Is it a Fantasy?

This week was "Fantasy Football Week" in the Anderson household. I spent the last 5 days going over player rankings, checking preseason stats, looking at draft trends, and double checking injury reports. Emily spent the last week calling me a dork and enjoying total control of the television after work. I think it is a good compromise! Any way, we survived the insanity for another year, and I feel pretty good about the two drafts I participated in on Monday and Wednesday. I won't bore you with who I have on my two teams (Steve Smith and LaDainian Tomlinson on both, by the way). Just know that from time to time in this space you may get an update on how my teams are doing.

Here are your links for the long weekend.......

• For all you out there, like me, that love both The Simpsons and Star Wars, this one is right up our alley.
• This is one of the worst scenes ever from "Teen Witch", a movie that Coley used to watch all the time when we lived on Richwood.
• Here is what we, and pretty much everyone in Cincinnati, will be watching on Sunday night. Last year we were actually looking down on the fireworks thanks to a generous invite from the Pearce family to watch them from Highland Towers. I don't know if anything will beat that view.

Am I looking at the next 5 years?

A few years ago, Matt and I were golfing when he broke into a song about everyone making mistakes and that being OK. It was a pretty funny moment because the song was from Sesame Street which Matt had been watching with his then 1 year old daughter Jordan. Obviously this episode of Sesame Street had been on for a few days in the Williams' household, as Matt had memorized the song. The strange part for me was that I started singing this song too, all day and night, and pretty much all the next few weeks. I had not heard the song or even seen this episode or anything, yet this song was just on constant replay in my head. A scary moment for a guy, at the time, who was no where near ready to be a parent.

Well, I just ran across this video and was both fascinated and horrified..... Horified for poor Elijah Wood, just a few years ago he the lead in one of the biggest film series ever made. Now he is teaching some weird alien like animals how to dance. While I feel for Elijah, I was also fascinated that for the next 5 to 10 years these types of songs are going to become very familiar to me and Emily. They will, in effect, become our top 10. This would be yet another, "WOW" moment on my trip to fatherhood.

The Best News EVER!

It was announced earlier this week that American Gladiators is coming back. Any guy who was ages 8 - 14 in the mid to late 1980's was probably a fan of this show. How could we not be with informative health interviews like this?

The Gladiators also taught us about gender equality. I mean, both men and women participated, even though it was hard to tell the men from the women.

When the new episodes start, we can all only hope that the spandex and big hair are still a part of the wardrobe. I will be anxiously awaiting the first episode in my one piece, spandex Nitro inspired, jump suit! GLADIATORS FOREVER!

Emily's Birthday!

Emily's birthday was yesterday. I think she had a very nice day. It started with a facial, then she had lunch with her friend from high school, Peggy. After working on the bumper for our baby crib, our entire local family came over for dinner. We had some delicious New York Strip steaks, which were from the cows that the Moore's raised last year, appropriately named T-Bone and Hamburger.

This was G.G. (Gramma Gail) with Francie. Their faces say it all, "Look at the size of those steaks!"

John, Tricia, Kristy, G.G. and Francie relax after the HUGE dinner and dessert. I think everyone had a good time.

Baby Stuff

From the moment I saw the image above in Denver Valentine's Day weekend, I have been both looking forward to, and fearing what we did this past Saturday. Emily and I took our birthing class. Basically we went to the hospital at 9 am, watched some videos, learned how to breathe, watched some more videos, and 7 hours later, we were ready to give birth! Well, according to the lovely nurse, Peggy who taught our class, we are ready.I'll take her word for it, she's a professional.

For those of you reading this blog who have not gone thru this experience, I have to say, it is worth it. I learned a lot and feel pretty confident about how Emily and I are going to do when this baby is ready to come out. That being said, there are some things that go down in these classes that are, shall we say, a bit jarring. First, we did watch some actual birth videos. Yes, we saw EVERYTHING! While this is the biggest miracle that can ever happen, it is not pretty to watch complete strangers experience this miracle in surround sound. If you have a weak stomach, eat a light breakfast. Also, most of the husbands in the room were like me. We came to support our wives, learn some helpful lessons, and basically stay out of the way. Well, that is not how it goes. We were all very involved and hands on for the class. At one point we did some roll reversal. So I got to practice breathing while Emily told me how great I was doing. Oh yeah, it was entertaining, to say the least. Finally, the class was 7 hours long on a beautiful Saturday, but as I said, I am glad I took it. I would recommend doing the one day class over the 6 week classes. We covered everything and it did not feel rushed. The nurses were great and knew their stuff.The 7 hours really did go by pretty quickly.

This morning we saw the doctor for a routine checkup on Mom and Baby's progress, and everything was moving along great. We are down to the last 8 or 9 weeks. Things are moving at warp speed now.

Good Times With These Links

I have been just swamped at work this week with the extremely hot weather. So the blog has suffered because of the heat. I blame the sun! It may give Superman his super strength, but sometimes it gives me a super headache. Anyway, not much really going on here. Emily has another doctor's appointment on Monday, then it is her birthday Tuesday, and finally she goes back to school on Wednesday. So next week, the blog will be full of good stuff. For now, I will have to go to the old standby of funny/weird links to entertain you. So here they are:

• One of the best shows on right now is Flight of the Conchords. If you like off the wall humor by a folk singing duo from New Zealand, this is the show for you. It really is hilarious, just watch some of the clips on the website.
• This guy is the king pimp of credit. The best part, the free plasma TV with the note saying, "fo real yo!"
• This is not really funny, but it is educational. If you want to see where Baby A is, in terms of development, check this site out. This is based on the original due date of October 23rd.
• Finally, I really don't think you could sum up the 70's any better than this video. And for a slightly more modern version, my main man the Fresh Prince!

Have a good weekend everyone!

Fun Weekend

Emily and I had a very busy, yet fun weekend. We hung out with some people that are sure to make a few appearances in this blog, so let me introduce you to them.

On Friday we grilled out with Mary Ann and Brian. Emily and Mary Ann went to the Art Academy together and became very good friends there. Mary and Brian got married the week after us and we all have a lot in common. Whether it is grilling out or camping, going to a bar, or celebrating New Years, we always have a pretty relaxed and fun time with them.

On Saturday we met up with Tom and Sarah at Deweys in Clifton. We ate a good amount of pizza then headed downtown for a surprise birthday party at a bar. As always, it was such a great time catching up with Tom and Sarah. Besides being the inspiration for this blog, Sarah is one of Emily's best friends from college. They have done a ton of road trips together and the stories from these trips are legendary. Sarah and Tom got married this summer and Emily and I always look forward to hanging out with them.

Finally on Sunday we met up with Matt, Heather and their little girl Jordan for breakfast at Mokka. I have known Matt since freshman year of high school. We played soccer together at St. X and in the summer for the Classics. We worked a Summer at Coney flipping burgers and we drank a lot of beer. Basically we have watched each other go from immature high schoolers to immature adults. It has been a fun ride so far. Matt and Heather met at UD and got married a few years back. Heather then decided to run a marathon and started training with me. She made it through that one and has done another one since then, as well as had a child. Matt and Heather are always a blast to hang out with and Jordan is so much fun to watch grow up.

A little late with this one!

So I am about 3 weeks late on this one, but in case you did not hear, Emily's brother John got engaged a few weeks back. Emily and I are very excited about this. We love Tricia and think they are a great couple. They are planning on walking down the aisle this December, right after Christmas. I'm sure there will be plenty of details I will post as they plan their big day. Congrats to John and Tricia! Have a great weekend, everyone.

Is there a baby in there or are you just happy to see me?

Emily amazes me all the time. She told me she was going to take a few pictures of herself so that we had a some shots of her in the third trimester. If it was me, the shots would all be of my head or feet, out of focus, and not very good. Well, she sent me her pictures this morning and as you can see above, they are wonderful. This one was my favorite, but believe me, the other shots are just as good. It takes a special eye and a lot of talent to get these kind of pictures. Emily definitely has both.

As for the preganancy, everything is going great. We are at 29 weeks now, so the thrid trimester is well on it's way. Emily is getting tired more often and Baby A (or Flipper as I call it) is apparently going to be trying out for the US Gymnastics Team. I had no idea how much babies move around in the womb. It is very exciting, creepy, cool, and weird all at the same time. Nothing like feeling your unborn baby's butt through your wife's belly. Talk about surreal.

This week's weirdness

A few weeks back my friend Chris Gaede started an email exchange that went on for a few days. The topic was "the worst video ever" and it was a very popular topic. Out of all the videos sent, this one really stood out for me. The best part about it......the guy singing this song, Michael Nesmith, was in the Monkees. As in the "hey hey, we're the Monkees" group from the 60's and 70's. This song and video were quite a departure from what the Monkees did. The best part for me is when he goes into his solo mosh pit and then spits out the water. I think there is some symbolism in there somewhere, but I have no clue what it means. Anyway, get your rollerskates out and enjoy this very entertaining video from the 80's.

My Niece and Goddaughter

Here is a video my brother-in-law shot of their daughter and my niece, Francie Goff. She is getting baptised this Sunday, and I am the Godfather. Yes, I will be wearing a ring for all to bow down to and kiss.

First Post

So, where do I start? How about why this blog was created. Emily and I are always talking about how hard it is to keep up with all our family and friends. We didn't want to keep sending out one mass email every few months. So, with inspiration from Emily's friend Sarah Wood (Kahrs), I decided to try and do a blog in hopes that it keeps everyone up to date with us. We've got a pretty BIG event coming up in October and maybe this blog will be a good place to post pictures and stories and whatever else comes to mind.

Also, I like talking. Since I can't get everyone on one big conference call, this is the next best thing. Yes, my stories are often repetitive and not nearly as funny to others as they are to me, but if you have 5 minutes to burn and want to put off work, maybe you will stop by and see what is going on in the Andersons' world.

Finally, I don't have to have my own funny or interesting stuff, I can just link to things like this. Talk about a great time waster.

So, that is it. I hope you will stop by often and post some comments when you feel up to it. I can't promise too much in terms of enlightening material, but at the very least, you may get to see pictures of my pregnant wife's belly.So that could be kind of cool!Maybe I'll put some pictures of my ever expanding belly up too.