu, is of course, the burgers! SmashBurger serves 6 specialty burgers, and usually have a couple of special burgers on the menu also. They give you a choice of a 1/3 pound or 1/2 pound patty, and true to the restaurant's name, they literally smash the burger on the grill as they cook it.

My favorite burger (so far) is the Classic SmashBurger. 1/3 pound is plenty for me. It comes with American Cheese, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, onion and pickles. The toppings are crisp and very fresh. The burger is delicious, and rates two-napkins (you need two napkins nearby, as it is very juicy). In addition, they add their special SmashSauce to this particular burger. The SmashSauce is a tangy combination of mustard and mayonnaise and is a nice addition.

Be prepared for a crowd if you eat at peak dinner hours. My last visit was with two of my children (Mallory and Michael) and my wife Tammy this past Friday, January 21, 2010. The line was to the door, but ended up only being a 5 minute wait until we placed our order. Usually with this type of service you will see people send one person to the register while the rest of the party grabs a table. This can cause problems for people who have already ordered and need a table. The staff at the West Chester SmashBurger do a nice job of managing the dining room so that the people who have ordered their food get seated, thus alleviating the problem.

Sin City Burger!

One last note. I tried one of the burger specials this past Friday, the Sin City Burger, pictured above. Bacon, cheese, onion straws and SmashSauce. Oh, and a fried egg! Excellent!

SmashBurger
7598 Cox Lane
West Chester, Ohio 45069
(513) 847-4840
http://www.smashburger.com/

More Disney Fun at the Magic Kingdom Dance Party!

Had to add this. We were at the Magic Kingdom at 2am on December 31st. They had a big dance party going on in front of Cinderella's Castle. My son Michael decided to partake!

Family Vacation to Disney World!

Michael, Brian and Mallory at Downtown Disney

My family and I just returned from a six day vacation to Disney World this morning. It was our third family trip there, in addition to random visits when we have had soccer tournaments in Tampa or Orlando.

I have been wanting to go back for a while now. My daughter, Mallory, who will graduate from The Ohio State University this Spring, and I were talking about a graduation present a couple of months ago. She mentioned wanting to go back to Disney World, and we decided to go over the Christmas Holidays as the summer would be very difficult to go with every one's schedules being so hard to coordinate.

For those of you with older children, you probably already know that when the kids reach college age, getting time to go on family vacations becomes more and more difficult. Mallory is 22, Brian is 20 and Michael is 17. If you can go with your kids when they are older, it ends up being a very special time. For my wife Tammy and I, this week was great!

We stayed at the Polynesian. Great room with enough beds for all of us. We visited all the parks and spent New Year's Eve at Hollywood Studios. We took advantage of the Extra Magic Hours, staying at the Magic Kingdom on Thursday and Hollywood Studios on Friday until 3am!

Our favorite ride-Midway Mania at Hollywood Studios. Brian had the high score amongst us, over 200,000!

The kids rode Everest in the Wild Kingdom and The Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios several times, but once was enough for Tammy and I. We also rode Winnie the Pooh, Toy Story, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion several times

We had a chance to dine at several of the Disney World Restaurants. Our favorites were Artist's Point at the Wilderness Lodge, Tusker House at the Animal Kingdom and the Biergarten at the German village at Epcot.

We are so happy we could do this vacation as a family. These opportunities are going to become rarer and rarer as the kids get older. It's a special experience when we vacation together!

Restaurant Review-The Wildflower Cafe & Coffee House

A couple of weeks ago we were looking for a good place to go to a family dinner for the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We would have 8 people, my wife, our children (ages 22, 20 and 17), my father and my brother and sister-in-law. We live North of Cincinnati, in Liberty Township, Ohio.

8 is a tough number to go to dinner with during the holiday season. We wanted a place that took reservations, and would be a treat for everyone. My wife had heard about the Wildflower Cafe & Coffee House located in Mason, Ohio, so we decided to give it a try on Saturday night, November 27th, 2010.

What a great place. It is very small (located in a former private home). They took reservations. It has a very quaint and casual feel about it, with the menu posted on chalk boards.

Wildflower boasts a great selection of wines and craft beers. What is most unique about this place is that they strive to use locally sourced and/or organic ingredients in all of their dishes.

With 8 people we were able to try multiple dishes. We started with the Organic Cheese Board (cheeses, olive medley etc.) and the Shrimp Fonduta, served with crusty grilled bread. Both were absolutely delicious.

Two of us had the soup of the day, a white bean and cilantro soup which we enjoyed very much.

Of the entrees we had as a group, the consensus was that the hamburger (served on a pretzel bun and rated #1 in Cincinnati by Cincinnati Magazine) lived up to it's billing. In addition, the quiche served with homemade potato salad and crusty bread with a raspberry jam and the spinach and walnut ravioli were excellent. I very much enjoyed the grilled chicken breast with walnuts and a champagne sauce served over risotto. My father had the Apple Pork chops with potatoes and sauteed vegetables, which he would recommend. My sister-in-law had the Gourmet Grilled Cheese, which for her tasted just ok. My brother had the short rib special, which he enjoyed very much.

Service was very good. They have a very nice patio in the back of the restaurant which I imagine would be very nice to dine at in the summer.

I highly recommend the Wildflower Cafe & Coffee house. You can go and enjoy a very casual sandwich and soup, or try one of their higher-end entree's. My experience on this particular evening is that both are excellent. I look forward to a return visit very soon!

Wildflower Cafe & Coffee House
207 E Main
Mason, Ohio 45040
(513) 492-7514
http://wildflowercafeandcoffeehouse.com/

A Great Weekend!

What a great weekend! My wife and I were able to go to Columbus and meet our great friends Beth and Jon McIntyre for the Ohio State/Penn State football game.

A little background. Jon and I graduated from Lakota High School in West Chester Ohio in 1981. Tammy, my wife, and Beth graduated from the same High School in 1982. Tammy and Beth graduated from Ohio State together, while Jon and I went to different schools.

Both of us got married in 1986. We have stayed friends ever since! It's hard to get together as much as we used to, with all of our kids being older (we each have three). In addition, we live in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, while Jon and Beth have recently moved to Connecticut.

Living so far apart is what made getting together this weekend so special! We all arrived Friday afternoon, had dinner at Haiku (in the Short North area of Columbus) and then went to the Big Bang Piano Bar and Gordon Biersch (where my daughter, Mallory, a senior at Ohio State met up with us and brought along her friends).

Saturday was breakfast and off to campus to check out ESPN Gameday and then to the game.

Of course, Ohio State won (not without a battle in the first half from Penn State). After the game we went to Rubino's Pizza in Bexley, and had a little carry out desert from Mitchell's Steakhouse.

It was such a nice weekend. We were able to catch up on our kids, our jobs, quotes from our favorite movies ("that's a YP, not an MP" guess the movie), and our families.

It is great to have friends like Beth and Jon! Just wish we could get together more often!

Go Bucks!