The Name Dilemma

So Kiwi and I took a bit of an unorthodox approach to the naming of Razz.  We have already picked out what his God given name will be, we just haven’t released that information to the authorities.  There is so much that goes into the naming of a new person.  Is the name we’ve picked out appropriate for the personality of our son?  Will his name be made fun of by his peers?  Will it properly honor his heritage?  When he is grown up will his name still be accepted as an “adult” name?



Those are some serious issues to tackle in a nine month span of time.  We don’t want to be the parents that you whisper about after you’ve met their twin sons Michael and Jordan.  You have to weigh the family histories, the socially acceptable names of the period and then, finally, personal preference.

So here comes the unorthodox part of our naming process.  Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last twenty years during the month of March, you are aware of the phenomenon of the NCAA Men’s basketball tournament.  Some of you may have even filled out a prediction of the tournament bracket, either in hopes of bragging rights or a big pile of money.  Being the sports minded parents to be that we are, we picked out 64 potential names of our future son, whittled them down to one and presented the bracket to our friends and family as a college fundraiser for Baby Razz.  The results to be released when Baby Razz decides to come to visit and stay a while.

We have had some winners turned in, some off the wall entries and some that were "pretty close" to the actual name.  It's made the naming process fun, but I think that this part of parenthood may be one of the most stressful I've faced to date.

Baby Shower #1

We had our first baby shower a couple of weekends.ago  Our close friends were gracious enough to host it at their house.  It was my first ever baby shower, so I really had nothing to compare it to going in.  I was led to believe that because our shower was co-ed, it was not the “usual” chain of events that happens at your typical baby shower.

Our shower was awesome.  Friends came from as far as four + hours away to attend.  The couple that hosted at their house went over and above with the food and the hospitality.  I feel so blessed to have these friends in my life. 

We have another shower this weekend that is in my wife’s hometown, so I’m going to play my husband card on this one and not attend.  It will be a much more traditional shower in many respects, so my presence would just be awkward.  I should have some extra free time over Thanksgiving, as I don’t participate in Black Friday shopping unless it is done online.

The Iron Bowl will help me to pass the time.

Or I could just write more blog posts.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Flowers on the Wall

This song was recorded well before my time on this earth, but it’s a classic that I think transcends generational gaps.  Originally recorded by The Statler Brothers in 1966, it peaked on the country music charts in the mid sixties at number 2.  Seemingly fitting for such a song that was about the daily task of wasting time, in hopes that someone you cared about would call asking you back, would come in 2^nd to others songs four weeks in a row.  You know, because someone else had better things to do.

Despite my parent’s love of country music, I wasn’t introduced to this song until the fall of 1994.  I was spending that Christmas break from my freshman year of college visiting my extended family. I was staying with my Grandparent’s by day and hanging out with my cousins by night. Riding home with my older cousin who was finishing up her academic career at a much larger and prestigious college than my own one night, she proceeded to tell me of this awesome movie that she had been to see four times before the break from school, and was thinking of going to see it again that week.

In those days, all movies had a soundtrack, and that soundtrack was coordinated with the release of the movie.  This may still happen in the world of today, but it really doesn’t seem as big a deal as it was back then.  On this soundtrack was Flowers on the Wall by the Statler Brothers.  The movie, as most of you well know, is Pulp Fiction.  Ground breaking stuff at the time, it is still one of my favorite movies of all time.

The song is the response of the song writer to someone he cares about very much that doesn’t care for the song writer anymore.  You still care for someone, but they want nothing to do with you, but you still make yourself available just in case they still might be interested.  Flowers on the Wall just details the extent to which people will go to make themselves available just in case. Counting flowers on the wall, that don’t bother me at all.  Playing solitare till dawn, with a deck of 51.  Smoking cigarettes and watching Captain Kangaroo.  I’ve never seen an episode of Captain Kangaroo or played solitare without a full deck of cards.  I would venture to say that if it weren’t for Microsoft, most people today wouldn’t know much of anything about the card game of solitare. 

I think we have all felt that way about someone at some point in our lives.  Maybe I like this song because I’ve felt that way about certain people I’ve had relationships with.  Maybe I like this song because of the “don’t tell me attitude” that is a byproduct of the main point of the song.  Maybe, I like this song  just because I like it…

Get Busy With the Cheese

I'm overweight, I'll go ahead and spare y'all the suspense. I'm one of the millions of Americans that falls into that category. Part of my reasoning behind that revelation is that I wanted to write tonight about one of my favorite things in the world. 

Cheese.

There aren't many things in this world that adding cheese to will mess up. There are a plethora of cheeses in the world, more than I have carnal knowledge of I'm ashamed to say. Example numero uno. Whomever came up with, stumbled upon by accident or tinkered with a recipe long enough to develop the cheese danish is a genius. We should bestow upon that individual the Nobel Peace Prize. It combines, sweetness with cheese, and for breakfast no less. I don't eat them very often, but dang it, I love them.

Burger King and Waffle House have developed sales strategies behind cheese. Want a Whopper with cheese? That'll be an extra 50 cents from the price of a regular Whopper. Whopper with cheese sounds awesome. Whopper without cheese? I'll pass. Actually, I'd rather not eat at BK if cheese isn't an option.  Scattered, smothered and covered just isn't the same if the covering isn't cheese.

 If Bubba from Forrest Gump were from Wisconsin instead of down there on the gulf with all them shrimps, he'd still be talking about cheese...cheeseburger, grilled cheese, broccoli & cheese sauce, cheese cake...

I don't know what it is with me and cheese, but I can make a meal from it. I'm not talking cheese and crackers, I'm talking straight up cheese. Give me a block of muenster and a knife and I'm good. kid Kiwi, my wife, about her French diet, not to be confused with the one featured here. Sometimes she eats Brie and an apple or pear for a meal. I hope that my son can curb his cheese cravings better than his old man. When we come to the fight about he has to eat his vegetables though, I know what secret weapon I'm pulling out of the refrigerator.

What's your favorite cheese or cheese dish?  Let me know and I'll give you an unorthodox shout out in my next post.

~ Baseball IronDad

Music is a Part of My Life

Music is a part of my life.

Some people turn on the radio and that cures their music fix for the day, week or month, while others take it so far as to have their music on demand at any time via a personal mp3 player, iPod, smartphone, CD’s, or maybe even their record collection. I know many individuals that fall into the latter category. I am one of those individuals. Give me my iPod, a grocery list and I’ll go to Wal-Mart and block out the world all to my own personal soundtrack, while returning with everything on the list.

But music used to play a much larger role in my life. I grew up in a family setting that encouraged participation in many different forms of music. I was a band geek in high school. I was the little boy that was forced to take piano lessons in the 2nd grade. Some of my music experiences were great. I used to hold concerts on the picnic table in our backyard. I could sing to my heart’s content at church. My freshman year of college, I was a music major. I was that into music.

I didn’t end up with a degree in music, but I did get a minor in it. I can read sheet music, string tabulature, know the difference between bass and treble clefs, and tempo and volume markings. While I do not perform music on a regular basis anymore, I do enjoy experiencing music in it’s many different genre’s daily. My iPod is chocked full of many different choices of music. Alternative, Big Band, Bluegrass, Classical, Country, Rock, Blues, Jazz, R & B, Rap, Southern Rock and Swing music all are played regularly on my personal music player.

As a regular part of my blog I’m going to take you through the soundtrack of my life. Think of it as a multi-disk box set. Different forms of music have meant different things to me at different points in my life. That goes for pretty much everyone I guess. My goal is to provide you a song, and the reasons that I’m highlighting the song, once a week from here on out. The next 52 weeks will encompass a myriad of songs and why they mean something to me.

So, without further ado, the song of the week for week 1 is How Bout’ You by Eric Church. Mr. Church is a son of the south, and he has a reverence for hard work, perseverance, and tradition. What he sings about in How Bout’ You really speaks to me because he recognizes that where he is from has made him who he is. It had formed him into this hard working, blue collar Patriot that represents many in America that don’t necessarily have a voice outside of him.

I really think that Eric Church may be the Johnny Cash of our generation. He incorporates instruments in his performance ensemble that few country stars of the past ten years have dared to include, namely the banjo. How Bout’ You opens with a strong intro of a rolling banjo that sets the tone for the rest of the song. The reason that I think Eric Church may be our generation's Man in Black is because he writes music about topics that aren't necessarily popular, but they mean something to him, and you can hear it in his music.  His songs are heartfelt, and sung with truck loads of conviction.

References to honesty and truthfulness in deals with a handshake, and the show of respect for both parents and country, are things that both Eric Church and I still strongly believe in. I’m in my mid 30’s, and I still say yes ma’am and yes sir to most everyone I interact with. I feel for you if I see you at a sporting event and you fail to remove your hat, or pause your phone conversation, during the National Anthem, because I will say something to you. That’s just who I am, because where I come from, that’s what they still do.